Sergey Kuznetsov. Cultural guide. Issue 74

Cultural guide. Issue 74
Sergey Kuznetsov

Publication date: April 4, 2000

Interactive

Did you celebrate Fools Day this year?

- I always celebrate it
- yes, noted
- not this year
- I never celebrate it

Comments and stories about the most interesting giveaways are welcome and expected.

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Movie

Beach

The main question that came to me after leaving the film “The Beach” sounded strange. Moreover, it sounded like a professional challenge. The question was: “Why is The Beach a bad film?”

It seems that everything is in place: competent shooting, an exotic location, normally playing actors, good camera work and an interesting plot. What an interesting one! Just a problematic plot, almost like Fight Club. But for some reason, after Fincher’s film you understand that the film, although not without flaws, is of monstrous strength, and after “The Beach” you feel that the film, although not without merits (see above), is quite weak. What's the matter?

Let's start with the plot, especially since it does not hide any special secrets. A young American (Leonardo, of course, DiCaprio) comes to Thailand (aka Bangkok, watch the movie "Anna and the King"), receives from a drug-addicted neighbor a map indicating the mysterious "Beach" - a real paradise - and together goes there with two random companions. He gets to the beach and finds a post-hippie colony there. By the end of the film, the tropical paradise turns into hell.

The plot motives that make up this film are clear. Firstly, the dream of paradise, in its down-to-earth, New Age form. Secondly, an exposure of the boring life of well-fed Americans (whether in America or Thailand). Thirdly, the correct idea is that in a closed society of communes, totalitarian tendencies inevitably grow, the majority of their residents are not ready to accept them, which is why the communes fall apart. Fourthly (or, if you prefer, thirdly, subparagraph “a”) - the peace&love ideology ignores the destructive and self-destructive tendencies of the human psyche. And so on.

After all, all the right ideas, right? And you want to go to paradise (palm trees and white sand, and there is no big business, and everyone is each other’s brothers), and boring life is disgusting, and communes are short-lived, and according to any utopia, at some point you want to shoot out of a machine gun (“stick your tongue out at the crystal palace,” as Dostoevsky’s hero put it). But for some reason it doesn’t insert.

After much thought, I think I understood what was going on. No matter how funny it may sound (now everyone will shout “snob, snob!”), it’s about Leonardo DiCaprio. And it’s not that he “plays poorly” (lately I don’t quite understand what “plays poorly” means in relation to a professional actor), but that from the very first minute everything about him is clear. It’s clear that the filmmakers slightly despise him, it’s clear that he’s a mama’s boy, it’s clear that he’s going crazy. Even after receiving the map, he cannot get to the Beach on his own and drags his two motel neighbors with him. It is clear that what was meant was an “educational film” - but, by and large, DiCaprio remains to the end a youth and a well-fed American baby doll who utters platitudes. This is perhaps his main difference from Brad Pitt in Fight Club.

Let's now leave DiCaprio alone, whose strength seems to have been undermined by the noise around Titanic, and let's talk about director Danny Boyle and his regular screenwriter John Hodge. After An Extraordinary Life, I already expressed my suspicion that Shallow Grave would remain their best film. Apparently, this is the case (I haven’t seen Alien Love Triangle, but I haven’t heard particularly rave reviews about it either). I think Shallow Grave will remain Boyle-Hodge's best film because it dealt directly with what they seem to care about most: crumbling love affairs and friendships. The coincidences with “The Beach” are striking: here and there we see two guys and a girl, and here and there a dead neighbor leaves them something (a card or a suitcase with money) ... even the shallow grave in which a corpse is buried on the island appears in "Beach".

But the best interpretation of the film was offered by DiCaprio's namesake Lev Danilkin from Vedomosti. Taking as a basis the scene of the hero's hallucinosis, when it seems to him that he is the hero of a computer game, Danilkin suggested that the entire film is a computer game built as a quest. Indeed, this is how it is - the hero overcomes obstacle after obstacle to get to his island. “Then,” said Danilkin, “it’s clear why the characters are so one-dimensional. And if this is on purpose, then it’s a very good film. And if not,” he added after a pause, “then it’s a very bad one.”

I think that the second assumption is more correct. And Danilkin’s idea about quests, if you look closely, looks funny: historically, quests as a genre preceded computer games. Another thing is that for the current generation, computer games are the first example of a quest, so even “Lancelot of the Lake” looks like a scenario for a game. However, Boyle and Hodge are from the same generation - and perhaps that is why they, without noticing it, turned Alex Garland's fashionable novel into a computer game.

"Beach". Literally, all over the city: “Pushkinsky”, “Kodak-Kinomir”, “MDM-Kino”, “Karo-film”, “35 mm”, “Rolan”, “Kinotsentr”, “Udarnik”, “Khudozhestvenny”. True, by the weekend only “Under the Dome” and “Kinotsentr” will remain. See show times here and call for more details.

Literature

I have not tried to get the statistics correct, but it seems that in terms of the number of mentions in the CG, Dmitry Aleksandrovich Prigov will take a solid first place. In any case, in 73 issues, the classic of Russian conceptualism was mentioned twenty times. How can we not announce a real Prigov festival after this?

At the festival, Dmitry Alexandrovich will appear in several guises. First, he will read his poems. Secondly, DJ at the Prigov disco. Thirdly, to perform Vladimir Martynov’s “Russian-German Requiem” together with Dmitry Pokrovsky’s ensemble. In addition, within the framework of the festival there will be a presentation of Anton Batagov’s disc, and “Three O” and “NATE” will perform. It’s just a pity that the artists that Prigov belonged to at an early stage of his career will not be represented.

April 5-9, "Home", festival of Dmitry Aleksandrovich Prigov. Detailed schedule is here .

Music

This week, thank God, everything is going well with music. You don’t have to list, separated by commas, long-time (dis)favorite bands performing in well-known clubs, but firmly and confidently highlight the main musical event of the week: the tour of The Tiger Lillies, organized by Izm and the club “Project O.G.I.”

I first read about “Tiger Lilies” in Zhurnal.ru, where the current editor of the culture department of “Vremya MN” Mitya Olshansky wrote about them something like that they are a cross between Tom Waits and the early David Bowie. This, of course, is an excellent advertising phrase - however, no matter how much I listened to them, I didn’t notice any David Bowie there.

I noticed something completely different: interwar cabaret, urban ballads, post- and simple punk, Western blatnyak and many other pleasant things brought together.

Every time you write about musicians you liked, you catch yourself wanting to repeat the ritual formula: “memorable melodies, unexpected words, unique voices and, most importantly, inhuman drive.” Actually, it’s hard to say otherwise, and therefore the only thing that remains is to add a little more specificity.

The memorable melodies are melodies of urban folklore: either gypsy music, or blatnyak, or something surprisingly familiar from the early Vysotsky.

And I sing all the songs about dramas,
all from the life of pickpockets.
You won't see my name in advertisements
popular pop singers.

By the way, it’s also true about pop singers: “Tiger Lilies” still remain characters of the countercultural and marginal scene, and only a few of their discs can be purchased through large retail chains. Apparently, they don't regret it either.

Unexpected words are numerous songs about bestiality (for example, about the unquenchable love for a fly that cannot be fucked due to the disparity in size... with the hope of meeting a giant fly at the end and the chorus "bzzzzz...bzzzz"), blasphemous songs (including the famous Banging in the Nails), simply songs “from the life of pickpockets” - more precisely, from the life of prostitutes and pimps.

The last topic is not accidental, since the Lilies began in the red light district: their leader Martin Jacques lived in the same house with a brothel for six years and even dreamed of becoming a pimp (“Pimps count their money, they have a good job, it’s better than being gangster,” he will sing later). By the way, the other two members of the trio also have a heroic biography: Adrian Huge worked in meat and confectionery stores, motorcycle stores, banks, and repaired cars. But Adrian Stout was already a professional musician when he met the band members.

What's next? Oh yes, peculiar voices. Everything is fine with this - they say that Martin Jacques is a castrato... Those who wish can listen for themselves in RealAudio .

As for the drive, you can feel it in the recording, but they say there’s even more of it at concerts. Tiger Lillies are known for their absolutely outrageous shows, but they say that they considered Moscow an unprepared city and there would be no special outrages. It’s a pity, of course... but maybe, after looking at us, they will change their minds.

You can order tickets here .

April 6, Thursday √ "Project O.G.I." (metro station "Chistye Prudy", Potapovsky lane, 8/12; tel.: 927-56-78; starts at 22:00).

April 7, Friday √ "Studio" (metro station "Okhotny Ryad", Tverskaya, 10; tel.: 292-50-80). They say entry is for club members only.

April 8, Saturday √ "Bunker" (metro station "Tverskaya", Tverskaya, 12, building 2; tel.: 200-15-06; starts at 23:00).

April 9, Sunday √ "Project O.G.I." (metro station "Chistye Prudy", Potapovsky lane, 8/12; tel.: 927-56-78; starts at 22:00).

Past

This time - all impressions about cinema and from America. Let's start with a movie I haven't seen.

***

About a fresh aesthetic impression: I watched a DVD I rented yesterday.

In our village of Silikonovka, there is now one amazing film on the bestseller list, the presence of which is, on the one hand, strange, but on the other, very pleasing.

It’s strange because the film is a) about old people, b) about old people - Cuban, c) shot on video, d) practically a documentary, e) made by a director with a reputation as a subtle esthete.

It's good because not all Titanics are bestsellers. It makes me happy because it is a SPECTACLE. This is incredibly catchy music. And this is a masterly, amazing editing.

A spectacle - both because of the simply beautiful angles, details, camera movement, and because of the amazingly attractive texture (summer of 1998 in Cuba - you can see what Russia would be like today if “perestroika with democracy” had not happened, if it had continued to remain in socialism) , capture of moments, recognizable (the “Lyric” piano; old Soviet and very old American cars) and amazing details (“humpbacked” in the opposite direction, with a “bent back”, a tram with a camel painted on its side)...

Due to ignorance of the context, and the popular names THERE, the confusing, conspicuous poverty, the first two thirds of the film is not clear that this is a film about old people playing music in their free time, former staff musicians of city Houses of Culture, or those who have become unnecessary to anyone, but were once famous professionals all over the country. Or is it the old age of Makarevich, Grebenshchikov, Kinchev, etc. in the country of socialism that has triumphed over everyone, or the program “with Aunt Valya” about guys with accordions from the next door.

When at the end the guys play in Carnegie Hall and smile to the enthusiastic roar of the audience, it becomes clear that the guys were not easy. :)

Well, Latin rhythms are wonderful. It’s very touching to see the animation in the eyes of 70-year-old people who are enthusiastically greeted by the public, or who, while walking around New York, tell how they would like to bring their children to show this beautiful city.

Yes, we are talking about "Social Club Buena Vista" by Wim Wenders.

( Yuri Syuganov )

And now two reviews of American Beauty.

***

About the movie American Beauty.

American Beauty is a movie that can only be made in a well-fed and peaceful time, in a well-fed and stable country. There is nothing wrong with this - in my dearly beloved "Mirror", for example, the author's alter ego nostalgically recalls his hungry childhood. There is no need to think about your daily bread - all that remains is to think about the soul - if you have a soul, a thought and time. Experience shows that such thoughts only increase sadness.

Silly and happy satiety is also necessary, however: Alan Ball wrote the script for “A.V.” at night. precisely so as not to make the writers of a stupid TV show go crazy. By the way, the story in the script ends much harsher - Lester's daughter and a neighbor who is a film buff are tried for murder, because... They found a tape where she “hires” him. In general, the only weak point in the film is precisely the unfounded hope for beauty as redemption. [You can give as the topic of an essay an analysis of the film "American Beauty" with the following epigraph: "To be stupid, selfish and in good health - three necessary conditions for happiness - although if there is no stupidity, then the rest is useless" (Flaubert, interlinear translation from English)].

What A.V. - the cinema is very American, I heard from several smart natives, and I myself was inclined to believe the same. Perhaps I mixed up the signs - the example I tested on my own skin is just the opposite. "Groundhog Day" in Moscow looked like an absolutely brilliant parable. But when it turned out that the town was a dense reality, indistinguishable from hundreds of towns I had seen, the effect disappeared. Face to face, as Shchegolev would say, you can’t see a thing...

Small, albeit important, details remain. Automatically perceived property signs are probably not as obvious in other cultural contexts. For example, the house that Carolyn is trying to sell is a brilliant achievement of the artist and cinematographer. It is made on the counterpoint of an emphatically beautiful shooting of a building, nevertheless perceived by the viewer as quite vile (especially in the situation of a house being shown by an agent!). However, these are really details.

( Alexander Gimelbrant )

Yes, about the house, in general, and in Russia it is clear that it sucks, but not to the extent that you describe. I readily believe that I missed a dozen more such details. For example, for a couple of minutes I believed in the monstrous prices for grass - and only then I realized that the hero’s dealer was monstrously cheating him.

Second review.

***

I read your article. I want to tell you what I understood from this film. I have lived in the USA for 10 years. Americans are obsessed with family. The problem is that religion and family are for them what communism was for the USSR in the past. Everyone says that they strive for this, but in fact it is an illusion. The American family is very boring and when they realize this, they try to find something else. But this something doesn’t exist. This is simply a conflict between the official norm and human happiness. Sadly. "American Beauty" suggests that American values ​​are primitive and two-faced. You only understand this here, but it’s too late...

Pavel

It seems to me, although I cannot guarantee, that the author of the letter experienced a strange aberration. It is unlikely that he left Russia when he was over thirty years old, but rather when he was over twenty. And until a certain age you simply don’t understand that not only Americans are obsessed with family, but also Europeans, Russians and in general everyone who is at least somewhat related to European civilization (I simply cannot speak for Asian civilization - there the family is different, and I don’t really know anything about them). And as a person with experience of a second marriage, I can say that I don’t think that the American family is more boring than the Russian one.

And the fact that the dominant values ​​of any society are illusory, primitive and two-faced - so who would argue. That is why they are dominant values ​​with their inescapably repressive character. The trouble is that in this sense, America is no different from Russia: and that’s why “American Beauty” is going great in Moscow.

As for the fact that “you only understand here, but it’s too late...” - the author should console the author: the film “American Beauty” is precisely about the fact that it’s never too late. Even if it's the last day of your life. There is always a chance to fall in love with your daughter’s classmate, start smoking weed again, get shot in the back of the head and finally see the beauty of the world that takes your breath away.

Well, you can also return to Russia and do it all here. Although in what I'm talking about, the difference between Russia and America is small.

Today was a wonderful experience. I'm waiting for new ones, dear readers.

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