MY HEART IS IN THE HIGHLANDS
A film review by Thomas E. Billings
Copyright 1989 Thomas E. Billings
Synopsis: A tribute to silent movies, this 1967 Soviet film, silent except for sparse (Russian) narration, has the look and feel of a 1920s era silent film. Very creative and visually inventive. Should interest fans of silent films.
U.S.S.R. (Russian voice-over, no subtitles), black and white, 1967, 40 minutes. Director: Rustam Hamdamov
Perhaps I should start off by saying that I am not a real fan of silent films, and have seen only a few of them. However, one of my favorite films is KOYAANISQATSI, a modern film with no dialogue. Thus, at least, I appreciate the fact that spoken dialogue is not a strict requirement in films.
The story here concerns a young boy, Scarecrow, and his family: his father the poet, and his mother, a "great woman" who has great difficulty fitting into her corset. One day a famous actor comes by for lunch, which initiates a sequence of interesting and visually inventive images and events.
Examples of the visual inventiveness here include: scenes shot from a high vertical angle, so we are looking down on the actors; and interfacing close-ups of oil paintings with live-action shots, similar to current usages of matte paintings in special effects shots. The overall effect of these images is to satirize the characters.
Although made in 1967, the film very much looks like it was done in the 1920s. The film is grainy, in poor focus at times. The acting: body and facial gestures are exaggerated as is the silent movie style. The costumes and props are from the 1920s or before. The "text screens" look like they were copied from some old silent science fiction film.
Because silent films are not popular nowadays, I cannot recommend this film for a general audience. However, fans of silent films may find it of interest.
Distribution. The print source was Goskino; it appears that current distribution is very limited.
Reviewer: Thomas E. Billings, Department of Statistics University of California, Berkeley Reviewer contact: teb@stat.Berkeley.EDU
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