Amazing Russian film in Corrie
On Sunday, 10th July, Corrie Film Club will be showing the astonishing Russian film, Andrei Rublev, about the monk and icon painter of that name. Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, the 205 minute original cut was exactly what he wanted – but the relatively liberal Kruschev was deposed shortly after filming began, and the Brezhnev-era censors cut the film to little more than half its original length. It was not seen in its restored 205-minute version until twenty-five years after its creation. A recently released DVD, transferred from a pristine 35mm print, has made viewing possible for the first time, and critics across the world are ecstatic in their praise.
Andrei Rublev was a 15th century monk renowned as Russia’s greatest creator of religious icons and frescoes – but the film is far more than his life story. Steve Rose of the Guardian calls it ‘the best art-house film of all time,’ and is lyrical about its beauty. ‘From the first scene, following the flight of a rudimentary hot air balloon, we’re whisked away by silken camera moves and stark compositions to a time and place where we’re no less confused, amazed or terrified than Rublev himself. For the next three hours, we’re down in the muck and chaos of medieval Russia, carried along on the tide of history … We experience life on every scale, from raindrops falling on a river to armies ransacking a town, often within the same, unbroken shot.’
The film is set at the time of the Mongol-Tatar invasions and the growing force of Byzantine Christianity, but it is a visual masterpiece for all time. Steve Rose continues, ‘Andrei Rublev is precisely structured and entirely aesthetically coherent. Acts of creation are mirrored by acts of destruction, there are themes of flight, of vision, of presence and absence; the more you look, the more you see. And then there are the horses, Tarkovsky’s perennial favourite: horses rolling over, horses charging into battle, swimming in the river, falling down stairs, dragging men out of churches. At times the screen resembles a vast Brueghel painting come to life, or a medieval tapestry unrolling.’
Don’t miss this, it’s fantastic. Corrie and Sannox Village Hall, 8.00 pm. You don’t have to be a member of the Film Club to attend – all are welcome and entrance is free.
