2009 February » Kino Reticulator

Visitors

Feb 222009

In this scene from Osenniy Marafon, the character played by Yevgeny Leonov (on the right) walks in on Buzykin (Oleg Basilashvili) and his guest, Bill Hansen. Leonov’s character doesn’t even notice Bill until he says two words in Russian (not his first language). Then there is a long silence while Leonov looks at him suspiciously, followed by an introduction (shown above).

Leonov then asks, “Does he understand Russian?”

Well, I thought it was funny. Bill knows more Russian than I do, but there was something about the way he sounded when he opened his mouth that made clear right from the start that he didn’t know the language very well. Was it the pronunciation? The way he spoke slowly and deliberately? Or was it the choice of words? I recognize the first word he said, but not the second, and can’t find it in any online dictionary or translator.

Whatever the case, I could see giving myself away that quickly, too, if I were ever to visit Russia and open my mouth to talk.

Speaking of a visit to Russia, I’ve been reading a wonderful travelogue on Crazyguyonabike.com. It’s “A Honeymoon to Remember” by Erin Arnold Barkley and Sam Barkley, who rode their bikes through a bit of Russia between Kazakhstan and Mongolia on a tour that’s still in progress several months later. Erin describes the arrival at Srotski:

We rode all afternoon, making it to near Srotski, birthplace of a guy I’d never heard of, Vasily Shukshin, but it seems like he was a big deal around the village: virtually every building had a sign like “Shukshin’s primary school” or “Shukshin’s mom’s house.” Anyway, Wikipedia tells me he was a famous Soviet playwright and director, and his monument on a hill sure provides stunning views of the surrounding countryside.

The name Vasily Shukshin didn’t ring a bell for me, either, so I looked him up and saw that I’ve already seen one movie in which he appeared in a minor role: Komissar.

An article about him at russia-ic.com had this intriguing information:

The film Kalina Krasnaya (aka The Red Snowball Tree) released in 1974 came as a mind-blow: there had been nothing of the kind in domestic cinema before. The story of a former prisoner who decides to break with the criminal world and live a peaceful country life holds a firm place in the gold Russian cinematography, as well as the majority of movies with Shukshin’s participation.

Vasili Shukshin died on October 2, 1974 during the filming of “Oni Srazhalis Za Rodinu” (aka They Fought for Their Country) of a heart attack. There are some suspicions he was poisoned.

Memocast has the film Kalina Krasnaya, but as far as I can tell nobody has produced any English subtitles for it. So it will probably have to wait until I learn more Russian. I haven’t yet found out whether there are English subtitles for any of Shukshin’s other films.

That travelogue on crazyguyonabike.com has some great photos, btw. Highly recommended.

Pedestrians vs drivers

Movie comments 1 Response »

Feb 182009

The van driver in this 1979 movie is angry at Buzykin, the character played by Oleg Basilashvili, who was preoccupied with problems caused by the competing attentions needed by his wife and his girlfriend. Buzykin wasn’t watching where he was going, and got nicked by the van. The subtitle is of angry words from the driver.

It’s interesting in that three years later, Basilashvili was in another movie in which this same standard of justice was the premise. In “Vokzal dlya dvoikh,” his wife hit a pedestrian in the dark. Since the pedestrian wasn’t drunk, the driver was assumed to be at fault. Basilashvili’s character took the rap for his wife, which meant three years in a Siberian gulag.

It seems to represent a little different standard than we have in the U.S. Bicyclists here are constantly reporting cases of drivers who get off way too easy after hitting a bicyclist, and it would be pretty much the same for hitting a pedestrian, too. Most likely a case between a driver and a careless pedestrian who wandered into traffic would not be decided in favor of the pedestrian unless the driver was drunk or speeding, and even then it’s sometimes difficult to get a conviction of the driver — especially if the driver has good connections.

But judging from these two Russian movies ca 1980, the driver is almost presumed guilty unless proven innocent. I don’t know if that’s the way it worked in real life, and if so, whether it still works that way. Also, I would expect the case of the politically- or economically- well connected driver to work pretty much the same as here. But I don’t think you’d ever have a U.S. movie in which the driver would bawl out a careless pedestrian the way this one did. It just wouldn’t relate to anything in real life. The driver might be concerned with the emotional trauma of having to live with the knowledge that he killed someone, but a sober driver obeying the traffic laws wouldn’t be be particularly fearful of being sent to prison.

My deti galaktiki

Music 4 Responses »

Feb 152009

I learned about the Soviet-era song, “We the Children of the Galaxy” from EnglishRussia. With some trouble (because I didn’t know a Russian word for “lyrics”) I found lyrics, too, at nomorelyrics.net. I like it — a good song for language-learning. The above is from YouTube. I think it’s the same as on EnglishRussia.

The singer, Lev Leshchenko, has a good voice. I looked around to see what other songs of his I might like to put on my MP3 player to learn with. There are a lot of YouTube clips of him, from many years worth of singing, it looks like, but so far I haven’t found anything else I care to listen to all the way through.

English Russia also has two other versions of the song. I didn’t find a YouTube clip for the 2nd one, but it’s not to be missed. I was speechless upon seeing it, but not noiseless. I hope everyone was having a good time with it, but I’m not sure what kind of a good time it might have been.

The 3rd one is by the same artist as the YouTube version above. The style of singing made me wonder if Vladimir Vysotsky had ever done this song, and how he would have done it. Maybe it wasn’t the right kind of subject matter for him.

Padded doors

Movie comments 4 Responses »

Feb 152009

vlcsnap-00029a

What’s the deal with these padded doors in Russian movies? Here’s the door of the Director’s office in Sluzhebnyiy Roman (Office Romance) a 1977 movie.

door

And here’s a door to an apartment, in “Moskva slezam ne verit”, a 1979 film. And there are many others to be found. I have questions, assuming these types of doors were found in real life and not just in the movies.

When did that style of door get started?
What materials are used?
Why have padded doors at all?
Is that still a common style? If not, when did it end?
Is/was it just a Russian thing, or were those found in other countries as well?

I suppose I could answer some of those questions myself by paying closer attention to the dates of movies I’m watching.

Pipe organ = bad guys

Movie comments 2 Responses »

Feb 112009

On my ride home from work tonight, I listened to some of the book of Luke from the Russian bible I downloaded from the Faith Comes by Hearing site. Occasionally I listen to it while exercising on our elliptical machine, usually with a printed version of Russian and English to study alongside. Sometimes it takes me an entire 20- or 30-minute session to work my way through one chapter. Though when there’s a Big Ten basketball game on TV, I usually watch that while exercising instead of working on Russian. But when there’s no game on TV, I’ll work on Russian. I’m also reading “Wintering Station on Chill River” by D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak in a bilingual printed version.

But there’s no audio for that, so for bicycling I listen to a movie soundtrack, or some Russian songs, or in this case, the Bible.

I got the slightly dramatized version of the Russian Bible. Several years ago I got a “Parole de Vie” Bible (limited-vocabulary French) from these same people. (It’s a long story, but it came about when our pastor called my bluff.) That recording seems to have been produced by French-African people. I thought the dramatization was very nicely done. The various voices are good, and the music or other background sounds were just the right touch — not overdone, and it stands up to repeated listening — but stands out just enough to be an aide to listening. You even get a Caribbean flavor with steel drums in a few places where it’s just the right thing.

So I had high hopes for the Russian bible, though I was worried that the dramatic effects might be overdone — like the gaudy stage settings on a lot of Russian music programs one can see on the Internet. But instead, it’s underdone. It’s no huge problem, because the voices are good, but I am a little disappointed.

What’s especially disappointing is that the musical accompaniment is often in the form of organ music. Who ever heard of pipe organ music in a Russian anything? I enjoy organ music by Bach or Saint Saens. But it just doesn’t seem right for Russian. Do they even have pipe organs in Russia? The only pipe organ I’ve ever seen in a Russian movie is the one pictured above in Sergei Eisenstein’s “Alexander Nevsky” — and it’s one of the evil enemy German clerics who is playing the thing. For Russian they should use a garmoshka, piano, or guitar, shouldn’t they? Or better yet, all of the above. You see those in lots of Russian movies, anyway.

It could be worse. At least it’s an understated organ accompaniment. But I still find it somewhat disconcerting, and probably would even if I had never seen that Alexander Nevsky movie.

ASL vs Russian Sign Language

Miscellaneous, Movie comments No Responses »

Feb 102009

I did make myself finish watching Strana glukhikh last night. It was not the ending I expected!

But I got to wondering how Russian Sign Language relates to American Sign Language. Where is it in the taxonomy of sign languages? I don’t know any sign languages myself — I need the subtitles — but I’m curious about things like that.

I didn’t find an answer to my question, but I did find this web page that tells about a Russian Sign Language/American Sign Language translator program. And some Russian Sign Language is used in the US:

In communities in the United States with a large Russian presence, such as New York City, interpreting agencies may offer Russian sign language interpreting services.

Strana glukhikh, slowly

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Feb 092009

Before working up enough nerve to watch the final segment of Strana glukhikh (Country of the Deaf) I’ll point out that this is a good film to watch for language-learning. The two main deaf characters, Yaya and Pig, speak slowly and distinctly. Even I can follow a lot of what they say.

Twelve, Twisted

Movie comments 1 Response »

Feb 042009

Tonight we started watching, Moi drug, Ivan Lapshin (My friend, Ivan Lapshin). We haven’t yet seen enough to learn why so many Russian critics have called it the best film in Russian history, but like I said, we’ve just started.

I’ve also gone back to watch Nikita Mikhalkov’s 2007 film, Twelve, for a 2nd time.

It’s a take-off on Twelve Angry Men. Here is juror #8 (at least he has that number in the play) explaining his “not guilty” vote by saying that the jury members should at least talk about it, first.

But although it starts by extolling the courageous juror, in the end this film is one of the sleaziest, sneakiest pieces of anti-democratic anti-rule-of-law propaganda I’ve ever seen. No wonder Putin said he shed a tear on seeing it.

At least that’s the way I remember it from the first viewing. I’m now watching it a 2nd time to observe more closely just how it was done, because the first time I didn’t realize until the end just how it had twisted. (And that was even though I had already read reviews that gave some idea of what to expect at the end.)

This is one of the few very few times in which Nikita Mikhalkov, the actor, didn’t give an annoying performance. He played it pretty straight. But as a moviemaker, this is as far as I know the worst thing he’s ever done.

No, I don’t mean the production. Mikhalkov is a talented director. It might be better if he weren’t.

I’ll explain more after I’ve seen more of it the 2nd time.

Krylya

Movie comments 1 Response »

Feb 022009

wings

We finished watching Krylya (Wings) tonight. That’s a very good film, at least the first time through.

Afterwards I looked for reviews with which to compare my reactions, and found this:

She is unable to come to terms with her past nor with the present, in which she is the director of a high school and the mother of an adoptive daughter. Her attempts to compensate for her distraction all lie in the direction of appearing authoritative, but the students and her daughter, with the unerring instincts of the young, distrust and despise her.

That wasn’t quite my take on it. The first sentence is a good description, but the 2nd, about “appearing authoritative” doesn’t seem right. Her character has no trouble appearing authoritative. She can’t help but be authoritative. Even when she tries to treat people well, she ends up not being able to help herself. She sets very high standards for herself — which is probably what enabled her to be a successful fighter pilot. But the authoritative part is not an attempt to compensate — it’s just the way she is. She tries again and again, but is unable to expect any less from her daughter, her new son-in-law, her students, or anyone else. And she is not satisfied with her present position in life, either, much of what is too boring for her.

That may sound like a trite Hollywood character, but it’s done very subtly. There are many occasions on which I was afraid this story was going to take a Hollywood turn, but it didn’t.

Maya Bulgakova did an extraordinary job of playing a complex character. I see from IMDB that this is just one of many roles she played. I’m now interested in seeing what other kinds of characters she was able to play.

Late edit: I just now found subtitles for “My Friend Ivan Lapshin” (Moy Drug Ivan Lapshin) at mssubtitles.com. Now if only I could find English subtitles for “The House that Swift Built” (Dom, Kotoryiy Postroil Svift). But I haven’t even found evidence that subtitles were ever made. I would even be glad to find Russian subtitles, even though that wouldn’t help Myra watch it with me.

Sluzhebnyiy Roman subtitles

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Feb 012009

I downloaded Sluzhebnyiy Roman (Offfice Romance) from Memocast, but somehow messed up on the subtitle file. It was too late to go back and re-download it.

I probably could have asked the Memocast people for help, but instead I found English subtitles elsewhere. Unfortunately, they were in two files, while the movie was in one.

And the timings were way off — the words appearing well after the words were spoken. I didn’t mind that too much for language-learning purposes. Using the first of the two files, I got a chance to listen and process what I was hearing before getting to see the subtitle. But this wouldn’t do when Myra watches the film with me.

It didn’t take long to find a tool to help fix things up. I used Subtitle Workshop from URUworks. I learned about it at the Videohelp.com forum, where there was also a good description of how to use it to combine two subtitles files into one.

That program can also be used to fix the timings. I plan to use it for other subtitle files whose timings are just fine. I can use those files as is when watching films with Myra, but create a separate version with long delays for use when I’m trying to work on my Russian listening skills.

Office Romance is an Eldor Ryazanof film. It’s not quite as good as Irony of Fate or Railway Station for Two, but it is definitely worth watching. I don’t know if it’s giving me an accurate idea of what an office worker’s job may have been like in 1980s Russia, but it seems to be a plausible if partial picture. Russia doesn’t have Scott Adams and Dilbert to chronicle such a culture, but it has Ryazanov.