Assa (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Assa |
| Original title | Асса (Assa) |
| Country of production | Soviet Union |
| original language | Russian |
| Publishing year | 1988 |
| length | 148 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Sergei Solovyov |
| script | Sergei Solovyov Sergei Livnev |
| production | Mosfilm |
| music | Boris Grebenschtschikow |
| camera | Pavel Lebeschew |
| cut | Wera Kruglowa |
| occupation | |
| |
Assa is a crime and romance film by the Soviet-Russian director Sergei Solowjow from 1988. For the first time in Soviet cinema history, Assa is devoting itself to youth culture, which was defined by underground culture in the glasnost and perestroika era . The world premiere, on April 1st, 1988 in the concert and theater hall “Palast an der Jausa” in Moscow, was framed by a 10-day alternative festival - concerts, exhibitions and performance art. Assa became a cult film and established Soviet underground rock - Boris Grebenchtschikow wrote the film music and Viktor Zoi was part of the cast - on the big stages.
The film marks the beginning of Solovyov's post-Soviet trilogy. This came to an end after The black rose is the emblem of regret, the red rose - the emblem of love and The House under the Starry Sky - published in 1990 and 1991 - its conclusion. In 2007 Solovyov tied the story of Assa with the film 2-Assa-2.
action
The film is set in Yalta , Crimea , in the winter of 1980 . The young nurse Alika has a relationship with the much older Krymow. Krymov is the head of a gang of criminals specializing in extortion and contract killings and is shadowed by the police and the KGB. Alika has no idea of her partner's double life. She met the young, freelance artist Bananan, who introduced her to underground culture - its music and understanding of art. She spends more and more time with banana, Krymov reacts irritably and jealously.
Bananan works in a small theater u. a. as a night watchman to make a living. An ensemble of short actors performs here. Albert Petrovich, a former accomplice of Krymov, is one of them. He is hired by Krymow to repay old debts to steal a Guarneri violin. Albert does not want to resume his criminal life and commits suicide. Albert's wife leaves Yalta, leaving behind the pistol her husband shot himself with. The weapon comes into the possession of Alika.
A gang member, called the major, is questioned by security forces about Krymov's criminal activities. In order not to betray his boss, he pretends to be crazy. During the interrogation he monologized that he was traumatized by the death of Yuri Gagarin .
Bananan is very much in love with Alika, he makes an earring from a photo of the two and wears it in public. When a police officer asks Bananan to remove the earring, he refuses and is jailed for one night. There he is beaten up by a fellow inmate who was incited by prison guards.
One morning, Krymow invites Bananan to swim in the Black Sea . The young artist does not have the same physical strength as Krymow, is exhausted and is pushed underwater for a short time by his adversary for the favor of Alika, but then reaches the bank. Krymov is getting more and more jealous and wants Bananan to leave Yalta for a couple of weeks. When the latter refuses, Krymow gives instructions to kill Bananan and to throw the body into the Black Sea. He tells Alika about Banana's death. She shoots Krymov and is then arrested by the militia.
In the shooting scene of the film, Wiktor Zoi applies for the position of a musician in the theater. In silence he listens to the formal requirements and rules for employed musicians, leaves the room, enters the small theater stage - on which the Kino group stands - and sings his song I want change . The stage is transformed into a night-time, very large audience-filled concert hall. The majority of the concert participants hold up burning lighters.
During the course of the film, Krymow periodically reads Natan Ejdelman's book Грань веков (End of the Age) about the last days of Tsar Paul I and his assassination. Scenes from the book are built into the film plot.
Bananan's surreal dreams are another recurring plot element. The dreams contain explanations of Russian rock slang and show performances by the bands Aquarium , Brawo, Sojuz Kompozitorow, Kino and Wesjolje rebjata with Juri Tschernawski. Bananan explains to Krymov in one of these scenes that Boris Grebenchtschikow is a god who radiates light.
Soundtrack
The Soviet label Melodija released the soundtrack for the film Assa in 1987. The sound carrier was "one of the first official releases of Russian rock".
- 1. Здравствуй, мальчик Бананан (Hello Banana Boy) : Yuri Chernavsky and the group of Vezyolye rebjata
- 2. Иду на ты (I'll come for you) : Boris Grebenschtschikow and Aquarium
- 3. BBC : Aleksandr Sinitzyn and Mikhail Mikhailyuk
- 4. Мочалкин блюз (Naive Blouse) : Boris Grebenschtschikow and Aquarium
- 5. Плоскость (airplane) : Boris Grebenschtschikow and Aquarium
- 6. Старик Козлодоев (Old Koslodojew) : Boris Grebenschtschikow and Aquarium
- 7. Город золотой (Golden City) : Boris Grebenschtschikow and Aquarium
- 8. Чудесная страна (Wonderful Land) : Shanna Agusarowa and Brawo
- 9. Хочу перемен (I want change) : Viktor Zoi and cinema
literature
- Michael Brashinsky, Andrew Horton (Eds.): Russian Critics on the Cinema of Glasnost. Cambridge University Press 1994, ISBN 0-521-44475-6 , limited preview in Google Book Search, (English)
- David C. Gillespie: Russian Cinema. Routledge , Abingdon-on-Thames 2002, ISBN 0-582-43790-3 , limited preview in Google Book Search, (English)
- Boris Barabanow (Author), Anna Tschernigowskaja (Ed.): Асса. Книга перемен (Assa. Book of Change). Amfora, Saint Petersburg 2008, ISBN 978-5-367-00683-4 , (Russian)
- Gesine Drews-Sylla, Elisabeth Dütschke, Halyna Leontiy, Elena Polledri (eds.): Constructed normalities - normal deviations. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-531-17230-9 , pp. 194–195, limited preview in the Google book search
- Birgit Beumers (Ed.): Directory of World Cinema: Russia. Intellect Books, Bristol 2011, ISBN 978-1-84150-372-1 , limited preview in Google Book Search, (English)
- Lyudmila Sokolova: Великие советские фильмы. 100 фильмов, ставших легендами (Significant Soviet films. 100 films that became legends). Tschentrpoligraf, Moscow 2012, ISBN 978-5-227-02936-2 , provided by Культура.рф (Russian)
- Nicholas Galichenko (Author), Robert Allington (Ed.): Glasnost-Soviet Cinema Responds. University of Texas Press, Austin Texas 2013, limited preview in Google Book search, (English)
- Birgit Beumers, Eugenie Zvonkine (Eds.): Ruptures and Continuities in Soviet / Russian Cinema: Styles, characters and genres before and after the collapse of the USSR (Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe). Taylor & Francis , London 2017, ISBN 978-1-138-67577-3 , limited preview in Google Book Search, (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Assa": The film that brought the Soviet Union down. In: Russia Beyond the Headlines . Rossiyskaya Gazeta , April 15, 2016, accessed July 21, 2019 .