The film is an almanac of five novels, each has its own director and, accordingly, its own author’s style, therefore, it is better to analyze them separately.
Shame (Boris Khlebnikov)
A journalist loser saves the love of a bully.
A person with a hateful job, looking for completely uninteresting information until he notices the inscription, which, although strange, but a manifestation of love.
The journalist decides to find a girl Olya who was addressed to the inscription, but he is prevented by the author of the inscription, a bully in love with a girl who is unable to express his feelings otherwise.
But why should a journalist look for Olya at all, hence the main problem of the novel, the lack of both context and motivation, follows.
All the subsequent motivation of the Journalist can be interpreted as the mistakes of the Journalist in the past, and how to do something important, to prove yourself. Although watching the game of young Alexander Yatsenko is very pleasant and even more so to realize that very soon he will show his full potential in Arrhythmia.
And yet Boris Khlebnikov is the director of love, diverse and different. His experiments with forms of love will continue and in some 8 years he will remove Arrhythmia, a subtle, soulful, and most importantly live work.
To feel (Ivan Vyrypaev)
It makes no sense to understand.
Two tourists from Poland go to Russia, on the way filming on camera.
"To feel" as a whole, so you can describe the whole novel, the main theme of which is sensation, sensuality. But all this unconscious nostalgic video sequence almost does not cause emotions, except for the fleeting appearance of Ivan Dobronravov.
There is no sense, it is not necessary, why understanding, when you can feel, only there is no sensation, no, absolutely no emotions. Not a fan of that.
Urgent repair (Peter Buslov)
A mute shoemaker with a subtle soul is closed from the world in his workshop.
A beautiful fairy tale about a mute shoemaker whose whole life consists of fixing shoes. The only person in his life is an old woman who takes orders, he does not see who owns the shoes and is forced to imagine their lives. Until at one point there is a beautiful pair of shoes that he falls in love with.
Perhaps this is the best of the presented novels, beautifully shot, an excellent prank by Ivan Dobronravov and a quality finale with several interpretations, chic.
From Boomer to come to a beautiful fairy tale about love, it is strong.
Kim (Alexei Herman Jr.)
Beautiful panoramas and only.
Karim, a circus worker, finds himself in a mental hospital and forced to face local orders.
Beautiful panoramic views, a lot of fog, submarines, class... A beautiful cover with nothing behind it, a rather raw story, beautiful but raw.
Throughout the work of Alexei Herman Jr., the influence of his father is visible, but in this novel almost nothing remains from his son.
Kiss of a shrimp (Kirill Serebrennikov)
There's no love here.
Yuri Chursin in a shrimp costume must find people in a restaurant otherwise he will lose his job.
Watching this novel, you involuntarily wonder where love is? Between the chaos going on? Between a naked girl and Chursin? Perhaps, but in my opinion, there is no love in this novel.
I like Kirill Serebrennikov, he has really outstanding works that I sincerely love, but when you watch Chursin suckling with Ilyin, how Chursina beats everyone he meets, you remember Khaev’s words from “Imagine”. It would seem that after watching “Imagine” there was a mixed impression, but at least the comedy component was at the level, everything is completely bad with this.
In general, Short Circuit is not a bad movie.
Sumbur, but unusual love of Boris Khlebnikov.
Nostalgic and the same senseless feelings of Ivan Varypayev.
Really good work of Peter Buslov, by all criteria.
Woven from the style of his father, the novel by Alexei Herman Jr. and Absurd without love with the actors I Picture Kirill Serebrennikov
A good movie is drawn either in large, sketchy brushstrokes or a detailed chewing of one small situation. In the almanac, two such opposite cinema examples are at once.
"Shame" goes through one little situation minute by minute. I’m not sure what perspective the director defends on the future of the two lovers, but in my opinion, he successfully dissected the reason for the high divorce rates. So there's a yard hooligan hitting a random passer-by on the head with a rock, insulting a girl he kind of likes, but actually feeling frustrated that the girl doesn't notice him. What's their future? Of course they will. After all, everyone is so convinced that just because a guy hits someone on the head with a stone, it does not mean that he is angry. He will never hurt his beloved, he does this only to others who are guilty of getting caught in the hot hand. And then he “suddenly” will change after the wedding and begin to smack his wife, but so far everyone is sure that it will not affect her.
“When they came for me, there was no one to stand up for me,” is one of Niemöller’s many online variants.
Unfortunately, the acting of all three did not like it. Apparently, they simply did not have a real yard childhood of the 90s, in which children fight with fittings and guard unwanted at the entrance. Because the actor, listed in the credits as a “hooligan”, could not convey the yard-hooligan expression. The girl played well, though. But the grief correspondent does not play at all. Save Grandma's short. Especially when it comes to the Germans. You know, people have believed this for years and still believe it.
The novella “To Feel” draws in large strokes. The girl's departure, the girl's arrival. Some slurred guy. Then she's apparently doing something around the house, and her boyfriend's watching her movie. He asks questions and one of the most important questions. And with that "Yes," which sounds the last before the credits, she said more than a thousand words. That she doesn't know. That this meeting means something. What she wants to forget, but something gets in her way. But they have no future with that guy, and, in general, her boyfriend is so familiar and cozy, and will not require her to start feeling something there that she does not need, for which she is not another ambition, because a confident person does not need such cheap games. He doesn't have to start screaming and arguing if he sees another guy in this video. It is good that the novel cost a few strokes, and that there is no chewing of walks in Moscow and awkward situations of linguistic misunderstanding.
“Kiss of a shrimp” began as an art house and already it seemed that now there will be something creative, and instructive, and almost like a monologue of Chatsky, and ends with some cheap marketing. Of course, the novella was conceived as a sequence of absurd situations. But the naked body must be introduced into an absurd situation in such a way as not to turn from absurdity into an ordinary bad movie. Unfortunately, it failed.
"Kim" leaves a slurred impression. Patients often fall in love with doctors or nurses. And if she is also the only woman on the island, then everyone is in love with her. Did the director want to say that Kim stayed on the island because of her? The viewer cannot draw such a conclusion, since it is quite possible that he, for example, is really sick. His transformation in a year (began smoking, began to serve) is also an unclear “smear”. The viewer does not see Kim before the hospital, so it is not clear what is new in him and what is not.
"Urgent repair." I don’t like movies that put pressure on pity. And the open ending is not good for all films. Everyone is disappointed in something, in some dream. What’s interesting is what each of us then does with it: shuts down, gets angry, quickly forgets, moves to a new level or returns to the previous one? And then the physical existence of the hero simply ceased, and that’s all, the question closed by itself, and this is not interesting.
In general, the title makes you think that the directors wanted to show severe male love. But they showed what some people take for love: an outburst of interest in a person you don't know and think of yourself. And to which, getting to know him, quickly lose interest.
As a novice screenwriter, I know how difficult it is to tell a story without words so that everything is clear to the viewer without them.
Peter Buslov and the entire crew coped with this task perfectly. Let me explain how.
The protagonist of the short meter "Urgent repair" is a deaf-mute shoemaker, played by the charismatic Ivan Dobronravov, who, by the way, is simply created for such roles.
We are very accurately shown the world in which the young shoemaker lives: in the twilight, in the basement, he repairs shoes and looks at the world through a window, or rather, a half-window through which you can only see the shoes of people passing by or coming to the workshop.
He judges people by his shoes, he communicates with his shoes, and he has enough of this communication. We see him as the master of his business, who is satisfied with his life. He is comfortable and familiar in his world of dungeons. But here, but here, everything changes.
Girl’s feet in sneakers and golf (the only way we see visitors to the shoe workshop) bring their shoes to the repair shop. Snow-white shoes made of crocodile skin "Dior" on a high stud.
Shoes - like a ray of light in the dark realm, fill the life of a shoemaker with light and meaning. They also have feelings that were previously silent. He's in love! He wants to see the owner of these incredible shoes!
The main character begins to feel inferiority. It's coming. It beats. He can no longer live in the world to which he is accustomed, but he is not ready for life among people.
The script is brilliantly written. In 17.5 minutes - psychologically correctly built suspense, the most accurately prescribed world of the protagonist. The world is both internal and external: we are introduced to the details of everyday life, brought to the house of a shoemaker.
Thanks to several interesting both directorial and script moves, we seem to find ourselves in the shoes of the main character. In the shoes of the little man of our time. We live life and change with it. We feel discomfort, panic, rush with him. We want to go out the door of the workshop, but we are also afraid, run away from this thought and return to it again.
Of course, you can not ignore the exact work with symbols, of which there are many.
Living blood is shed at the very moment when those very maiden legs appear in the life of the main character. The hero wakes up from sleep, comes to life. Next, dripping from the table, spilled by the main character through negligence, engine oil, which, in dim lighting, looks like blood. We are overwhelmed by a sense of anxiety, excitement. In this dimly lit world, life pulsated. But what does that mean?
In this story, everything harmonizes on the screen: competently exposed light, and correctly selected costumes, and sound, and a clearly prescribed script, and directorially accurate work, and brilliant acting.
The story turned out to be shrill due to the fact that everything has developed here. And if there was not at least one element, this small, amazing and clear without words film would not take place.
In general, this film almanac left a pleasant aftertaste, but I would like to disassemble everything in order:
"Shame"
It is strange that this novel was not appreciated. A very good interpretation of that very childish and youthful stiffness in the expression of feelings. Just as schoolchildren, pulling the girls’ pigtails and calling them names, are unable to overcome this barrier, so the yard hooligan, clearly out of their age, but retaining these very fetters, borrows their methods, expressing his love in such a ridiculous way. And yet behind him lies sincerity and real feelings, of which the main character does not doubt. Moreover, he puts the authenticity of these feelings (expressed by the same stupid inscription) above all else: above conflicts, above the hopeless everyday woman he encounters every day at work. Higher, perhaps, because he sees behind her the same teenage sincerity, which does not yet consider love in the context of just a joint trip for food. Stiffness goes away with time, but if it takes with it the concept of Love as such, it is truly a disgrace.
Of the minuses, this cartoon image of a hooligan is very striking. For this, without discounts for 2009 - 8 out of 10.
"To feel"
The title really justifies itself. This picture can only be felt, otherwise it will be difficult not only to evaluate, but also to understand completely random cutting of frames. The Russian guy’s speech is undoubtedly inspiring and correct, but is there love behind it? I didn't see her. At the last minute they try to teach it indistinctly, but not seriously. Thus, only for this message - 5 out of 10.
"Urgent repair"
A beautiful and cruel tale of love. Silent love, image love. Ivan Dobronravov very successfully fit into the role. In fact, you can't say more - 10 out of 10.
Kim
If in the second novel, if you try, you could still find some rudiments of feelings, then in Kim, as it seemed to me, such a goal was not set by the director.
Gloomy post-Soviet landscapes; the main character who is very trying to be like the Negro from the Green Mile; a heartwarming, but extremely unconvincing dramatic segment from the life of the mentally ill. Everything is here except love. And if it was planned to be presented to the viewer in the form of several scenes with "lookers", well... Bad. Only for the picture - 4 out of 10.
"Kiss the shrimp"
The moment the ending really saves the day. Extremely tedious, even for a short film, a rebound to give a happy ending not only to the novella, but also to the film as a whole.
Per aspera ad astra is what the picture of Serebrennikov leads us to. And it is very symbolic that this message is given at the end of the film almanac. After all, this gives hope that the heroes of the other novels, each of which ended unsaid, will come to the same star, even if you have to grab it on a garbage barge.
For a decent completion, albeit with inflections of 2/3 of timekeeping - 8 out of 10.
Love in "Short Circuit", as in life, is presented in different forms. She's complicated, sudden, angry, unrequited, and finally happy. And if we evaluate this film not as a set of individual works, but as a whole, then this diversity of this unique feeling, in this symbolic order, is perceived with hurrah. If you take into account all the weaknesses, then
7 out of 10
An amoeba-like journalist goes to interview tenants about the pipe break, but after seeing the inscription “Ola titty” on the wall, decides to start a new investigation. A Polish student, who does not understand Russian, meets a chatterbox in a Moscow courtyard who urges her to “feel” (whatever that means), regardless of the language barrier. A deaf-mute shoemaker falls in love with a neighbor’s girl over branded shoes, and a circus artist falls in love with the nurse of a mental hospital on a mysterious island, simultaneously fixing the TV with one touch. Finally, a guy in a shrimp costume scares passers-by with suction kisses, especially when meeting drunk paratroopers. Approximately so relevant Russian authors are trying to hide the almanac, the main theme of which, surprisingly, love.
The statement about love as a mosaic of small tragedies is a good tradition, dating back to Bunin: it would seem that we will replace dark alleys with dirty alleys, and everything will take off on its own. The miracle, of course, did not happen, the hopes of Russian cinema were shot by four mediocre stories (Alexei Herman, Jr., respectfully distanced himself from the buffoon), one of which gradually turns into prophetic, and another into horribly tasteless. The simplest analogy works well for Short Circuit: the main character of each novel forms the director’s meta-idea (probably against the latter’s will). And in this sense, it is very significant that all the heroes are terrible freaks, have huge problems with communication. The journalist at Khlebnikov moans, gets confused in three interjections, choked with parasitic words, the shoemaker Buslov in principle is not able to squeeze out a sound, and Vyrypaev once again tightens the song called “new sincerity” and does not hesitate to slyly introduce foreigners into the plot. It is clear that the poet in Russia is more than a poet, it is clear that in combination, the “unrecognized genius” all now focus on the first word, eventually forgetting about the second (well, where to meet a living genius now?), but when the author does not even tear his shirt on himself, but runs out on stage in an already torn one – this, rightly, is too much. Especially if you remember that we came to see a modern movie about love, not a cheap exhumation of the cinema of incommunicability.
Against the background of not too appropriate and not very adult spiritual torment of neighbors in the almanac surprisingly mature made Alexei German Jr. In the whole collection, he is the only one, deducing a creative manifesto and fighting with windmills, did not forget, in fact, to make the Cinema. The story of the circus artist suggests changing the endless cellars and gateways to a fantastic island, where everything is covered with dystopian haze, and glimpses of magical realism refer somewhere to the landscapes of Stalker. Of course, Alexey Alekseevich wears the costume of an experienced modernist behind his brilliant father, adopting chaotic kinetics inside the frame and a wonderful work with polyphonics, but in this shabby costume the author looks at several orders of magnitude more respectable than those who wriggle in what his mother gave birth to colleagues who, in addition to Bouslov's imitation of a sharp editing a la Danny Boyle, have a common painful passion for the low-grade avant-garde of the nineties and have nothing to remember. And it is not even a matter of ideological emptiness, after all, the same Dogma 95 was a perfect example of highly artistic recognition of artistic impotence. Just the Russian revolt in addition to the usual senselessness and ruthlessness came out dull, faded, secondary. Not an exhausting cry, embodied in the cinematic language, but ruffled muttering, a fearful blow from the director's fist on the editing table.
In the end, one question remains: what is your “Russian New Wave”? It is not necessary to think for a long time, there is no wave here and there cannot be, and the proud answer to all Chamberlains in the form of a hypothetical collection “Moscow, I love you” will evaporate at the first contact with reality. It is not clear what to advocate, what to protest against. Worse, comrades do not agree even on simpler questions: should they protest in principle, should they propagate? One thing is clear, modern Russian cinema is very offended at someone, and the entire gallery of deaf-blind, autistic heroes seems to hint that the authors initially shoot the material, locked in a combat stand, ready to fight off any threats: spectators, critics, censors, colleagues in the workshop, Nikita Mikhalkov’s mustache, the machinations of the State Department and attacks of alien reptilians. It is quite obvious that contact with the audience will never take place if everywhere it is presumed to be fundamentally impossible. Messrs. Buslov, Khlebnikov, Vyrypaev and Serebrennikov do not give the viewer a single chance to prove that he is not quite a camel, that he is, in fact, sometimes, albeit reluctantly, but ready for dialogue and even (oh, horror!) understanding. The collective image of the enemy is the most tenacious of all chimeras, but the real situation is so comical and absurd that only a children's cartoon comes to mind, where the raccoon was afraid of its reflection. The great standing continues to this day. Someone has to take the first step, right?
Crazy love The romantic almanac “Short Circuit” tells five completely different and in some ways even unique stories, not similar to each other, but connected by one common idea. Five author’s views, five visions of the situation and five different thoughts, diligently conveyed to the perception of the viewer, who understands the very theme of the almanac and the raised essence of the problems in each story. Generally, I want to say in the introduction and conclusion, and much more want to write specifically about each short film. The first short, with a catchy and rich title “Shame”, is a rather peculiar plot with a huge amount of irony and ridicule of stereotypes. Boris Khlebnikov demonstrates cartoon and cartoon characters, approaching the task with irony. Unknowing the purpose of the youth, trying to somehow survive in a cruel world without rules, the classic gopnik, constantly squatting and chewing seeds, a separate courtyard in some remote and inconspicuous area in the spirit of “Crazy Help”, and it is to this film that the first novel is close in spirit. No wonder the director is the same. The protagonist is too different for understanding and perception - on the outside he is alone, but on the inside he is completely different. His absurd and incomprehensible way of achieving the goal, the very desire to convey the idea, essence and thought, forces to take risks and ahead, leading to different consequences. And love is everywhere, even in the mud and madness that is happening around. It is not for nothing that there is a saying that “beats, therefore loves”, not for nothing that every mother explains to her daughter that the boy who pulled her hurt for a pigtail is actually not an evil hooligan, but a stupid man in love, who does not understand how to express his feelings differently and attracts attention sometimes with absurd stupidity that causes only pain. The ridicule of the existing types was extremely easy to perceive, and each share of irony is visible as vividly as serious ideas. It is not for nothing that the first introductory short film has such a loud name. It is a very interesting thing, done in a very original way. The second point follows the novel “To Feel” from the screenwriter of the second “Boomer” and the director of “Euphoria”, Ivan Vyrypayev, tells about a Polish tourist who came to Moscow. The short film is made in a mocumentary style, and the documentary filming is supplied with various chips, such as pressing pauses, turning off, rewinding, inserted dialogues of discussion, since in fact the plot tells about watching the film of the heroine and her young man, on returning home. It was not without irony that the first words uttered during the call to the homeland were: “Airplanes fly here, and tanks drive through the streets.” This is how foreigners see Moscow, albeit not all, but the short film does not claim any objectivity and general unshakable truth. The key here is the appearance of a male character in the “just from Adler” type. A kind of street “romeo” tells, under the guise of absolute nonsense and nonsense, really a few clever phrases, trying to convey that rational knowledge of the world is absurd. It is not possible to grasp everything by scientific method and by reason. We live in chaos and chaos around us. To learn to be human, we need to know how to love. Be able to feel and feel emotions. Very clever novel in a very ironic-stupid wrapper. You don’t have to understand it, you have to feel it! The third short film is a sensual, emotional and rather cruel novel “Urgent repair” from Peter Buslov, who put both parts of “Boomer”. The repertoire of torment, experience and cruelty is preserved to the fullest extent, as is the visual style and handwriting of the director. Perhaps the most powerful novel of all. The action takes place in a dark chamber, where the main character, stunningly played by Ivan Dobronravov of the shoemaker, dreams of meeting a girl, from the bark to see through the shabby glass of the basement windows could only see beautiful legs, shoed in beautiful white shoes. How amazing was played on the table a fairy tale of shoes, as actors, how beautifully swept the spirit of romance and despair, with the strain of tension closer to the end of the story. The work turned out so flawless and sensual that you literally live a small alternative life in this story of sad love and romantic tragedy of circumstances. Here you can praise every angle and every frame, the story is directly shown visually, in actions and actions, and not spoken in the language of the text. And this merit of the director here plays a key role. The most expressive production of the entire almanac, grabbing the soul and leaving a strong mark. Bravo! Brilliant! Masterpiece! The fourth novel, this time from Alexei Herman Jr., is called Kim and tells about the difficult fate of a prisoner of a psychiatric hospital in a remote place from civilization. The hardest thing of all, distinguished by its atmosphere of doom. Gray depressive tones, heavy clouds envelop everything that is happening, and sharp threads of rain pain mercilessly penetrate every detail of a small plot. A sad story that can touch and make you worry. Decent work that will definitely find its viewer. And finally, the final in the almanac is the novella by Kirill Serebrennikov “Kiss of a shrimp”. Such a crazy name only aggravates the essence of the name of the almanac itself as a whole, and the idea that only a thread passed on the other, the previous four short films here bursts out of real madness. The novella is an elegant curtsey to Roger Corman and Ed Wood, embodying the frenzy of thrash aesthetics to its fullest. Singing freaks, gay kisses, female eroticism, dousing blood and a bacchanalia of the absurd, acting as the main character in a shrimp costume, to become monsters and monsters in the films of Ed Wood. A real firework of bright emotions and positive charge, serious notes are felt in the hilarious production. The short film is still about love, like the whole almanac, and this time mad love reaches its climax, becoming naive and absurd to the point of ugliness. Even all the cruelty shown here is extremely comical, and the demonstration of the naked female body brightens up the aversion to kissing between men, presenting the finale more romantic and beautiful, not devoid of the inherent elements of classic thrash handicrafts. Simultaneous irony over the genre, a successful banter, and at the same time an expression of respect. Love is everywhere. The love between order and chaos, the love between life and death, there are no boundaries for love either in terms of sex or in terms of self-expression of feelings. Absolutely crazy thing, bringing to a short circuit and giving a storm of positive emotions and the desire to applaud for all this buffoon on the screen. Just a wonderful novel to complete an equally beautiful almanac. In integrity, “Short circuit” looks very successful production, with competent ordinal placement of short films and their submission. All five stories are unique, all five leave a strong impression and the work of each of the directors of this project was truly successful! The brightest representative of the modern Russian art house, with the right approach to the implementation of very smart ideas and an abundance of embedded meaning. The film is absolutely admirable! 9 OF 10 Original
