Russian cinema is stuck in the 90s: Balabanov’s shadow can be seen behind everyone’s back

We have no place for poets – they will definitely be destroyed by their beloved women

The pilot edition of the Festival of Contemporary Russian Cinema “Mayak” took place in Gelendzhik. Some films were brought there straight from the wheels, like “New Berlin” by Alexei Fedorchenko, which was not fully assembled a couple of days before the premiere. Almost every picture has an exit to the astral plane, beyond the limits of reality, and poor poets, who do not necessarily write poetry, become the personification of time.

Directors repeat each other, quote great predecessors, without realizing it. Balabanov can be seen behind everyone’s back. The most suitable definition for what he saw is magical realism, as Mikhail Mestetsky defined his “Year of Birth”. More precisely, flickering realism, which, like a beacon, signals something, returning us to the recent past, rarely plunging us into the present, sending us in the direction of Soviet-style science fiction.

Mikhail Mestetsky is one of the most talented directors of his generation. He rarely films, more often he writes scripts (“Legend N17”, “Superbeavers”). His own films are examples of auteur cinema. “Year of Birth” is perceived as a continuation of Mestetsky’s debut film “The Rag Union”, a very personal statement from the director. For him, cinema is a kind of a way of psychotherapy, a bundle of joy in difficult times.

The nineties appear in pseudo-chronicles, appearing as a heroic time where everything was real. The young guy Philip, played by Eldar Kalimulin, looks at them from the 2000s, creates in his apartment a museum in memory of the legendary Metallogorsk group “Egg Light”, where his father played. The role of Snot, the leader of this punk band, was played by Yura Borisov, performing the songs of his hero. Snot will survive in spite of everything, which is impossible in real life, fortunately the glue is at hand. Father Philip was played by Oleg Vasilkov, a powerful and charismatic actor who himself became the personification of the 90s in our cinema.

Philip dreams of creating an avant-garde festival “Mesh” and supporting the cult of “Egg Light”. However, the spiritual impulses of the trembling young man will be dashed in everyday life, as soon as he meets a girl. Her name is Marina, and for fans of “Egg Light” this is a sacred name. Their hit is “Ale, Marina! I’m dying without you!” So the meeting of lovers is like a sign of fate.

But girls are the death of men, if we are guided by the ideas of filmmakers. They ground you with constant conversations about the need to find a job and feed the family. It all starts with an innocent sofa in the house. As soon as he appears, the familiar world collapses. Marina from the furniture store was played by one of the most sought-after actresses of modern cinema, Anastasia Talyzina, with a twinkling and tender gaze. For the sake of her daughter’s happiness, her butcher father is ready to support his son-in-law. The coveted festival will take place, only instead of “Mash” it will be called “Russian Jelly”. Poetry is good, but business interests come first.

Mikhail Mestetsky does not make banal films. Something unusual always happens to him. Philip, for example, makes contact with an unborn baby. And the embryo speaks in the voice of the director’s son. Here the music is extracted using a wonder element. You bring it up and hear only the sound characteristic of this object or body. The music is performed by the Shklovsky group, one of whose founders is Mikhail Mestetsky. It includes the vocalist and producer of the film Sergei Kornikhin, accordion player Alexey Smirnov – now the chief director of the Astrakhan Opera House and co-author of the script, drummer Kirill Belorussov – the composer of the film.

Metallogorsk was filmed near Murmansk, where the grandeur of nature is surprisingly combined with the dullness of typical five-story buildings. Mikhail Mestetsky believes that where there is no way out, only poets win. But this doesn’t always happen, unless after death, as in “Red.”

Even before the film appeared, Semyon Serzin staged a play based on the diaries and poetry of Boris Ryzhy at the Invisible Theater in St. Petersburg. He could not come to the premiere in Gelendzhik, since the actor himself is filming in Argentina. In a video message, he told how he read Ryzhiy’s poems for the first time ten years ago and realized that people should know about his fate. The writer and vocalist of the group “Night Loaders” Evgeniy Alekhin, who is older than his hero, was invited to play the main role. Evgeniy Yevtushenko was played by the poet and singer Oleg Garkusha, who broke all records at Mayak. He played in three competition films (“My Invisible” by Anton Bilzho, “Long Dates” by Georgy Lyalin). The authors did not strive for portrait resemblance; they sought, with varying success, a certain essence.

It’s the 90s again. Once again President Yeltsin says goodbye to us: “I’m tired. I’m leaving”. Showdown between the gang and the feeling of bitter cold, a miserable life. Oleg Vasilkov again personifies the 90s in the role of an all-powerful representative of funeral services.

Ryzhiy has an understanding wife (Taisia ​​Vilkova), but she is tired of the unsettled everyday life. Finding a job, taking her child to Turkey – she doesn’t need much, but she doesn’t need even the least. You can’t feed yourself on poetry. Only eternity will give recognition, which a woman does not care about if it is not monetized.