Round “Golden shell” – Kommersant

film Festival

the 64th international film festival in San Sebastian ended with the victory of the film “I am Madame Bovary” by Chinese Director Feng Syaogana: he won the main prize “Golden shell” (in detail about it see “Kommersant” on 19 September). Justice of this decision was glad ANDREY PLAKHOV.

In the background of films with political declarations and implications of the Chinese was the most refined and ingenious: it is politics and art join in harmonious Union. After all, the history of a lawsuit, a young provincial with local law can be read as a satire on the tough Chinese bureaucracy and even the political system. The heroine in his “crusade” comes to Beijing, which brought together people’s Congress and present the highest party functionaries. But almost Kafkaesque absurdity applies not only to bureaucrats; they permeated and behavior of the heroine: she requires that her second — in law divorced her husband, whom she divorced, and so, but fictitious. To review this movie through the prism of purely satirical and prevents a lot of cultural references — from “Madame Bovary” in the film’s title and opening sentence, taken from an old Chinese tale. To finally translate the plot in the aesthetic plane, the Director concludes most of the action in the circle. Round frame — opening by the Belgian Director Gust van den Berg gets his Chinese follower of new meaning and purpose. Staying on the external visibility of aesthetic experiment, “I am Madame Bovary” turns out to be unexpectedly fascinating, I would say, intoxicating spectacle, quite suitable for a wide audience. In addition to the main this picture marked another prize for actress fan Bingbing.

And almost all other awarded films have left a favorable impression of the democratic wit its design, ease of breathing. For best Director award for “the Korean woody Allen” as it is called, is Hong sang-soo, whose film “You and yours” is a typical offering for the Director’s improvisation on the theme of search of love, often compounded by alcohol vapors. The prize for best screenplay went to the Spanish Thriller “Forgive us, Lord”, shot by Director Rodrigo Sorogoyen in the style of hard-boiled, about two eccentric police officers who caught the pervert, raped and killed old women. The Spaniard Eduard fernández is recognized as the best actor for the role of an adventurer for a long time fooled the whole country, in the film “Smoke and mirrors” Alberto Rodriguez.

a Special jury prize was shared between a very beautiful Argentine-French painting “Winter” emiliano Torres and interesting Danish-Swedish “Giant” Johannes Nyholm, made in the style of a parody comic. He headed the jury of the Danish veteran Bille August, and the most powerful figure in it was a prominent Chinese film Director Jia zhangke, so the success of the far Eastern and Scandinavian films can be linked with these circumstances. However, to speak about lobbying was not warranted, as the jury’s decisions proved to be extremely balanced and robust: almost nothing to complain about.

As always, the festival in San Sebastian has attracted a great retrospectives of old movies on the attendance often was a real competition to the international premieres. This year’s hero of the big retrospective of the program was Jacques Becker is a French Director who lived only 53 years, and still had time to catch the first reel of the “new wave”. He left the cinema history, two genuine masterpieces — the painting “the Golden helmet” and “Hole”, but was the author of several more modest films, including “Antoine and Antoinette” and “Montparnasse 19″, both at the time, the favorites of the Soviet hire. Or “Street Astropad” — the lowly farce about a young married couple, whose relations are easily restored after a fleeting adultery. External signs such films belong not even “daddy’s” and “grandfather” movie, which fiercely opposed the leaders of the “new wave”. However, Becker and some of them felt sentimental and even called him his precursor. At the festival in San Sebastian the creativity of the French classics was represented by his countryman Bertrand Tavernier — one of the main Directors-cinephiles. And I must admit, a careful retrospective look even at the familiar phenomenon of the past helps to perceive their largely new, revising existing ideas and moving in today’s context.