Sergey Kuznetsov. Cultural Guide. Issue 64

Cultural Guide. Issue 64
Sergey Kuznetsov

Publication date: January 25, 2000

Due to an interruption in the Internet cable, which paralyzed the work of clients of several Moscow providers for several hours, this issue is being published a day late. Forgive us please.

Interactive

Me and fights (you should probably fill out a form before joining the Fight Club). It is clear that theoretically several answers can be correct. However, try to choose the one that best describes you:

I've started fights myself on more than one occasion.
I sometimes started fights myself
I've never really fought
I rarely got into fights started by others
I was sometimes forced into a fight
I regularly got into fights started by others
I was regularly forced (forced) to get into fights

Well, come on, come and write me something meaningful on the topic here! What, weak? Where are you going? Come back, asshole!

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Movie

The most noteworthy film is still "Fight Club". You can read something resembling a traditional review here , but I’ll tell you about how I watched this film for the first time.

As you know, David Fincher’s new creation is dedicated to group bodily PT (that is, “psychotherapy”). In this case, a rather rare modification of it, colloquially called a “fight”. Dr. Fincher, through the mouth of his hero (more precisely, through the mouth of Brad Pitt's character named Taylor), argues that fighting has an extremely good effect on the client's existential well-being, and recommends the technique for widespread implementation.

In short, under the influence of Brad Pitt's sermon, my blood began to boil, and I decided that if someone I knew was sitting in the cinema (the critic F. or one of our other colleagues), then after the film I would have to go up to him and ask:

- Well, did you like the movie?

And if you answer “yes”, immediately punch him in the face. He’ll punch me in the face too, we’ll fight, and then we’ll go have a beer, like Brad Pitt and Edward Norton.

After the film ended, I actually met the critic F., who, however, was just going to the cinema. Deciding that beating him before the session was wrong, I went home with a sigh, resisting the temptation to wait for him “after school.”

On the subway, I completely forgot about Dr. Fincher’s progressive method and went deep into editing someone else’s translation. I am writing about this so that the reader can imagine me: with an English book on one knee, a pile of pieces of paper on the other and a pen, relatively speaking, in my teeth. If I had glasses, I could safely be called an exemplary humanitarian intellectual, “Ivan Ivanovich” and “academician”.

An unfamiliar girl was sitting next to me and reading a book about Islam in Central Asia. It was to her that a tipsy man who entered at one of the stops began to stick to her. The girl answered in monosyllables and reluctantly, the man was aggressive and unpleasant, so when he asked her: “Why is your boyfriend silent?” - I realized that it was time to intervene.

“Man,” I said as gently as possible, “relax.”

Delighted by the contact, the man came up to me and - attention! - said:

- So you mean... you think that if I said a word to you wrong, you can immediately punch me in the face? So, does that mean?

I froze. Like the reader rereading the previous paragraph (“when did he punch that guy in the face?”), I looked through my memories of the last five minutes and, again like the reader, found nothing. While I was gathering my words, the man continued:

- So you think that you can take a person like that and hit him? Out of the blue?

“But I didn’t lay a finger on you,” I finally said.

“You know, they beat me in the army,” the man said, “so,” and he leaned over to me, shouting almost in my ear, “you look like them!”

What happened next was reminiscent of a surreal dream: the man continued to accuse me of beating people, offered to leave (“just don’t hit me”), prophesied that when I wanted to find my conscience, I would not succeed, and so on. Luckily (his and mine), he got off at the stop before me.

For a long time, I believed that the aggression awakened in me thanks to Dr. Fincher’s technique betrayed itself through some kind of non-verbal signal and inspired the man with the idea of ​​my potential danger. Now, however, a much less pleasant thought came to me.

I don't remember hitting him. But the narrator of “Fight Club” also didn’t remember how he trained terrorists and fucked Marla. And maybe, for a brief moment, Taylor, hiding in the depths of each of us, still took possession of me.

The only consolation is that there was not a scratch on the man.

"Fight Club". "Cinema under the dome." "35 mm" (formerly "Novorossiysk").

Literature

After a long break, the Crimean Club resumes its work. His first event in 2000 will be a round table ''Ichthyological symbolism and the image of Fish in literature'', which will take place on Wednesday in the usual place. The President of the Club, Igor Sid, called for sending to a specially designated address “any thoughts, reflections, literary texts - yours or anyone else’s - on this issue .” It was promised that the received texts will be read out during the discussion, and then, together with the transcript of the discussion, will appear on the server of the Crimean Club ''Liternet'' under the heading ''Works and Days'', where materials from all previous events of the Club will also be posted (currently about 130 ), including the First Nekrasov, First Aksenov, First Prigov readings and many others held in 1999. I am proud to note that I was probably the first to make a report at a Club meeting back in 1996 about the role of the Internet in geopoetics. I remember Sergei Letov still argued with me, saying that the Internet is all MTV. Well, who will remember the old...

Wednesday, January 25th. ''Ichthyological symbolism and the image of Fish in literature'', "Crimean Club", in the art center ''Phoenix'' (Moscow, metro station ''Kyiv'', Kutuzovsky pr., 3). 18:00.

Music

Those who love hits from six months ago should go to the “Forbidden Drummers” concert. However, they say that they have prepared a new program. And it’s still a mystery to me why the song “They Killed a Negro” is considered racist. Or, let's say, a winking one on this topic. In my opinion, not very deep, but quite positive work about the primacy of the magical (voo-doo) and physical (basketball) over the Eurocentric. Here , by the way, is a site with parodies of the song... “they killed a cop”... “a Russian can play dominoes too” and so on.

For those who love hits that are half a century old, go to the concert of Vova Veselkin and Katya Bocharova. Claudia Shulzhenko, Peter Leshchenko and others will sing. Get here, as Psoy says.

Thursday, January 27. Project "Tango" (Katya Bocharova + Vova Veselkin). Club "Poor People". 22:00.

Friday, January 28th. "Forbidden Drummers" 23:00.

TV movie

With a tear in my voice, I apologize to the readers: I managed not to announce one of my favorite films last week: “A Moment of Innocence” by Mahsen Makhmalbaf. As a result, not only were some readers not able to see it, but I also didn’t write it down. If someone did this and is ready to give me a tape to rewrite, let him write - I will be very grateful.

This week - in retaliation - there are no masterpieces. There are the already familiar “Feather Buyers” by Petrovich (Saturday, “Culture”, 23:00) and the cute musical “Everyone Says I Love You” by Woody Allen on TVC (Sunday, 22:55). On not all available STS, on the same day at 21:00 Cronenberg's classic "Videodrome" is shown... that's all the love, in fact.

Interactive

This time, readers did not add anything fundamental to the table. Several people suggested festival films (not included in the table), some - the latest Bond, several people - "Cookie's Happiness", which, in my opinion, was released after the New Year.

Below is a table of this year's winners. Films that were watched by at least a quarter of the audience were selected; the calculation was carried out, as usual, using the formula [2* (super!) + good - so-so - 2* (ugh!) ] / number of viewers (fifth column). The result is shown in the sixth column of the table.

The top ten (in bold) deserve attention. Contrary to my expectations, “The Matrix” took tenth place rather than first, and first place went to Kusturica’s film, perhaps because the impressions from it were fresh. Separately, I would like to note that the top ten includes five films from the “Cinema Without Borders” art line, in fact all of their films that were shown in cinemas last year. In this regard, our congratulations to Sam Klebanov, the Premier Video company and ***.

"The Matrix" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" turned out to be the most popular films - in the sense that they were watched by the most people (which, of course, does not coincide with the results in the country as a whole, where "Star Wars" is in the lead). It is curious that there are only three American films in the top ten - "The Matrix", "Happiness" and "The Thin Red Line". Of these, as you can see, only one is a blockbuster. All other blockbusters shown in Russia received either average or even negative results. The "zero" received by "Star Wars" is characteristic - such a difference of opinion was previously characteristic of cult cinema, which some accepted, while others just as passionately rejected ("The Blair Witch Project", standing next to it, is an example of just such a film). The worst film unexpectedly turned out to be “Blade”, and such foreign hits as “Austin Powers 2”, “The General’s Daughter” or “The Haunting of Hill House” were seen by so few readers that nothing definite can be said about them. And it certainly can’t be good - “The General’s Daughter” scored -0.94. The worst performer was the film "Virus", which scored -1.50.

Comparing with last year, it should be noted that the number of people filling out the questionnaire has increased by about a third since last year. Interestingly, “Fireworks,” included in both, scored approximately the same score (1.43 this year and 1.46 last year, when only 13 people saw it).

This year, I personally have problems identifying the best films - or rather, my list almost coincides with the reader's. Without ranking them, I would probably add “Life is Beautiful” (11th place) and the little-seen “Summer of Sam” to the top ten. If I had to sacrifice something for this, I would sacrifice “Fucking Omol”. The prize for personal preference would go to the film "Sorrow", and the consolation prizes would go to "Photographer", "Cool Guy" and "Babe 2". Special mention to the film “Humanity”, which was not included in the table, which was shown at the Moscow International Film Festival.

Below is the rest of the table for those who want to make detailed calculations.

Past

text promised last time This issue contains the MashiM called “Refuge”.

On the issue of a blast from the past

I once studied in America. And I had a course at the university there called the Atomic Age. Well, they once drove us to the museum to look at the corresponding exhibition. There was a lot of educational stuff there, but the most impressive exhibit was the most natural shelter. This is such a funny crap, like a barrel-room lying on its side that was buried underground. It must be said that it was wildly crowded there. That is, three people could only fit. Not moving much. This is such a terrifying thing. This thing was in mass production. It was not cheap, but the price was right for the upper middle class. Some newlyweds spent their honeymoon in this barrel (it seems they were paid by some newspaper). This was, of course, at the very beginning of the 60s. It seems they almost got divorced later, it was so bad for them there.

But the most interesting thing is that the Americans were a hundred times more afraid of our nuclear threat than we were of theirs. But they stopped much faster. Maybe they were just more afraid?

As I understand it, in the late 70s they were no longer afraid. Ordinary people. Tired, maybe. I wanted to be afraid of something else. New one .

Don't forget to add your impressions to my collection. Write!

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