Category

Depuis qu'Otar est parti

• 04.06.09
  When first we practice to deceive
  Depuis qu'Otar est parti, Esther Gorintin, Julie Bertucelli (0)

  Warning: The following contains a spoiler for the film Depuis qu'Otar est parti. Go away if you want to see the film first. I've long been bothered by the part near the end after Eka learns that Otar is dead. I was content to just let it go as one of those open-ended things that make the movie like real life, until I read the explanation on Wikipedia: Eka breaks down with the initial shock, but soon recovers and returns to meet Ada and Marina, as they are due to return to Georgia. In a reversal of roles, ...
  
  
• 04.03.09
  Right-sized slices
  Andrei Tarkovsky, Depuis qu'Otar est parti, Vozvrashcheniye (0)

  Due to a Netflix accident, we're watching Depuis qu'Otar est parti again. We've not dropped Netflix entirely, even though it's gotten a lot more difficult to get Russian films from them. So many are now marked "short wait," "very long wait," and "unavailable." We hung on to the subscription so Myra can get some English-language movies while I get Russian ones from Memocast. But the movies Myra had at the top of our queue were also unavailable, and somehow Otar was next in line. This is not at all a disappointment. Myra enjoys watching ...
  
  
• 08.18.08
  Georgia on their minds
  Depuis qu'Otar est parti, Kavkazskaya plennitsa, Kin-dza-dza, Mimino (1)

  The conflict in Georgia got me thinking about Russian movies that feature Georgians. Are there any insights to be gained about Russian attitudes towards the people? Mimino is a big one. The main character is Georgian. He is played as a good-hearted country bumpkin -- he talks loudly on the phone, is quick-tempered, carries on an honorable feud, and is an all-around good guy. But now I wonder how the Georgians feel about this movie. The Georgian characters are treated sympathetically. Or is it condescension? It can be hard to tell the two apart in my own culture, so I wouldn't ...
  
  
• 09.06.07
  Depuis qu’Otar est parti…(2)
  Depuis qu'Otar est parti (0)

  We finished watching it tonight. It's an excellent film -- one of the best. I'll be watching this one again, and not just for the language lessons. (So far I still rate Vozvrashcheniye as the best Russian language film I've seen. Not even Tarkovsky's films top it, though I haven't yet watched all of those.) And there is a 3rd language in Since Otar left, and it is Georgian. The three main actresses all do wonderful work, but I would have thought that requiring fluency in French, Russian, AND Georgian would have constricted the pool of ...
  
  
• 09.05.07
  Depuis qu’Otar est parti…
  Depuis qu'Otar est parti, France, Georgia (0)

  We started watching this one tonight. So far it's a good movie no matter what language the characters are speaking -- heading towards a Netflix rating of 5 from me -- but are we sure the only two languages being spoken are French and Russian? So far it seems the granddaughter tends to speak French and the mother Russian. The grandma speaks French with her beloved son, and Russian with some of her friends/family. (The sweet grandma defends Stalin and her hard, antagonistic daughter calls him a murderer.) There's ...
  
  

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