In fact, each of our provincial cities is like two drops of water. We have already noticed something similar in Eldar Ryazanov’s film The Irony of Fate, but there the characters in general found a certain positive situation when all our apartments are identical and you can easily confuse your home with someone else’s. Slightly different things are in the film by Nikolai Dostal “Cloud-Paradise”, which you watch and do not know whether to laugh from what you see or not.
The plot of the film takes place in one of our provincial cities, where life flows along its usual course and if something happens, people do not pay much attention to it. Well, who here to surprise another birthday of a local resident or other everyday things that cause maximum fleeting attention. Here lives the guy Kohl, who works at one of the enterprises and he is increasingly tired of the local monotony.
To somehow stir up the people, Kolya once comes to his friend Feda and tells that he was offered a job in the Far East. Of course, this is not true at all, but Kolya decided that by saying this, he would achieve at least some effect and the locals would be a little excited and walk out of their apartments enthusiastically to say goodbye to Kolya properly. Naturally, Kolya did not want to leave and thought then to quickly reduce everything to a joke, but from such a funny little spark suddenly began to flare up serious flames and now almost the whole town has risen on his ears and Kolya is preparing to send. And now he himself does not know what to do and how to get out of the situation, because by revealing the truth, he will in a moment ruin his entire reputation, and the town will again become dull and joyless.
All the events of the film take place in one day, but Nikolai Dostal turned out to be such a film that you watch it and seem to live a big life together with the characters. We are shown the hopeless boring life of the town and people who have forgotten what joy and happiness are. For them, the story of Kohli’s trip becomes an occasion to finally get distracted and celebrate the event, which is serious and large-scale for the locals. Of course, it is not good that Kolya lied, but at the same time this is a unique rare case when a lie can be considered a blessing and how to know, suddenly the fate of the hero himself will also change for the better.
In the role of Koli, a young and then not quite famous actor Andrei Zhigalov appeared here. He worked mainly in the circus and when he was invited to the cinema by Nikolai Dostal, he agreed, since the image of the hero was close to him and Zhigalov proved that he was able to play organically and spiritually, because he was a person from the people who achieved everything himself, so here he just had to perform a slightly more eccentric version of himself.
I liked Cloud Paradise because it’s a movie about life that’s made with a kind of irony. Nikolai Dostal pleased with his style, manner of presentation of history and in general the plot, in which everyone can see something close to himself.
“Cloud Paradise” is one of my favorite domestic films, shot in 1990 by N. Dostal. The author of the song (and many others) is Andrei Zhigalov, he is not a professional actor, his profession is a clown. He lives in Germany and tours Europe. He starred in several more films, including in 2005 in the sequel to "Clouds" - the same director in the film "Cola-roll-field". “Clouds” in spirit close to the film B. Khlebnikov “Free navigation” (2006), in fact, both films are dramatic comedies about the life of Russians in the post-perestroika era. . .
The extremely high ratings of this tape gave hope that I would see at least a masterpiece. I didn't feel that way in the end.
The plot in one sentence: to raise interest in himself, a slacker who is sick of everyone comes up with a story that leaves, but does not calculate the consequences of the resonance - you will have to leave in fact, because everyone already wants him to leave as quickly as possible (although there will be something to talk about). Atmosphericity is supported by the views of gray industrial zones, faceless crunches and squalid rooms of the main characters. A little man's drama as it is. There are no claims to atmosphericity and acting, there is to content.
I remember the nineties pretty well. “We need to get out of this swamp,” spilled in the air, I also remember perfectly. There was a lot of good, but they didn’t pay attention to the good. I wanted something new, fresh like theirs, and nothing else could satisfy that request. And the feeling of hopelessness, which later spilled into anarchy, appeared largely due to such films – naturalistic social dramas that occupied blue screens for the time being.
Thirty years later, a lot in this movie is perceived strangely: the possibilities, as it turns out now in nostalgic programs, then there were almost more than now, and the actual story about unfortunate people mired in routine is only a cast from the time when I wanted “to have everything like them”, but did not want to do anything for this.
Those who did not just want to, but did, most likely did not watch such films.
5 out of 10
General impression: A soulful story about a lonely man.
Kolka (Andrey Zhigalov) lived in the world, but the dull and gray life of the provincial town bored him. And Nicholas took it and told the neighbors that he was going to a friend's Far East. What was his surprise when the whole yard begins to participate in his collections and wires.
It cannot be said that the narrative is strongly twisted, straightforward plot starts from the life of Kohli. Neighbors interested in his trip begin to make plans for Nicholas. Telling him he'll definitely be better elsewhere, because there's a new life waiting for him! The suitcase is ready and the furniture is sold out. How clever it all turned out, and Kolya did not have time to blink.
Sumbricated actions do not let go of the fascinating narrative. I want to know more, and in addition to a friendly conversation with neighbors, there is a love line in the person of Natalia (Alla Klyuk), very much as everything will turn.
And in this film chic music, to the accompaniment of the guitar sings and performs the actor who played Kolya. So sad and dreary becomes on the soul, touches the heart musical strings. Beautiful.
What about the movie? About the loneliness and longing in the heart of the hero, that despite the fact that Kolyu was so gloriously gathered, and shouted to him at the interruption that letters will be waiting for him, in fact they will forget the next day, for people it is only the fuss of what is happening, especially for such a stagnant provincial town.
P.S. There is a sequel, after 15 years, in 2005 the picture “Kola-Cross Field” was released. If you really want to see these pictures right away. I didn’t like it at all, even though the director is the same. There is almost no soul.
In this film, I am most interested in the roles and motives. What was Kohli’s motive for coming up with a trip to the Far East? Embellish yourself, appear to others better, more interesting than he really is. Then the crowd comes into play. They need a party. Alkash needs a drink. ' Best Friend' I want to prove myself, create news, dilute boring life. Neighbors don’t care about Kolya.
Yes, everything is grotesque, hypertrophied, the situation quickly gets out of Kohli’s control due to the fact that he does not show will, let go of the situation, allowed himself to go with the flow. But at the same time he looks at others, realizing with horror that it seems that this environment pushes him out, he does not understand whether those whom he considered close people are actually ready without regret to let him go?
And what happens when all the neighbors already know, in the middle of the feast? The dearest and dearest person comes. But it is the most native person who learns about the departure last. Colino's connivance turns into betrayal. His girlfriend is full of resentment, Kole also seems that she easily lets him go. And he thinks: ' well, if you're offended, so I'm offended at you' A childish act. But no one doubted Kohli’s infantility. When I watch this film, I feel the skin feeling when you turn the wrong way, go against yourself in order to look in someone’s eyes in a certain way, better than you really are. Instead of admitting your mistake in time, keep multiplying the chaos. And when you turn the wrong way, you just have to get there. Which is what happens in the finale. A shrill cry: 'Autobu mustache!', the crowd runs, the suitcase is pulled out of their hands, pushed into the bus, you still cling to the chance you had, but it's too late... The bus has already left. This is the price of not listening to yourself, not being able to say 'no'
No one was jealous of him, but they simply did not take him seriously. The attitude of fellow villagers, to Kolka, as the youngest son-crazy: malachol, well, God. Under the yoke of “inadequacy”, he foolishly created an information guide – wires; a bit of hype for friends, and someone rubbed his pocket under the noise, but in general it became a milestone for each person in a string of empty days, with deaf forecasts of the weather and distant useless news. Here he is – a Sunday hero, who took fate in his fists, and set out to change the course of life with an escape that promises new horizons, with a lot of adventures. He is now looked upon as a mature but still uncouth pilgrim, a mature man who has reassessed his priorities, knows what he wants, and mercilessly cut off the chains with a disgraced room in the slums of a seedy outback, with a penny salary, and connections with glass colleagues, and with a stupid sympathy for a friendson girl. It was on Kolka that sincere glances now lay, with them hopes and aspirations, stopped residents of the stuck village. Development – there is no place here for which they would not dare to change. N-chans endowed him with their dreams and plans, now their own alter ego lives in it, which they sincerely rejoiced to spend almost on their hands, categorically and inevitably shoved into the boat of a new life ... And with these same hands, wet from the lost tears, they followed the path of the seeker.
"Let him seek in a faraway country."
What did he throw in the deaf?
... I didn’t like the second movie, but the actors didn’t. If the former pulled on an optimistic farce, then the post-perestroika return lay on the soul a stone, becoming a pessimistic drama, and destroyed the universe of “Cloud”. The stone that guards the unwanted third coming. It seems to me that if I had warned the young man about the visit, everything would have been different and warmer.
The wires in nowhere... Where are you, the mysterious cloud paradise?
View the New Year program, day 3.
Another very unusual film, the last year of the USSR, which I love very much. When I first saw this movie in 1998, I didn’t like it. Then it seemed kind of boring and delusional, in which there is absolutely no plot. At the age of 18, I didn’t understand much about life and couldn’t fully appreciate this wonderful film. And only in 2005, when I watched it again, I really liked it. This film has no less successful sequel "Cola - roll-field". If memory doesn't change, 2005. The plot is simple. After many years, Kol has returned. And what started there, it is better to look for yourself. Since then, I have reviewed it once a year. And its continuation, too. And in the last 5 years, we have watched it among the additional films on the New Year's viewing program.
The wonderful film "Cloud-Paradise" tells about the consequences of deception. The life of a small provincial town is dull and monotonous, there are no events, everything is calm and gray. In the village, everyone knows each other. A tragicomic story about a boy from the working suburbs of a provincial town, who from boredom, from the unexpected realization of his uselessness announces an immediate departure to the Far East and ... immediately becomes the hero of the day: the whole district runs off on his wires. But what to do with the hero, because he really was not going anywhere, it was just a lie. From that moment the life of Nicholas turned abruptly. It turns out that the inhabitants of the provincial town began the whole world to collect it on a long trip. He has already admitted that he has no friend and he invented a trip, but this does not stop the citizens.
The film clearly does not fit into a strict time frame. The picture is sad and funny at the same time, with excellent acting work and talented director, creates a capacious way of our life with all its sorrows, sorrows, rare happy moments and agonizing nostalgia.
At the sunset of Soviet cinema, Nikolai Dostal shot a real small masterpiece. I can’t name this film otherwise, despite the fact that the film was criticized very vigorously, and now it gets its name. But for me, this picture is the best that I have seen in Russian cinema in the last twenty years. The final scene, accompanied by the song "Cloud-Paradise", is brilliant, even remembering it I cannot hold back tears. Andrey Zhigalov is an actor whom I love and respect endlessly. Thank you for this role and for the song. At a time when domestic film distribution was littered with the so-called “truth of life”, Dostal made a normal film about normal people. And most importantly, a film that makes you think. Almost the entire “black” of the perestroika era justly disappeared into oblivion. And the movie "Cloud-Paradise" is still alive. It still looks good. For me, this movie is an outlet! When I watch it, my soul is washed, and when I listen to Andrey's songs, my soul is reborn! A small pearl of the age of timelessness, a real movie that few people can leave indifferent!
A very sincere, touching and touching film. We can say that there are no secondary characters. All well discharged and played. Great song in the finale. A movie that makes your hair stand on end and gives you goosebumps. This longing, this lightlessness... And an unexpected turn, after which you also want to get up and start doing something. I especially remember the role of B. Tolokonnikova in this film. His role there seems to be simple and he played it as if without much effort, but you can make a separate film about such a person. And the suitcase gives, and this suitcase is a symbol of freedom, or freedom of spirit. On the one hand, everything is so recognizable (I have repeatedly seen such “towns in the hinterland”, I myself grew up in such a town), and there is no sense of “blackness” in sight! And funny, and suddenly very, very sad. Perhaps because the film is made with love for its characters, and it feels like it. This is a good movie. Everyone needs a breath of air like that. What is it that such a step happened accidentally, almost anecdotally? Who doesn’t want to run away from the flags one day? How frightening to go beyond the usual, and how often I want to do it. And there: whatever happens! ... Wonderful artists and such an unforgettable song in the final! Simple dialogues of heroes, but at the same time, have great meaning. Just talk about the weather, because there's nothing else going on in town. Respect for the director. More movies where the end is the end. Everything is clear, everything is clear.
I think it's pretty stupid to try to explain the idea of this movie and catch the plot. Such films are above comments, critics and even more amateurs. This film is simply perceived with the whole soul and body. All actors worked on 5+, and Andrey Zhigalov a separate conversation. How his hero Kolya stirred up this small provincial anthill, gave a breath of freedom to each character, revealed their feelings, gave them a little to dream about distant edges, oceans, different from their life among gray everyday life. So in life, until you start moving, no one will pay attention to you. And that look at the end, as he rides on the bus, is full of longing, loneliness, and timidly incipient hope for the best in distant unknown lands. This look just turns the soul.
Deep film. You look and you can’t breathe at all – it’s as if you penetrate into that space-time. At the same time, nostalgia for the “that” our world, which remained in the past, and the absence of burning longing at the same time, on the contrary, it awakens very warm feelings. "Cloud-Paradise" explodes the brain with the brightness of its images, every phrase, every movement accurate hit and accurate recognition, and its meaning is the exposure of human nature, regardless of place and time. It is necessary to watch it, but I will not impose my recommendations, because many modern viewers will not understand this film (as I once did). And here everyone chooses to watch or not. Film for connoisseurs, not designed for a mass audience. And I will be watching this wonderful and atypical film constantly.
The sky is a cloud paradise, guess it.
It is impossible to find, know and understand.
What color and where, please tell me.
Rather, you are where you cannot find.
And I tremble at the thought that I will never find
I want to forget, run away, spin.
Where are you, where are you, cloud paradise
Don't drop the leaves of hope...
Like all residents of a small provincial town, Kolya lived a quiet, unremarkable life, in which there were no particularly bright ups, but no downs were also noticed. Interrupting with various kinds of earnings, the guy rested in his spare time with his friends, had fun with the girls and did not think about anything significant. but once he got tired of driving in a vicious circle every day and he informed his neighbors that he would leave very soon and probably never return again.
Such a statement like a thunder fell on the head of all who know Kolya and now all his friends and acquaintances began to prepare for departure. nothing like this in the area was not long ago, and now Kolya has become the center of attention, reputed to be perhaps the most significant celebrity in the local region. But the only catch is that Kolya himself does not really know why he said about his departure, because he did not seriously plan anything like this at all.
Cloud Paradise. Nikolai Dostal shows us the life of ordinary people who are locked in gray everyday life, there is nothing special in their life, and therefore every extraordinary event causes them a special stir. The director showed us ordinary people in everyday surroundings and did it so organically that sometimes it even seems that this is not just a movie, but a documentary sketch.
I especially want to mention Andrei Zhigalov in the role of Koli. He like no one else got used to the image and played just fine. There are a lot of guys like Kolya in our country, so Zhigalov played a collective image of an average cheerful person who tries to make life at least a little more fun. Both for myself and for others.
My bottom line: Cloud Paradise is a great example of a movie that doesn’t need budgets or scale to be interesting. I want to thank Nikolai Dostal for this brilliant work, which, although not as famous as other Soviet comedies, still deserves deep respect.
Cloud Paradise is one of the first comedies of the nineties, which became a cult. Very short in duration, this comedy and its main essence carries a lot of mentality and mood of the people of that time.
In the story, a simple guy Kohl, who had a day off. He walks the streets and can’t find a place.
Through the film, he meets various acquaintances who meet him not very friendly and hint to him that he finally got to work. Nicholas by the simplicity of his soul does not perceive their negative emotions and continues to loitere idle.
By a ridiculous mistake, a friend of Nikolai decides that he decides to leave the city for a good job. Nicholas decides to play along, but it is already too late. Everyone is happy for Nicholas, now he is in the spotlight and suddenly becomes loved by everyone. Everyone sees off the hero and the situation reaches absurdity. Things from his apartment are starting to sell and are already finding new tenants. The ridiculous lie goes so far that Kolenka has no choice but to leave penniless and in an unknown direction to the stormy goodbye of his friends.
This film reveals the everyday loneliness of both the main and secondary characters. Affects social problems of the hinterland, such as unemployment and despondency from the fact that you can not find a job for your life. This is the comedy of alienation. In some places, we can smile at the ridiculous actions of the characters, laugh at sharp life phrases, but in the end we all get on the bus with Nikolai and leave our native place in an unknown direction, only because we want to be loved, at least by a distance.
10 out of 10
I have been for many years and I can distinguish a masterpiece, as everyone here admires, from a low-grade, ideologically pumped picture. To be honest, this is something stupid and ugly that does not deserve a low standard.
In the late 80s, everything was possible in our cinema, no censorship, no artistic advice, which served to further slide Russian cinema to the bottom, into the most eerie anti-Soviet kitsch. In this regard, the film was much ahead of its time, it was necessary to shoot it now, when it would seem that there was nowhere to fall from the bottom.
The plot is stupid and unsophisticated, we are shown a kind of gray anti-social city in which it is supposedly boring and uninteresting to live, there even old Taukitan women on a bench are meaningfully silent. Nobody wants to talk about the weather, not even the weather. It would seem that if you are not a sociopath, but a normal person, then the thirst for communication will overcome any information barrier, but it is Taukitans or it is SOVKI - they are like that, look at them and be glad that you are not them, the director will immerse you in his painful fantasies about a hopeless life in a typical Soviet city.
The main character, Nicolas, you can call him that, the Soviet guys were not such mentally retarded degenerates at large. This stupid, moaning, cheerful creature did not show us in the film, but where it works was also not said, apparently at some fantastic work where you can shuffle and fool, as he does the whole film.
The rest of the hero is most offended, especially for the clever beauty Alla Klyuka, turned into a downtrodden wacko who has fish and Nicolas fish. The girl's career was not ruined.
Here comes the super event, Nicolas spontaneously announces his departure! What began here, even the grandmothers started talking, and the boring childless married couple, whose white-billionaire Nicolas was friends, is transformed before his eyes. You know, the stupidity of this film is just off the scale, the author wanted to show off another cave anti-Sovietism, but it only turned out to be disgraced.
There is no life in any role, everyone is dead, the script is mad, the surroundings are dull and implausible. It is sad that the anti-Soviet propaganda has achieved its goal, as can be seen from the laudatory reviews, but the king is still naked, fading.
There comes a time in everyone’s life when they are simply bored. Uniform, measured everyday life, in which nothing significant happens, can cause the most real despondency, from which it is impossible to escape. And it is good if indelible boredom catches up with you where it can be at least partially corrected, but most of us do not live in megacities that open up new opportunities or allow you to at least briefly distract from the grayness of being watching a fresh film in the cinema or going to a theater production. Unremarkable, similar provincial cities are fraught with great danger. They are able to break even the most persistent person, to deprive him of the craving for the good, the eternal. Unable to realize their potential in conditions of absolute indifference to something higher, yesterday’s romantics begin to sink into everyday life, agreeing to be content with small, and sometimes depriving themselves of the slightest pleasure that allows them to maintain sobriety for possible future achievements. No, of course, a person’s life is largely determined by himself and if you set a goal to break out of the vicious circle, then it is quite possible to implement. But sometimes we critically need a push to action that is not as easy as it may seem.
Famous Soviet and Russian director and screenwriter Nikolai Dostal in his numerous works tried to study in as much detail as possible the unjolly social phenomenon of domestic provincial towns, using invariable satirical notes that can ridicule everything that the creator did not undertake. Dostal’s first works in big cinema were noted by critics and viewers by the unquestioning confidence of the filmmaker in the righteousness of his own research. And in many respects he was truly visionary, although many of the objects of his very caustic irony until the very end refused to admit their inferiority, blaming the director for excessive distortion of the stated facts. Nevertheless, despite the dissatisfaction of a certain audience, Nikolai Dostal continued to explore the complex human culture formed outside the vital arteries of the Soviet Union, receiving constant attention from fans and enemies who saw something higher in seemingly simple and frankly provocative productions than the author’s desire to build around himself a pillar of resonance, behind which nothing significant is hidden. Having shot several intriguing, tenacious and memorable pictures, in 1990 the director shot a kind of intermediate career result, entitled “Cloud-Paradise”. The modest, inexpensive production gathered exceptionally worthy performers and other members of the team on the set, telling the audience an extremely clear and at the same time making you seriously think about the story, which became one of the last worthy works shot in the dying Soviet Union.
So, the plot of the film takes us to some unremarkable provincial town, living its absolutely expressionless life, driving the locals into a state of infectious detachment. Knowing each other as if they were themselves, the townspeople ceased to be interested in the joys and adversities of their neighbors, no one cared about the joys and adversity of their neighbor on the landing. And only when hot drinks appeared on the table, it was possible to start at least some semblance of conversation, in most cases developing at the end of the evening into drunken madness. In such conditions, it is very difficult to keep your own core, moving forward and demanding from its owner firm decisions, but the local boy Kola (Andrey Zhigalov) managed to rekindle the fire and put his native town on his ears. Tired of meaningless life, devoid of the slightest features and differences, the hero informs his comrades that he is soon going to leave the town and go to conquer the Far East. This statement makes a real furor among the bored population, and Kolya at the moment turns into a universal favorite, in fact, the only local resident who can make a big deed. And even those who previously did not want to have anything to do with him suddenly flared up with warm feelings towards Kola, because leaving the protracting province is akin to a feat. The only catch is that Kolya himself did not seriously think to escape from his native land, intending to properly laugh at his surroundings. But now it doesn't matter.
Having placed the action of the film in places painfully known to most Soviet and post-Soviet citizens, Nikolai Dostal automatically found a response from his numerous audience, watching with enthusiasm and enthusiasm how the grayness of everyday life suddenly erupts in a bright flash that at least briefly pulled the population of the provincial town out of a lulling sleep. A well-known life situation unfolds before our eyes, passing along a pre-programmed path. Hiking in the morning to work, aimlessly spent the day behind the counter or machine, returning home, dinner and TV. Unfortunately, in the province, a person is deprived of other entertainment, from which he does not have to look for anything intriguing in the vicinity, because this simply does not exist. Of course, the film of Nikolai Dostal according to the tradition of the director reveals its essence in frankly satirical tones, excluding the division of the story into shades and unnecessary branches, but “Cloud-Paradise” thanks to this and cuts into memory. This story speaks of the plight of the gray provincial masses without unnecessary embellishment, while not forgetting to leave a ray of hope in the narrative, without which there is no way. For all his creative radicalism, Dostal is not going to drive us into outright sadness and boredom, showing that even in the deepest, darkest crevice, there are opportunities to raise your head and look for ways to salvation. It is only important to overcome yourself, and then the situation will take a completely different turn.
In addition to Nikolai Dostal and screenwriter Georgy Nikolaev for the striking cultural phenomenon of “Cloud-Paradise” is also worth thanking the actor Andrei Zhigalov, who played the role of the same Kohli, so successfully joked about his environment. Possessing the appearance of an average, inconspicuous, completely mediocre guy, Zhigalov nevertheless compensated for his appearance with inner charisma and the ability to recreate something unique on not the most extensive dramatic material. His hero, Kolya, seems as expressionless as everyone around him, but on closer inspection we see him from a completely different side. Of course, the joker did not actually plan what he told everyone he met, but this action caused serious upheavals and consequences that could not pass by the town unnoticed. And along with the passage of time, Kolya himself becomes a little different, although not cardinal, but rebirth awaits him. He committed an act, although he did not fully foresee its consequences, but the more interesting was life itself, knocked out of the rut leading to the abyss.
In the end, I want to say that Cloud Paradise is an amazing and extraordinary film that tells an extremely simple, slightly absurd, but at the same time heartfelt and instructive story. Nikolai Dostal made a film that will be relevant for many years to come. Good to see you!
Noisy and verbose discussions of the 1985-1990s died down. Today, in the age of the Internet, we find it ridiculous and absurd the sincere faith of the common people in the slogans of the reformers of the era of Perestroika, when it was impossible to check where the truth is and where the lie is. People believed politicians for the last time - and no longer hoped for anything, everyone stood for himself. There was a great resettlement of disadvantaged and abandoned people: from village to city, from towns to capitals, from the republics of the former USSR to Russia and vice versa, from their native country abroad.
“Cloud-Paradise” is a film-feeling the collapse of the USSR and the subsequent separation of everyone from everyone. The film, unfortunately, went unnoticed, drowned out by the collapse of state structures, ambitions, last hopes and faith in the best of each of us. The action takes place in a remote town, but especially I want to note that the authors of the film inadvertently showed that in 5 years nothing has changed. Nothing. This city is transcendental as the “City of Zero” with Lenia Filatov, where the Glavger also aches to leave the city to a pain in his heart. However, the city in Cloud Paradise is as real as it is transcendental; such cities can still be seen today, especially if you drive away from Moscow, to the North or Eastern Siberia. I can honestly say that this movie is about us. I was born in a village and 12 years ago I, like Kole, had to leave my native places and decide on this difficult but objectively necessary step. Today, this village is not on the map, and the residents have sunk into oblivion. By the way, probably residents of capitals and cities with a million people, perhaps turn off the film and it is difficult to judge them for this, because they live in a different reality, they rarely have to leave their native places forever, knowing that they may have nowhere to return. But this does not diminish the artistic value of the film, its hearty simplicity and intimateness. Nostalgic motifs in the film are expressed vividly and multifaceted, better than anywhere else.
Kol’s Glavger was initially pushed away by some inconsistency, but after further viewing it became clear that Kolya is me, this is my friend, this is my neighbor, this is each of us. I cannot agree with the generally accepted opinion that Kohli’s departure is expressed in Tsoyev’s “Changes!” if only because Kohlya did not passively wait for these very changes, as most in the city, but he himself challenged the unknown. He left almost unconsciously, somewhere in his heart realizing that the time has come.
Music. I want to mark it separately. For one piece of music, a film can be awarded. The songs "My Star" and "Paradise Cloud" under the guitar, performed by Glavhero became the leitmotif of farewell to loved ones, with their native city, with a country that in a year will disappear from the world map.
Operational work in the film is extremely professional. The scene at the end of the film with the bus is a masterpiece of Soviet and Russian cinema. As I have already noted, the quality of the film is not the best, but the sunset, the glare of the sun and the departure of the Glavhero taking all the loved ones in the heart together with themselves demonstrate the skillful work of the group of operators. Moreover, I did not think that at the end of the film, tears would come to my eyes.
Probably, “Cloud-Paradise” is the last good film of the USSR without black hair, spitting on the past, bloody Stalin and other myths fanned by the crucibles of pro-Western liberal journalism.
It is a pity that the film went unnoticed and did not receive awards or attention, because, despite the low quality of the film, a sincere and folk film turned out. But I am glad that he received the well-deserved recognition of a simple viewer.
“Change requires our hearts,” or Over the abyss in the Soviet Union
Please pay attention to the year of the film’s release – a year before the coup, and the day before the August coup, the film received the Silver Leopard Award in Locarno. By the way, the film (as well as the director and actors) collected many different awards. The film in the 90s did not go unnoticed. And all because the picture is a slice of our society on the eve of the “big bang”. “Change” requires Viktor Tsoi, and the heroes of the film “Cloud-Paradise” do not even dream of them. They rot in their "tomorrow is the same as yesterday." But suddenly something happens that gives them a very small ghostly hope, not even for a bright future, but only that someone will be able to escape from the clutches of the endless same “today”.
The plot is simple: Kolya lives in a certain provincial town and he has absolutely nothing to do, he only does that he sticks to everything that has shaken the residents of the city. One day, for an empty conversation, Kolya did not think by accident that he was leaving. What's happening here? Kolya himself is not happy with such attention. Large wires arrange Kole citizens and with songs and dances expel him from the city.
“Cloud-Paradise” is a kind of “Cadle in the Rye” in Soviet terms. The same empty hero, who has almost no chance to “break” the system, and he probably does not want to. He has some ghostly dreams, which will not come true web, which every day more tightens the will of the hero. Society needs small cogs, and by the early 90s, no cogs are needed. But both of them leave little hope. Maybe Holden will still be a “catcher of souls over the abyss”, maybe Kolya will still come to a bright future.
Today, after more than twenty-five years, we can guess where Kolya came on his bus, but apparently the director decided to give his answer to this question, and perhaps to finish the viewer with the fact that there is no hope, and the road leads to nowhere. In 2004, N. Dostal shot a sequel to Kola – rolling field. I'm a little scared to watch Kohli return to his town, I'm afraid the fears of futility will be justified. But anyway, that's another story, isn't it? And while I haven’t seen the sequel, I believe Kolya has found his cloud paradise.
8 out of 10
This film for me, perhaps, is one of the favorite not only among domestic cinema, but even the world.
Nikolai Dostal tore a piece of the hinterland of the Soviet Union, mixed it with peace, tranquility, added a little sadness, chewed and put into the soul so deeply that twenty-five years later the film is as close as yesterday.
And the point is not even in some ingenious scenario, but in the atmosphericity that the author managed to convey. This is my friend swindler-neighbor from childhood hanging upside down on the bar, this is my neighbor grumbles, coming out of the entrance with avoska, this is my passion for the neighbor’s girl and I run to the river to check “can I swim” when the first ice has just come down.
Perhaps the new generation will not understand what this film is about, but those who were born and lived in the USSR, and even more so, in a small Soviet town / village - will definitely understand and appreciate.
It is absolutely necessary to allocate the cast:
“Polygraph Polygrafovich” Tolokonnikov, Irina Rozanova, Alla Klyuka, Sergey Batalov, Lev Borisov and of course “Kolya”, he is also a professional successful clown who has been collecting halls in Germany for many years – Andrei Zhigalov.
10 out of 10
I advise you to watch the continuation of this picture – “Kolya-roll the Field”.
Words come out of their mouths and they live their lives. They grow and turn into a whole history and even oblige to actions.
So Kolya involuntarily uttered the words that he was going to leave and these words, fluttering out, began their own life. They turned a whirlwind of events that the author of these words could not cope with either. Kolya. A thick wall of provincial boredom is already pushing him out of town. Residents of this place can not miss such an event and an occasion to somehow stir up their lives. Kolya threw a spark on the combustible material. all residents were only waiting for events, waiting for colors for their lives.
But despite all the comedy in the film, there are notes of melancholy tragedy. It is not immediately clear what they are related to.
Why did the news about Kohli County make such a splash? Do they live in a closed city from which it is impossible to get out and only Kolya-Odysseus managed to find a loophole? Not at all. The problem is that the prison was arranged by the neighbors themselves. And leave as if they can not and on the spot do not want to change something. Their prison and internal boredom. It does not depend on the place of residence.
They have nothing to say to each other. Surprisingly, even grandmothers sitting at the entrance are always quiet.
Their heads are empty and they have no way of finding common ground with each other. After all, the concept of communication implies something in common between interlocutors. Only mental emptiness can come into common between them, but it leads only to stupid, strained and awkward silence before each other. Even the weather is not discussed, although this topic always helps people when there is nothing more to say.
That's the sadness in the movie that people shouldn't be locked up in prison. The hell of a condition of existence they will arrange themselves.
Kolya, for them, became the strong-willed titan who decided to escape from there. Everyone immediately felt the power. He became the pride of the town. It was an excuse for their meager existence. They are happy to meet and participate in him, as if it would change something in their lives. It's a collective responsibility. In Kola, everyone sees himself. Kohli’s departure becomes hope and salvation for everyone, as if it were a piece of themselves that broke out of the cage. They are happy and will not miss this opportunity. They'll send him no matter what. They will rejoice in his successes on the outside, pretending that without them nothing would have happened. But they will be even more pleased with his failures. Not explicitly, of course, but to myself: at home, in the kitchen, over a glass of strong tea and before going to bed. His missteps justify their infantilism and pettiness. “Here he went and what became of him.”
And Kolya, perhaps, did not want to talk about leaving. He was forced. He didn’t even say it, he said it. The blindness and hopelessness of boredom just squeezed out of him something changing, some threshold situation. His changes in life are not from excess (energy, strength, or anything else), but from lack. He wasn't an actor for a second. They were pushed around every moment. And that's sad.
Something needs to change. We have to go.
The hopeless, monotonous life of the industrial zone village. Apathetic residents. The stormy events in the country did not dilute the viscous routine of the town. The absolute indifference of people to life we see at the beginning of the film, when the main character (Kolya) tries to somehow rock his neighbors, but can not even involve them in a banal conversation about the weather. “Man is a log to man,” as Jerzy Letz said.
A dull picture is observed by the viewer: terrible block houses of unknown color, rare dead trees, squalid streets. The dreams and aspirations of the people were buried in this triumph of socialism. And each hero seems to hide in the shell, so as not to stand out from the general gray mass.
The restless (probably because of his youth) Kolya seems superfluous in this village. Up to a point. A foolish and ill-considered lie makes him the hero of the day. All the neighbors were shocked when they heard about his imminent departure. It is this event that helps the director to reveal the real characters of people, to make a kind of cut of the generation lost between eras.
It turns out that the beech-neighbors are sincerely happy for the unsuccessful Kolya; moreover, Kolya for them is the embodiment of a dream to escape from the grayness of life, to see life that many have only heard of. Everyone helps him and helps him as much as he can. Constant close-ups are portraits of people crushed by life, resurrected in joy for another. That for a resident of a large city is everyday (regular relocations), for them an event that will be remembered for years. Hence the elegant dresses taken out of the bins, and a stormy feast with traditional songs through tears, and the associated distribution of modest things of the hero between the neighbors remaining to “winter”.
The video series is simple, even poor (however, poor, like life, which reflects): static plans, poor composition, an abundance of large and medium plans. There is almost no parallel installation. The expressiveness of the director's move is in the simplicity of the narrative.
Director Dostal gathered in the film the typical heroes of the working village (tired woman, grandmothers on the bench, drinking men, etc.), in places exaggerating their features. This film is more like a successful cartoon of the era. The director is ironic about his characters, but beyond the smile, this irony causes sadness. Especially when you consider that in almost twenty-five years, little has changed. Kolya will leave, and they will stay, and the same gloomy life will continue.
Neighbor wires turned the existing village into a living, breathing organism. “It’s a shame that now that everything is good, you need to leave,” says Kolya. But now it is impossible to stay - the joke is too long. So he goes into the unknown, giving the inhabitants of a small village forgotten by God and power, a drop of joy and hope.
It's a wonderful movie. Why didn’t I hear about it and see it before? It makes you feel good. If you analyze why, why I liked the film so much, there is no clear answer, somehow on a sensual level the film turned out to be very soft, close, warm.
Playing the main actor is unparalleled. Nikolai, a simple village boy Nikolai, who, as it turns out, is very much loved by everyone, although he is considered a “local bore”, or even a “fool”. The life of a village is the life of a large family. From the inside, as from the outside, it is boring, people hurt each other, treat disrespectfully, considering themselves eternal. But the most important thing in the previous sentence is the word “boredom”, non-event, lack of interest in the current life. And then, once, Nikolai, who seemed to go where he would go from the submarine, leaves. And suddenly the movement begins, boredom - away! The best outfits ladies, suitcase for free, hugs, kisses, feast, etc. Showing participation and even love for your “brother”.
I think you should appreciate every person around you, whether you're bored or not. To be able to find joy in any events, like Nicholas, whether it will rain or not, still talk about it and enjoy communication.
A dramatic film about the Russian province with its hopelessness, monotony, with longing, without news with a gray horizon and dark colors of intimacy. There is no prospect, no hope, no change! Everything flows smoothly and deafly... And that is what oppresses and devours man.
An unusual actor with amazing charisma, a sense of humor, with an unusual voice and an inquisitive mind! a guy who has friends, a beloved girl and just people who understand him, who has cool songs... There's a light guy like that everywhere! It is bad for him to smolder among the fading fire of life! Boringly is in the gray reality of provincial silence and windlessness, where the main topics of conversation: weather, death or the birth of neighbors. Such restless lights and beckon distant beautiful distances, capitals and large cities ... The desire for a better life, new and colorful, pushes to abandon all the usual life and escape from the prison of provincialism, to join the carnival of life and holiday, movement, and not provincial stagnation and a viscous swamp. To conquer the city and taste all its charms and dishes = the eternal dream and aspiration of any provincial. But not everyone has the courage to throw off the shackles and escape, at least mentally ... even if it is pointless ... The hero of the film Nikolai drew the attention of all the inhabitants of the street from small to large, who finally understood and noticed his vulnerable, dreamy and kind youthful soul. They began to worry, instruct morally and help in his desire to escape from the shackles of routine and hopelessness. Sometimes such fugitives are helped by word and deed throughout the village and the street, escorted (who with good, who with envy), those who themselves sometimes wanted to escape, but did not dare. They help only because they sincerely want someone else to fulfill their unfulfilled dream. From such inspired dreamers and people dissatisfied with the current life, travelers, poets and conquerors of heights and depths appear.
... A fiction... a dream... an attempt... a bus and a far beautiful unknown.
A small Russian village of time, it is - with Khrushchub houses, cluttered with an unkempt yard, half asleep, immersed in the usual nap and apathetic to all residents. This universal stagnation in thoughts and desires, this irresistible daily routine one Sunday morning is broken by a restless and persecuted boy named Kolya. Resembling a modern Ivanushka-fool, if he was good for something, it was only to play the guitar.
Kole comes up with a ridiculous idea to announce to everyone about his departure to the Far East. And this was enough to immediately become a hero of the village scale, an idol for friends and neighbors who are usually indifferent to Kola. Suddenly awakened interest acquires a paradoxical expression: friends and a beloved girl amicably refuse Nicholas, not because they cease to love, but because now they begin to respect too much. As agreed, and all as one, prefer from now on a distant "crane in the sky" rather than a close "brut in the hand."
The dense concentration of the absurdity of provincial Russian life, filtered out by the authors, appears here as nothing more than an inside out mythology of the Soviet way of life - with false enthusiasm and a declared aspiration to accomplish a feat. Some incredible – genetic – sense of truth does not change the authors in any frame. And this is despite the obvious aspiration for grotesque and optical exaggeration of almost every frame due to wide-focus shooting.
“Cloud-Paradise” is a farcical, tragicomic story of an extra person, from whom the closest people gladly refuse, guided by good intentions, necessarily “do good”, a collective ritual worked out for decades and an ingrained habit of escorting someone somewhere around the world: to war, virgin land, army, zone or simply to the big world, where they themselves never visit.
But this strengthening from frame to frame absurdity is replaced in the farewell song of the escorted home Nicholas such genuine, but bright sadness and such unbearable melancholy that it is time to introduce into everyday life the concept of “striking catharsis”. 24-year-old Andrey Zhigalov, shining here in the title role (however, in the same year also in the film “the Body”), after a couple of years actually repeated this story in his own life, leaving for permanent residence in Germany.
A story without a happy ending. So simple and at the same time complex. A story about the life of an ordinary person. A similar situation could happen to anyone; anyone can recognize in the characters the pictures of their neighbors, and perhaps themselves.
From the first minutes of viewing, all the problems that are revealed in the film become clear. One of them is the “little man” problem. It has been solved many times by classics of literature and in films, but the work of this director I consider a masterpiece. Everything is clear and concise, without unnecessary pathos and loud phrases.
The main character, like Iona Potapov from Chekhov’s Tosca, needs communication. But in no one he finds a response, everything is met with a blank wall of indifference. Even the woman she loves doesn’t take her seriously. And, in order to somehow have fun and cheer others, Nicholas comes up with a trip to the East. Simplicity is worse than stealing, his words are taken seriously. And then everyone “wakes up” to show a caring participation in the arrangement of a happy life of a friend.
Very active. So much so that everyone decided for him. What about Kolya? He seems to want change, no, he doesn’t know.
There can be no happy ending in this story, because everything is built on tragedy. And if Nikolai was not such a spineless creature and at least decided something on his own in this situation, then perhaps he would have emerged victorious. And so he's just a splinter that he wears with the current. I think the film deserves the maximum appreciation for its vitality.