For the next month I plan to write down my opinions of various films within the Russian Film Industry (or as it will be referred to from now on, Ruskaland.) For the first day, I shall talk about my opinion of the first half of The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! The first thing I will admit is that the title of this film makes me giggle like a twelve year old boy everytime I think of it. The second thing I think is that this film would not make any sense if it were not for the presence of the omniscient narrator at the beginning of the film. In my opinion this narrator takes away from the feeling that films are supposed to carry you away into a far away land of make believe where anything is possible. When someone has to explain to you what is happening just to make this make believe land a reality, it detracts from my personal experience, but like I said earlier it is needed for this movie to make sense. Quite a catch-22 if you ask me.
As for the general analysis of the movie, I have reached the official verdict that drunken Russian people are hilarious. This film is not a laugh out loud funny like something along the lines of say Superbad or Get Him to the Greek, but that does not take away from the humor of this film. The magic of Ruskaland is that the film is funny because of situational humor and the clever use of dialogue. The conversation between Zhenya and Nadya when she first discovers him in her apartment is priceless. Overall I am enjoying this movie quite a lot, and I am excited to see how it ends.
Ah, Ruskaland! :>) And yes, "Enjoy your bath!" (С лёгким паром! literally "With a light steam!) is what Russians say whenever you're heading off to the bathouse (or banya/баня).
ReplyDeleteWouldn't you agree that the cartoon at the beginning also serves as a pretty helpful prelude. Keep in mind, though, that Russians would probably have been familiar enough with this element of homogeneity, that they may not have needed these helps in the beginning (but I'm glad they were still included!).
Keep your eyes on the way drunkenness is portrayed in various films we'll be watching this semester...
The cartoon at the beginning did help to establish how the homogeneity of all the buildings can be a horror, while at the same time allows anyone to "feel at home" no matter where they go. (Like I said, the intro, while detracting from the experience, is a necessity for anyone without the knowledge to understand this beforehand.)
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