Description
Book SynopsisThe first fifteen years of the twenty-first century have been an exciting transitional period in Russian cinema, as the industry recovered from the crises of the late 1990s and again stepped onto the global stage. During these years four generations, from the late Soviet directors through post-Soviet and New Russian filmmakers to the Russian millennials, have worked in varying visual styles and with diverse narrative strategies, while searching for a new cinematic language. Financing and distribution models have evolved, along with conservative politics driving Ministry of Culture regulation. This reader is intended both for contemporary Russian cinema courses and for modern Russian culture courses that emphasize film. It does not attempt to establish a canon for the period but seeks to provide undergraduate students with an introduction to significant Russian films released between 2005 and 2016 that are also available with English subtitles. The twenty-one essays on individual films provide background information on directors’ careers, detailed analyses of selected films, along with suggested further readings both in English and Russian.
Trade Review“All the films covered in the volume are discussed competently and with expert knowledge. The chapters follow a template with a general introduction and contextualization, a close reading, and some critical context. … Overall, this is a welcome addition to a range of publications on contemporary cinema. The individual entries are all very competent, and attention has been paid to cater for a student audience through consistent contextual information.” —Sofya Khagi, University of Michigan, Russian Review
“The editor’s parameters for this collection are that it ‘seeks to provide undergraduate students [in Russian cinema and culture courses] with an introduction to significant Russian films that are available with English subtitles.’ … Some of the chapters address films that are now well-trodden artifacts in contemporary film literature. These writings include informed and detailed synopses of the films, and offer perceptive discussions of their historical and production contexts. This is, of course, essential in a text ostensibly aimed at the uninitiated. … the book under review is a useful, readable and often incisive, reference guide to recent ‘Russian’ cinema.”
—Steven A. Usitalo, Northern State University, Slavonic and East European Review
“The Contemporary Russian Cinema Reader makes a solid argument for the study of Russian cinema beyond the context of Russian politics, described as an obsession with Putin in the introduction. Instead, cinema is treated as an integral and important part of Russian culture and society, as a medium for multi-layered and complex narratives, and mediating the contemporary experience of globalism. Lecturers in Slavic/Russian studies of film and/or culture, as well as in courses of global film and/or culture, will find material for their curriculum and class discussions in the volume, while students will get a comprehensive and insightful introduction to various aspects of contemporary Russian cinema. Naturally, any reader interested in contemporary Russian cinema and culture will no doubt find The Contemporary Russian Cinema Reader enjoyable.”
—Åsne Ø. Høgetveit, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Apparatus: Film, Media and Digital Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: Russian Cinema in the Era of Globalization
- Vlad Strukov
- Dead Man’s Bluff (Aleksei Balabanov, 2005)
- Aleksandr Prokhorov
- The Sun (dir. Aleksandr Sokurov, 2005)
- Denise J. Youngblood
- Cargo 200 (dir. Aleksei Balabanov, 2007)
- Anthony Anemone
- Mermaid (dir. Anna Melikian, 2007)
- Helena Goscilo
- Hipsters (dir. Valery Todorovsky, 2008)
- Rimgaila Salys
- Silent Souls (dir. Aleksei Fedorchenko, 2010)
- Imaginary Documents: Inventing Traditions in Aleksei Fedorchenko’s Cinema
- Serguey Oushakine
- The Smoke of the Fatherland: Body as Territory, Sexuality as Identity in Silent Souls
- Tatiana Mikhailova
- My Joy (dir. Sergei Loznitsa, 2010)
- Justin Wilmes
- Elena (dir. Andrei Zviagintsev, 2011)
- Andrei Zviagintsev: Unblinking Chronicler of Family Crisis and Human Frailty
- Julian Graffy
- Crime without Punishment? Andrei Zviagintsev’s Elena between Art Cinema and Social
- Drama
- Elena Prokhorova
- The Target (dir. Aleksandr Zel′dovich, 2011)
- Ilya Kukulin
- The Horde (dir. Andrei Proshkin, 2012)
- Tomhomas Roberts
- Short Stories (dir. Mikhail Segal, 2012)
- Lost in Translation
- Mark Lipovetsky
- Tell Me What You Know about Russia?
- Liliia Nemchenko
- Legend Number 17 (dir. Nikolai Lebedev, 2013)
- Greg Dolgopolov
- Hard to be a God (dir. Aleksei German, 2013)
- God Complex
- Anton Dolin
- Aleksei German. From Realism to Modernism
- Elena Stishova
- Leviathan (dir. Andrei Zviagintsev, 2014)
- Julian Graffy
- The Land of Oz (dir. Vasily Sigarev, 2015)
- Liliia Nemchenko
- My Good Hans (dir. Aleksandr Mindadze, 2015)
- Steve Norris
- Paradise (dir. Andrei Konchalovsky, 2016)
- Jeremy Hicks
- Contributors
