Getty The Bolshoi at the reopening celebration.
Moscow – The curtain at Russia’s Bolshoi Theater opened for the first time in over six years Friday as the country’s beau monde gathered for the storied hall’s grand re-opening after massive restoration.
“The Bolshoi is one of our greatest national brands,” a tuxedo-clad President Dmitry Medvedev said as he welcomed guests to the invitation-only event. Politicians, billionaires, artists and officials walked the red carpet flanked by an honor guard to...
Moscow – The curtain at Russia’s Bolshoi Theater opened for the first time in over six years Friday as the country’s beau monde gathered for the storied hall’s grand re-opening after massive restoration.
“The Bolshoi is one of our greatest national brands,” a tuxedo-clad President Dmitry Medvedev said as he welcomed guests to the invitation-only event. Politicians, billionaires, artists and officials walked the red carpet flanked by an honor guard to...
- 10/28/2011
- by Gregory L. White
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Sergei Mikhalkov, who wrote the lyrics for the Soviet and Russian national anthems, has died at the age 96.
Mikhalkov, an author who was favoured by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, died in a Moscow hospital on Thursday.
He also fathered two noted film directors, Academy Award winner Nikita Mikhalkov and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky.
Stalin commissioned the former war correspondent to write lyrics for a new Soviet anthem in 1943, during World War II.
Mikhalkov's lyrics, co-written with journalist El Registan, were and set to music by Alexander Alexandrov, and celebrated the dictator who he wrote, "inspired us to labour and to heroism."
The Russian government scrapped the anthem after the Soviet collapse in 1991, replacing it with an instrumental piece by 19th-century Russian composer Mikhail Glinka. However, when Vladimir Putin became Russian president in 2000, he restored the old anthem and Mikhalkov revised the text.
In 2005, Putin personally handed Mikhalkov a state award for "literary and social achievements".
Mikhalkov received numerous state awards for his children's books, film scripts, plays and fiction, including his 1935 children's poem Uncle Styopa, which is still taught in Russian kindergartens and primary schools.
In addition to his sons, Mikhalkov is survived by his wife Yulia Subbotina, ten grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren...
Mikhalkov, an author who was favoured by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, died in a Moscow hospital on Thursday.
He also fathered two noted film directors, Academy Award winner Nikita Mikhalkov and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky.
Stalin commissioned the former war correspondent to write lyrics for a new Soviet anthem in 1943, during World War II.
Mikhalkov's lyrics, co-written with journalist El Registan, were and set to music by Alexander Alexandrov, and celebrated the dictator who he wrote, "inspired us to labour and to heroism."
The Russian government scrapped the anthem after the Soviet collapse in 1991, replacing it with an instrumental piece by 19th-century Russian composer Mikhail Glinka. However, when Vladimir Putin became Russian president in 2000, he restored the old anthem and Mikhalkov revised the text.
In 2005, Putin personally handed Mikhalkov a state award for "literary and social achievements".
Mikhalkov received numerous state awards for his children's books, film scripts, plays and fiction, including his 1935 children's poem Uncle Styopa, which is still taught in Russian kindergartens and primary schools.
In addition to his sons, Mikhalkov is survived by his wife Yulia Subbotina, ten grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren...
- 8/27/2009
- WENN
Russian filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov's pictures, widely acclaimed on the festival circuit, are beautiful, but they easily fulfill the cliched description of Godard's movies -- they're like watching paint dry.
This visual portrait of a dying old woman and her devoted son is a series of static images minus any significant content and dragged out for an interminable 73 minutes. Although scheduled for a commercial release this winter, only the most die-hard intellectual will give it any attention. The film was recently showcased at the New York Film Festival.
Inspired, the production notes tell us, by Russian folk tales and the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, the film presents a nearly mystical and timeless image of mother and son. Filmed in sepia tones with the use of mirrors that produce slightly distorted images, the picture consists of a series of stationary scenes in which the son carries the old woman through an empty village, reads letters to her, comforts her through her illness, etc.
There are also endless shots of the landscape, with an emphasis on wind-battered cornfields. The soundtrack consists mainly of wind, thunder and piano.
Although visually arresting, "Mother and Son" is an arduous experience that only the most patient cineaste will endure willingly.
MOTHER AND SON
International Film Circuit
Director Aleksandr Sokurov
Producer Thomas Kufus
Screenplay Yuri Arabov
Executive producers Katrin Schlosser,
Martin Hagemann, Alexander Golutva
Photography Alexei Fyodorov
Editor Leda Semyonova
Music Mikhail Glinka,
Otmar Nussio, Giuseppe Verdi
Color/stereo
Cast:
Mother Gudrun Geyer
Son Alexei Ananishnov
Running time -- 73 minutes
No MPAA rating...
This visual portrait of a dying old woman and her devoted son is a series of static images minus any significant content and dragged out for an interminable 73 minutes. Although scheduled for a commercial release this winter, only the most die-hard intellectual will give it any attention. The film was recently showcased at the New York Film Festival.
Inspired, the production notes tell us, by Russian folk tales and the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, the film presents a nearly mystical and timeless image of mother and son. Filmed in sepia tones with the use of mirrors that produce slightly distorted images, the picture consists of a series of stationary scenes in which the son carries the old woman through an empty village, reads letters to her, comforts her through her illness, etc.
There are also endless shots of the landscape, with an emphasis on wind-battered cornfields. The soundtrack consists mainly of wind, thunder and piano.
Although visually arresting, "Mother and Son" is an arduous experience that only the most patient cineaste will endure willingly.
MOTHER AND SON
International Film Circuit
Director Aleksandr Sokurov
Producer Thomas Kufus
Screenplay Yuri Arabov
Executive producers Katrin Schlosser,
Martin Hagemann, Alexander Golutva
Photography Alexei Fyodorov
Editor Leda Semyonova
Music Mikhail Glinka,
Otmar Nussio, Giuseppe Verdi
Color/stereo
Cast:
Mother Gudrun Geyer
Son Alexei Ananishnov
Running time -- 73 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/1/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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