The film “Ukhnya” by Konstantin Vinogradsky is one of such experimental works, when the author, with apparent simplicity, sets almost impossible tasks for himself.
For the director, this is the first experience of this scale. The idea of the film is simple and obvious – the kitchen as the center of the universe. Only Vinogradsky is interested not in culinary identity, but in the place of action.
The director presents a number of paintings that differ from each other in the theme and manner of
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The film “Ukhnya” by Konstantin Vinogradsky is one of such experimental works, when the author, with apparent simplicity, sets almost impossible tasks for himself.
For the director, this is the first experience of this scale. The idea of the film is simple and obvious – the kitchen as the center of the universe. Only Vinogradsky is interested not in culinary identity, but in the place of action.
The director presents a number of paintings that differ from each other in the theme and manner of shooting. For millions of our compatriots, the kitchen is a sacred place. At the gas stove, people quarrel, love each other, bear children, unravel philosophical problems. The kitchen has long been a place of psychological consumption for each other. Our native cuisine, in fact, has retained its pagan nature. A place where fire, water and metal meet. A triumph of flesh, pleasure and spirit. The themes of the seven deadly sins are enclosed in square meters of post-Soviet kitchens.
The tone of the film is set by the first novel about a playwright who writes plays in the kitchen at night, and his characters speak only with mat. Neurasthenic, exhausted by the trends of the “new drama”, specializing in maternity. His wife, a reasonable woman, tries to convince her husband to use a more harmonious syllable in his work. The role of the writer’s wife was very unexpectedly performed by Irina Lindt. It is symbolic that the husband is played by the scriptwriter and director of the film. Thus, each subsequent novel is presented as a figment of the writer’s imagination.
The action of the next plot takes place in a tiny kitchen two by two meters. The character, played by Yegor Barinov, quit his job, sold his car and is going to Chechnya as a civilian. Late at night he comes to say goodbye to the woman he has long loved. The plot is distinguished by a touching lyrical atmosphere, which is created by the exact psychological work of the actors. The hero of Barinov is an angular, simple man with a tender, vulnerable soul. Olga Sarycheva represents the recognizable character of a single woman who raises a child without a father.
The third novel is a satirical household sketch. The action takes place on the eighth of March in the communal. Drunk in the mind, the hero, played by Leonid Krasnov, talks about women, showing no respect for his own wife. In the foreground, a fan works and a fly is constantly buzzing somewhere.
The interior of the fourth novel is an expensive comfortable kitchen. The camera quietly, very slowly hits the faces of the actors. Two teenagers dream of dying between classes. Absurd teenage dialogue in the interior of luxury and well-being is interrupted by short bursts - photos of dying children from concentration camps. The novella seems to be a bitter tragedy of modernity.
In the next story, in the dark by the light of candles sit lonely old people (Valentina Kudinova and Alexei Golovin). The old woman can’t sleep without her favorite show, which was postponed after midnight. She projects the action of the series on her own life, and while there is no light in the house, her husband tolerates her presentation. Very touching dialogue, deeply executed by talented actors.
The next novel is a satirical sketch in the interior of a modern empty kitchen. Through the window, a thief (Vladimir Tishenkov) climbs into the apartment and opens the doors to his partner in the craft (Andrey Chernyshov). After scouring the apartment, they find a box of champagne and get drunk unconscious. In this form, they find the prosecutor with the wings of an angel behind them. The time has passed when the country believed Lenin’s words that even a housewife can govern a state. The kitchen is the only place for political debate. Vladimir Tishenkov and Andrei Chernyshov play out a grotesque scene, trying to understand the intricacies of modern politics. The last novel is preceded by an epigraph – a quote from a poem by Vladislav Surkov. Two girls (Olesya Veselova and Victoria Zakharova), apparently only from the bath in the interior of a chic kitchen, talking about cooking and going through the names of Caucasians, mix poison in coffee.
In the finale of the film, the writer from the first novel sits in front of the manuscripts at the night window. Vinogradsky does not put an end and does not rush to present the viewer with morality. He looks out the window, behind which is another space, not enclosed by square meters of the kitchen.