Egor Baranov: Locust (2014)

Critical Literary Studies, University of Kurdistan, Iran, 2019

This paper aims to study the process of identity shaping of a teenager in a family from the perspective of Subjectivity theories. The process of identity formation has been one of the main concerns for various critical approaches in human sciences in general, and the psychoanalytical and Marxist approaches in particular. The case study of the present research is the character of Alyosha from Andrey Zvyagintsev’s film, Loveless (2017). Since there is no particular theory for the contentual analysis of Film, critics in the analysis of the films’ content, take advantage of various literary, sociological and psychoanalysis theories. Therefore, the Conceptual Framework of the present study concentrates on the critical approaches of Structural psychoanalysis and Structural Marxism; particularly definitions of the Unconscious, Repressed Desire, the Name of the Father by Lacan, the Ideology, ISAs, RSAs by Althusser, and the Žižekian concept of Lack of Language. This investigation in the process of identity formation can play a significant role in demonstrating the covert motives of the character’s suicidal act. It will illustrate the way Alyosha as a subject inherits his parents’ repressed desires and lack of language caused by ideology. The application of considering concepts indicates the central role and inevitable impact of the familial discourse at the emergence of subjectivity within the family.

Edited by Rimgaila Salys The early 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. Learn more & purchase: https://www.academicstudiespress.com/filmandmediastudies/the-contemporary-russian-cinema-reader

Hispania, 2015

Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences, 2015

The subject of the study is an analysis of Anthon Chekhov's selected tales which contain a convergence of fiction. The topic of unfulfilled fate seems to be a leading theme in Chekhov's prose of the 1890s. The characters of the analyzed texts share the author's opinion that indifference, everyday life, narrowmindness influence the fate not less than regular crimes or wicked deeds. In those narrations anyone should notice the development of Chekhov's attitude to happiness which underlines the influence of the surrounding/environment on shaping human awareness. He claims that it is impossible to gain satisfaction without opposing to shallow opinions and the devoidness of ideas which are characteristic attributes of a petty bourgeoisie, the best example of whom are the characters' stories.

Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema, 2023

The article discusses the 1967 film The Private Life of Kuziaev Valentin, directed by Il’ia Averbakh and Igor’ Maslennikov. The film belongs to the Thaw period of Soviet filmmaking, defined by cineastes’ pledge to sincerity. This idea aligned with the cultural transformations launched by the Khrushchev administration at the end of the 1950s, which encompassed radical changes in the attitudes and behaviour of the Soviet youth. Sensitive to the current political climate, Soviet filmmakers populated their narratives with the new, honest and self-reflective young heroes. Our detailed analysis of The Private Life of Kuziaev Valentin demonstrates how it critically interrogates and destabilises the popular sincerity discourse of the time. Engaging in a complex dialogue with Marlen Khutsiev’s iconic 1962 production Ilyich’s Gate, the film also foreshadows the imminent appearance, on the Soviet screen, of a radically different character. In the 1970s, the introspective flaneurs of the Thaw are slowly replaced by their cynical and shallow, two-dimensional copies. Remarkably, this evolution of the contemporary protagonist coincided with similar tendencies in French and British cinema.

Contemporary Russian Cinema Reader, 2019

m y J o y schas t´e moe 2010 127 minutes D irec tor: S ergei Loznitsa S creenplay: S ergei Loznitsa Cinematography: Oleg Mutu S ound: Vladimir Golovnitsky Ar t D irec tion: K irill S huvalov Editor: D anielius Kok anauskis Producers: Heino Decker t, Oleg Kohan Produc tion Companies: a.ja.de.filmproduktion (Germany), S ota C inema Group (Ukraine), Huber t Bals Fund (Netherlands) Cast: Viktor Nemets (Georgy), Vladimir Golovin (old man), Olga S huvalova (young prostitute), Vlad Ivanov (major from Moscow), M aria Varsami (M aria), Aleksei Ver tkov (young

It's often said that Russia and America are very similar—huge, multiethnic, somewhat unsophisticated nuclear powers that have more in common with each other than with the smaller and more cosmopolitan countries of Western and Central Europe. The plays presented at the New Russian Drama Conference, held May 7–9, 2010 at Towson University in Baltimore, both confirmed and refuted that contention. The purpose of the conference, according to the New Russian Drama project's website, was to help " [promote] the Russian plays for potential professional productions, by allowing invited theatre professionals to meet with Russian artists and to view student productions of select plays. " Attendees saw five productions, two of which portrayed a gritty, crime-filled world reminiscent of American television drama, and several others which clearly reflected American influences. Nevertheless, all five displayed elements of a kind of satiric/fantastical whimsy that could only have come from the Russia of Chekhov, Bulgakov, and Zamyatin. It was this combination of a familiar-yet-strange sensibility that made all five plays striking, each in its own way. Interestingly, the two most American-seeming of the productions both concerned children and their plight in post-Soviet Russia. One—in my opinion the most successful of all the productions at the conference, Martial Arts by Yury Klavdiev—relates the story of a ten-year-old boy who comes home one day to find his drug-dealer parents have been murdered. He is joined by a neighbor girl, who befriends him and provides a kind of childish normalcy to counterbalance his extremely abnormal life. Klavdiev's play, deftly translated by David M. White with Yury Urnov, combines a Tarantino-like depiction of a violent underworld with a fantastic element reminiscent of Russian works like The Master and Margarita.

Senses of Cinema, 2017

Overview of the great Soviet cinema classic

Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Filologiya

The article researches the last and the least studied dramatic work by Vladimir Nabokov-the screenplay of the novel Lolita-from the perspective of the writer on what constitutes an aesthetically satisfying play. Using Nabokov's methodology and assessing compliance of the screenplay with Nabokov's content-and-form-related criteria of the perfect play, the author concludes that the screenplay contains the full range of his idiosyncratic concepts and artistic devices. The article scrutinizes each of them. Consequently, the research claims that Lolita stands not only as a remarkable play, but also as the culmination of the dramaturgic principles Nabokov employed as a writer and advocated as a theorist of drama.