Literature & Cinema - Moscow - page 434

INDIE
In this age of corporate-sponsored cinema, some Russian directors are still turning
out stimulating art-house films.
In 2003 Moscow director Andrei Zvyagintsev came home from Venice with the
Golden Lion, awarded for his moody thriller The Return. His follow-up film, The Ban-
ishment, refers to the end of paradise for a couple whose marriage is falling apart.
Zvyagintsev continues to earn accolades at Venice and in Cannes. Elena(2011) is an
evocative, if disheartening portrait of relationships in modern Moscow. Leviathan
(2014) is another starkly realistic drama about an everyday guy who tries to seek
justice and takes on the system - with a tragic outcome.
In 2006 stage director Ivan Vyrypaev won the small Golden Lion for his cinematic
debut, the tragic love story Euphoria. Meanwhile, Alexey Popogrebsky has won a slew
of lesser awards for How I Ended this Summer(2010), a compelling drama set at a re-
mote Arctic research station. Silent Souls(2011) by Igor Mishin was called The Bunt-
ings() in Russian. Nominated for the Golden Lion in Venice, it's a beautiful, moving
film about ties to the ancient in modern-day, rural Russia.
Contemporary Cinema
Moscow's film industry has made a remarkable comeback since the lull in the 1990s. Mos-
film is one of the largest production companies in the world, producing almost all of Rus-
sia's film, TV and video programming. Moscow is indeed the Russian Hollywood. Unfortu-
nately, just like its American counterpart, the industry does not leave much room for artsy,
independent films that are not likely to be blockbusters.
But there is no shortage of blockbusters. The Turkish Gambit, a drama set during the
Russo-Turkish War, broke all post-Soviet box-office records in 2005. In 2007, the prolific
Mikhailkov directed 12, a film based on Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men . The Oscar-nomin-
ated film follows a jury deliberating over the trial of a Chechen teenager accused of murder-
ing his father, who was an officer in the Russian army. Vladimir Putin is quoted as saying
that it 'brought a tear to the eye'.
The glossy vampire thriller Night Watch (2004) struck box-office gold both at home and
abroad, leading to an equally successful sequel, Day Watch (2006) - and to Kazakhstan-
born director Timur Bekmambetov being lured to Hollywood. Bekmambetov's most suc-
cessful effort since the Night Watch series is undoubtedly his direction of Irony of Fate:
Continuation (2007), a follow-up to the classic 1970s comedy. Simultaneously released on