A good movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but, since it was included in the ‘They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?’ list, I thought I might as well check it out. By now, I have seen my share of Soviet movies but most of them were much older (except for Andrei Tarkovsky’s work). Anyway, even though the Soviet Union was after all a political failure, they certainly delivered some really interesting movies and this one was a perfect example. I have to admit that I had never heard about it before but, even though it might seem to be pretty obscure, it is actually considered by many as one of the best animated films of all time, no less than that. Well, it was definitely quite fascinating, that’s for sure. Indeed, the animation was so unique, it was really quite beautiful. Unfortunately, I had seriously no idea about what was going on and the whole thing was rather incomprehensible for me. The fact that it was so difficult to follow made it even more intriguing but, unfortunately, I’m afraid it was also rather frustrating after all. Apparently, they were not telling some actual stories but some memories which would explain its random and surreal aspect which was such a lovely concept. I was especially touched by the men seemingly leaving to go to war, it was so evocative. And, of course, I loved this little wolf who was so charismatic, he was basically some kind of Soviet version of Mickey Mouse which was so cool. Finally, this little Russian lullaby was so mesmerizing but, again, it’s always tricky to engage with a short movie with no dialogues, no narration and no intertitles. I will probably re-watch this short in the future to see if I can get this time a better grip on the damned thing (to be honest, I always struggle with such surreal short movies). Anyway, to conclude, even though I didn’t completely connect with this movie, it was still quite mesmerizing and it is definitely worth a look. 

7/10