Dmitry Tokarev – Page 2 – Hit.Media. Space young journalism

Tarkovsky is back to large screens again
"Solaris" will be released on New Year's holidays in a restored form

Reading time 4 minutes

On December 26, one of the most famous films directed by Andrei Tarkovsky will be released in 70 cities of Russia. It is a movie adaptation of the novel “Solaris” written by a Polish writer, Stanislav Lem. The film was first released in 1972. Immediately after the premiere, it received recognition from the general public and positive reviews from critics both in the USSR and abroad. This is proved by such awards as the Special Jury Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1972 International Cannes Film Festival, the Prize at the XXVIII International Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 1972, etc. Also, the picture is often recognized as one of the best science fiction movies in the history of cinema. Interestingly, the author of the original source did not accept Tarkovsky’s work.

Андрей Тарковский на съемках «Соляриса» — Andrei Tarkovsky on the set of Solaris

The plot of the film tells a story about the interaction of people with an alien mind discovered on the distant planet Solaris. Like many other Tarkovsky’s films, the main theme of Solaris is various existential problems of a person, such as awareness of self-hatred or acceptance of one’s own fears. The main roles were played by Sergei Bondarchuk’s daughter, Natalia, the famous Lithuanian actor Donatas Banionis, one of the regular actors in Tarkovsky’s films, Anatoly Solonitsyn, as well as Yuri Yarvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky and Nikolai Grinko.

Наталья Бондарчук и Донатас Банионис на постере «Соляриса» — Natalia Bondarchuk and Donatas Banionis on the “Solaris” ‘s poster

Restoration of “Solaris” has been carried out at the Mosfilm studio since 2011. Such a long period is a standard for films released more than 40-50 years ago. All defects of the old movie should be eliminated by specialists manually: color correction and sound recording errors. To achieve maximum quality after the restoration, professionals have been working on old materials for years. In addition, “Solaris” is the second restored Tarkovsky’s film in the last year. In October 2018, his 1979 film “Stalker” was released for re-rental. It was about a journey to a mystical room located in a certain forbidden zone. According to rumors, any human desire could be fulfilled there. Just like Solaris, the dramatic parable quickly became a cult and was awarded at the International Cannes Film Festival. Anton Dolin, an editor of the “Cinema Art” magazine, noted that Tarkovsky is one of the few representatives of Soviet cinema whose films still regularly resonate with young people. And not only in Russia: “Stalker” is regularly included in the list of 250 best films according to users of the world’s largest cinema website IMDB. At the moment, the picture is on 181 place. That is why, Dolin believes that the re-releasing of such films on the big screen is justified.

Кадр из фильма «Сталкер» — Shot from the movie “Stalker”

The Irishman is on top
American critics call Scorsese's "Irishman" the best movie of 2019

Reading time 5 minutes

The National Council of Critics of the United States recognized Martin Scorsese’s movie “Irishman” as the best film of 2019. This title is one of the most prestigious one for any Hollywood film. In different years the title was given to the “Silence of the Lambs” (1991), “Schindler’s List” (1993), “Pulp Fiction” (1994) and others. The “Irishman” is the second Scorsese’s work to be awarded with this title. The first one was the 2011 adventure film “The Guardian of Time”. In addition, a screenwriter, Stephen Zellian, also received an award for the best adapted screenplay.

Martin Scorsese is regularly recognized as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. For example, in 2010, a popular American film and music magazine, Paste conducted a survey that showed that readers rated Scorsese as the best director alive. He was ahead of Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, David Lynch and many others.

Мартин Скорсезе — Director of the “Irishman” movie Martin Scorsese

“The Irishman” is a crime drama based on the novel “I Heard You Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt. It describes the real story of trade unionist, Frank Sheeran, nicknamed “The Irishman,” associated with the Bufalinos mafia family. The budget of the film was about $ 150 million.

The main roles were played by Robert de Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel and other famous Hollywood actors. Interestingly, de Niro and Pesci haven’t participated in Scorsese’s works for 24 years. Their last collaboration was the movie “Casino” in 1995. Moreover, after this film, Scorsese stopped shooting criminal dramas, switching to other genres. That is why the “Irishman” is also interesting as a kind of Scorsese’s return to his earlier works.

Джо Пеши (слева) и Роберт де Ниро (справа) в фильме "Казино" — Joe Pesci (left) and Robert de Niro (right) in the movie “Casino”

When creating the film, motion capture technology was used. It transfers the facial expressions and body movements of a real actor to a digitized computer model. This was done in order to show the main characters of the picture at different ages, without using makeup. This technology was popularized in the first half of the 2000s by a director, Peter Jackson, who used motion capture to create images of Gollum in the trilogy Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) and the King Kong movie (2005). The films were commercially successful, welcomed by the critics, and received many awards, in particular, the Oscars for the best visual effects.

Использование motion capture в фильме — Using motion capture in “Irishman”

The film is an exclusive product of Netflix company. It means that it is impossible to watch it in cinemas or on other entertainment streaming platforms. The “Irishman” was first shown on September 27 at the New York Film Festival. On November 1, it went on limited rental at 8 cinemas in New York and Los Angeles. On November 27, the film became available for viewing via Netflix subscription.