tching hour
world cinema
wa
y
the
contemporar
The revenant
a room and a half, or a Sentimental Journey to the homeland
(Roltory komnaty ili sentimentalnoe puteshestvie na rodinu)
USA
Poor Bart. The young man has returned to his friends and loved ones
Director: D. Kerry Prior after a long tour of duty in Iraq – in a coffin. Worse, just days after
RUSSIA
Exiled to the United States in 1972, the famous Russian poet Joseph
Producers: D. Kerry Prior, Liam Finn, he’s laid to rest, his best friend Joey opens his door to find him knock-
Director: Andrey Khrzhanovsky Brodsky always wanted to return anonymously to St. Petersburg, the city
Jacques Thelemaque
ing – confused, scared, ill, and looking terrible. Joey has never been the Producers: Andrey Khrzhanovsky,
of his youth. Through a variety of imaginative techniques, 69-year-old
Screenwriter: D. Kerry Prior brightest bulb in the box, but he’d do anything to help his pal get out of
Artem Vassiliev
animator Andrey Khrzhanovsky has made the Nobel Prize winner’s wish
Cinematographer: Peter Hawkins this fix, especially considering Bart keeps getting blood and gore all over
Screenwriters: Yuri Arabov, come true in his feature debut, A Room and a Half.
MS: A to Z
Andrey Khrzhanovsky
Editor: D. Kerry Prior
his stuff. After some trial and error, it becomes apparent that the only
MS: A to Z
il
Cinematographer: Vladimir Brylyakov
Cast: David Anders, Chris Wylde
kind of sustenance Bart can stomach is human blood, which also has the
A fictional Brodsky narrates this nostalgic fantasy on board a cruise il
Editors: Igor Malachov, ship destined for Russia. Through a series of flashbacks, he recalls his
E F
2009 / color / 135 min.
virtue of keeping his skin from falling off. But this discovery begs some
important questions: since he’s neither a vampire nor a zombie, just
Vladimir Grigorenko
childhood. He remembers, for instance, the return of his father, laden
E F
h
what kind of bloodsucking creature is Bart? And how will they break the
Cast: Alisa Freindlich, Sergei Yurskiy
with gifts, from World War II, and his parents’ affectionate reunion.
h
T T
2009 / color / 130 min.
D. KErrY Prior
news of his considerable identity crisis to his girlfriend?
It appears an idyllic time for the budding scribe who “live[s] in a city
D. Kerry Prior has been working in the
whose color [is] fossilized vodka.”
film industry for over 20 years. With The Revenant is a breath of fresh (or at least pungent) air amid the
a background in special effects, Prior
current spate of movies about the undead. Reminiscent of cult classics
But conditions for the Jewish family deteriorate as the city undergoes
has worked on such films as Christmas
like Near Dark and Innocent Blood, this directorial outing from special
anDrEY KhrzhanoVSKY
radical change. They are forced to move into cramped quarters – a room
Vacation (1989), The Abyss (1989), and Andrey Khrzhanovsky has been
and a half, to be exact. Yet Khrzhanovsky’s animated sequences cast a
Air Force One (1997). His directorial
effects whiz D. Kerry Prior succeeds in balancing existential (or nonex-
making films for five decades, focusing
debut came with Roadkill (1996).
istential, as the case may be) pathos with delicious humor. When the
on Russian cultural history. Born in
magical light upon even this squalor, be they comical – as when Brodsky
boys finally come to the realization that killing (for which Bart is all too 1939, he graduated from Moscow’s
imagines his cat becoming a writer to document his experiences – or
well trained) is their only option, the film takes a sharp turn into black
Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography chilling, as when silhouetted cutout soldiers invade the city and destroy
comedy. Supernatural journeys of self-discovery should always be this
in 1962; in 2003, he won the Golden
everything in their path. Such moments linger when Brodsky goes to
much fun.
Dragon at the Kraków Film Festival for
college, where his writing becomes political. But even after he is ban-
A Cat and a Half.
ished, he never forgets the love of his parents or his Mother Russia.
Sponsored by:
Selected Filmography
I Love You (2002)
Through the seamless fusion of documentary footage, classical Russian
Let’s Fly Away! (2002) music, still photography, recordings of Brodsky reading his work, and,
Dreams About the Artistic
of course, animation, Khrzhanovsky has created a film as poetic as his
and the Public (2000)
subject matter.
A Lullaby for Cricket (1999)
Sponsored by: Danny graul, black & Read
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