Search - Ashik Kerib (Special Edition) (1988) (Sub) on DVD

The final masterpiece from one of the most unheralded giants

Grigory's Girl | NYC | 05/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was the final film of Sergei Paradjanov, one of the greatest (and most unseen) filmmakers from the former USSR. Despite making only a handful of pictures in his entire career, he still managed to remain an artist and he never lost his touch. This film is one of his most mesmerizing films, and it's one of the most strikingly beautiful films ever made.

The film is based on an Armenian folk tale about a poor minstrel who has to find a fortune before he can marry his true love. The film is told in typical Paradjanov style, ellipitcal, non-linear, and told mainly through music and imagery. But what imagery! And what music! Paradjanov surpasses himself here, weaving some of his most spellbinding images in any of his work, and the soundtrack is one of the most unique in cinema history. It's a shame that Paradjanov died only 2 years after making this film, and we were robbed of more films by him, but it does not diminish the film. The film bristles with life itself. It's my favourite Paradjanov film.

Sergie Paradjanov was also one of the most persecuted filmmakers in film history, possibly the most persecuted. He was very outspoken against the Soviet government, his films were celebrations of Ukrainian, Georgian, and Armenian folklore (which was a big no-no in the USSR, where nationalist tendencies were to be suppressed in favour of Russian sensibilities), and he was very vocal about whatever was on his mind. The authorties prevented him from making films for years, and when he did, they were heavily censored. In 1974, Paradjanov was sentenced on trumped up charges, including "incitement to suicide" and homosexuality (a crime in the former USSR), for 15 years. Due to international outrage and lobbying by foreign artists (including American author John Updike), he was released around 1980, but didn't make another film unitl 1984 (The Legend of Surami Fortress was that film). The authorities did not break him. He never lost his art. Paradjanov remains untouched."

Mistake

Tutti Frutti | Azarbaijan | 02/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"it's a lovely surreal movie except the drawings are from early iranian paintings and NOT russian!"