If someone says Russian film and you think Eisenstein then you need to get a new perspective. The London Russian Film Festival is taking place at the Empire, Leicester Square until 17th November and introducing the British public to the latest contemporary films coming out of Russia. Showing dramas, comedies and documentaries, this 7th iteration of the festival is also hosting renowned filmmakers taking part in discussions after the screenings of their films.
Looking through the festival brochure, which you can see online here, I noticed Bite the Dust, directed by feature-length debutant Taisia Igumentseva. A 90 minute comedy set amongst the residents of a small Russian village who get the bad news that an astronomical phenomenon is going to wipe out 90% of humanity. They have just 24 hours before the apocalypse hits.
I expected a Russian Ealing Comedy, a small community coming together – presumably to stave off disaster – in a Passport to Pimlico or Titfield Thunderbolt type way. My expectations were to be proved wrong in the plush auditorium deep under Leicester Square.
The early shots boded well. A makeshift raft, powered by the rotating wheels of a normal lorry chained to the top of it headed towards a jetty. Eccentric characters are introduced, including Vasilich who lives with his cow and declares later that ‘A cow is better than any person‘. The images are well framed and give a visually attractive vision of a poor Russian community where there are only a handful of adults and, according to the brochure, they can, ‘recognise the face of the neighbour’s cow on TV.’
The cultural highlights of the villagers’ lives are the screenings of silent films via an overhead projector. These are not silent films in the pre-1927 sense, rather they have no sound and the script has to be read out by the projectionist. How, in out-of-the-way Russia, it is easier to find the script of a French film than a copy of the film with sound attached is not explained and like many of the occurrences appears to be an attempt to garner laughs. Similarly the ‘mad’ inventor Vanya causes explosions and interacts with machines that don’t work properly. Laughs are intended, but comedy is very difficult and it doesn’t come off, or at least, didn’t for me. No doubt there is a cultural element to this. There were many Russians in the audience and they did laugh occasionally. To some the situations might have the ring of truth and be very funny. If so the film is aimed at a very small market that will be hard for it to reach – villagers in places without proper cinemas.
The end-of-the-world theme allows the filmmakers to look at how people’s behaviour might change if there was no tomorrow. But for a comedy there are very few laughs. For a drama there is too much silliness. With little plot and plenty of over-acting this is a film that I didn’t enjoy. Director Igumentseva won the Cannes CineFondation Prize in 2011, which provided a grant to help finance Bite the Dust. Her shots are attractive and with a more interesting or amusing script her future work will be worth following.
The Russian Film Festival continues until 17th November with a host of other films. Check out the listings here.
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