Thursday, December 15, 2011

Burnt by the Sun (1994)

Burnt by the Sun • Utomlennye solntsem (1994)
Burnt by the Sun • Utomlennye solntsem • Утомлённые солнцем (1994)

Genre: Drama
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Starring: Nikita Mikhalkov, Oleg Menshikov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Nadezhda Mikhalkova
Language: Russian, French
Duration: 135 min.
Rating: 7.5  

Summary:
Russia in 1936, revolutionary hero Colonel Kotov is spending an idyllic summer with his young wife and six-year-old daughter Nadya and other assorted family and friends. Things change dramatically with the surprise arrival of Cousin Dimitri from Moscow, who charms the women and little Nadya with his games and pianistic bravura. But Kotov isn't fooled: this is the time of Stalin's repression, and he knows that Dimitri isn't paying a social call...



Burnt by the Sun is a film written by, directed and starring Nikita Mikhalkov.  It premiered at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival sharing the Jury Grand Prix with Zhang Yimou's To Live, and later won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Academy Awards.

Set during the era of Stalin's Great Purge, the film spends a languid and intimate summer's day with retired Colonel Kotov, played by the director himself, who relaxes with his young wife Marusia (Ingeborga Dapkunaite) and adorable daughter Nadya (real life daughter Nadezhda Mikhalkova), until things are upended by a surprise visitor from their past.

This has all the things I generally love about films, great natural acting, a long slow setup, and a beautiful musical theme that burrows into your brain (Jerzy Petersburski's To ostatnia niedziela).  The only problem was this constant aura of calculated manipulation that I felt after awhile.  The humorous characters and interludes, the tender moments, and even the ominous imagery and symbolism all felt overly scripted like the director was trying too hard to press emotional buttons and drag the charade out for as long as possible before its inevitable end.

What saves this film for me and possibly why it won all those awards, is the remarkable performance by little Nadezhda Mikhalkova, I've never seen a more adorable yet natural performance from a six year old.  She radiates on screen and steals every scene, and even though we know Mikhalkov is exploiting their natural chemistry to full effect, there is a touching sequence with the two of them drifting on a lake in a boat that is simply a perfect cinematic moment.

Made as a tribute 'to all who were burnt by the sun of the Revolution', this film does deliver that message, but not without a few missteps along the way.  Interestingly, the director has recently made a six-hour-long two-part sequel to this film, the second of which was controversially submitted to the 2012 Oscars race, despite massive critical and box-office failure in Russia.

Bonjour Tristesse

Burnt by the Sun • Utomlennye solntsem (1994)

Burnt by the Sun • Utomlennye solntsem (1994)

Burnt by the Sun • Utomlennye solntsem (1994)

Burnt by the Sun • Utomlennye solntsem (1994)

Burnt by the Sun • Utomlennye solntsem (1994)

Burnt by the Sun • Utomlennye solntsem (1994)

Burnt by the Sun • Utomlennye solntsem (1994)

Burnt by the Sun • Utomlennye solntsem (1994)

14 comments:

Bonjour Tristesse said...

That makes sense.  It did come out late enough in the year that they could push it back.

NeverTooEarlyMP said...

That was my sense too. Although I'm pretty sure that Faust will be eligible for next year, or at least I think I read somewhere that it was being given a later release.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Strange.   Well thanks for commenting anyways.  It's good to see you around here again.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

They have no chance this year.  It's 2 1/2 hours long, the second half of a sequel, and is the worst box-office flop in Russian history.  They really should have gone with either Elena or Faust.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Thanks.  He does come across as very egotistical.  Still I am interested in seeing more of his work.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah, I wonder how much quicker they would have defeated the Nazi's if Stalin didn't kill all his commanders.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Interesting times.  Thanks for reading!

NeverTooEarlyMP said...

From your review I can understand why the Academy went for this one. Not too sure whether they can repeat this year, but I guess it's wise for them to try, although I wonder if they'd have done better with Elena? 

The Angry Vegetarian said...

I don't know why, but I had a helluva time trying to comment (problem with my browser, I guess). I forgot most of what I wanted to say. I know it had to do with Russian films.....

Hoi-Ming Ng said...

Eh..... children.

d_4 said...

If I watch it, it'll be for the little girl. I don't usually watch things solely because of good performance though, so we'll see. I'm just not a huge fan of "trying too hard".

Michael Parent said...

Excellent review! I heard a lot about Mikhalkov's giant ego and how his films are depictions of his megalomania. Although I really want to see his films to fully understand this pretentious filmmaker...

The Angry Lurker said...

I like the story of this movie, the purges were widespread and ruthless especially to the army!

FrontRoomCinema said...

I am loving that gas mask!!

Interesting review BT

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