War rhymed with life. Review of the film ”Great Poetry”
"Great Poetry" is the directorial debut of Alexander Lungin (son of Pavel Lungin). Prior to that, the screenwriter and producer worked only in co-authorship with Sergei Osipyan on the film "The Phenomenon of Nature", which was never released. And now Big Poetry is the first independent film by Lungin Jr. and his first great success. The film received awards for the best directing at "Kinotavr" and at the International Film Festival of Asia-Pacific countries "Pacific Meridian".This is a story about two friends, Vita (Alexander Kuznetsov) and Lech (Alexey Filimonov), who work as collectors. The office is small, salaries are also the lowest link in the hierarchy of security companies. But they have weapons and uniforms, and therefore the ability to habitually exist for themselves after the military past. Both fought in Lugansk (an extremely distant indication of military action - Lungin has no politics). In their past - war, in the present - unsightly landscapes of the outskirts of Moscow, cockfighting in the hostel of guest workers and a poetry circle in the district House of Culture. Lehi's poems are talented, light and spontaneous, but he is not particularly up to them: he has to survive - his wife, child, debts, loans. For Victor, poetry is a way to cope with PTSD, to find something for himself outside of the war. However, in his poems“words are heavy, the rhymes are banal - everything is like in life itself ”. The nature of this friendship is incomprehensible to others, but obvious to the heroes. Seeing in the other what you value most than you would like to possess yourself, you hold on to it like a saving straw. But clinging to rhymes in a world in which there is"no place for poetry"is not easy. Shakespeare's “to be or not to be?” by Lungin will sound like “Am I Lech or not Lech?”.  The script was written by Alexander Lungin and Sergey Osipyan almost ten years ago. However, according to Lungin himself, little is left of the"funny and cute"of the original version. "Big poetry", rather, is sustained in the genre style of noir. Only Lungin's reflection is very personal - the look of a sad artist who understood something about this life. The director tries to convey his truth through images, and, which is very perceptible, for himself not close. The prose master, who still considers himself an "over-the-top writer" and not a director, is experimenting on poetic grounds. His characters write poetry, listen to rap. Lungin, as if also feeling himself a stranger in the modern world, tries to speak with the viewer in a language they understand. On the one that can get a response.  Contemporary authors Andrei Rodionov and Fyodor Svarovsky were responsible for the poetry in the picture, they were the ones who rhymed Lungin's ideas. And the sound in the picture was determined by fashionable rap singers: Face, Rough Nowhere. At the same time, the visual component of the film clearly reminds viewers that the heritage of the 90s is alive: wastelands, construction sites, landfills, settlements of migrants, premises of chop workers. With such a neighborhood, the director managed to speculate about the time in which we live. We carefully brought all the belongings of the past to the present day - here it is, everything is alive, and no renovations will cover this reality. In this cold, violent world, the main characters stagger restlessly. The duet of Alexander Kuznetsov and Alexey Filimonov turned out to be as harmonious as possible. Lungin admitted that the role of the calm, integral Viti was written especially for Alexander:“His look,  The main characters returned from the war. They saw a side of life that not everyone gets to know. Cruelty, violence, death - it is unbearably difficult to return with this truth to a peaceful life. And you also find yourself squeezed within the framework of those prejudices and hanging labels that society has awarded you. And now, in the grip of imposed masculinity, Vitya and Lech are looking for the truth in a new world for themselves. The curse of those who are destined to discover in themselves two poles - "war" and "poetry", but who have failed to find an opportunity to live between them. Lungin clearly clarifies the conventions of his images. Lungin's poetry is human subtlety, the ability to feel, and not at all rhyme lines, and war is a struggle with oneself, with one's inner demons. And the film will certainly appeal to those who see the director's statement behind the feigned style of action in the spirit of the dashing 90s. The Topic of Article: War rhymed with life. Review of the film ”Great Poetry”. |
