Kira Muratova / Jane A. Taubman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Taubman, Jane.

Series:

KINOfiles film companions ; 4.

KINOfiles filmmakers' companions ; 4

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Muratova, Kira, 1934-2018--Criticism and interpretation.

Muratova, Kira.

Muratova, Kira, 1934-2018.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

124 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : I.B. Tauris, 2005.

Summary:

The first comprehensive study of the life and cinema of Kira Muratova, the acclaimed, controversial, and uncompromising Romanian-born director who has lived and worked in Odessa for forty years. Censored under the Soviet regime, deprived of the opportunity to direct for long periods of time, she managed to complete only six feature films between her debut film Brief Encounters (1967) and 1991. The Long Farewell (1971) was shelved entirely, another film was so ruthlessly cut by the censors that she removed her name in protest. But the apocalyptic Asthenic Syndrome (1989), her masterpiece, chronicled the internal collapse of Soviet society and won the Silver Bear at the 1990 Berlin film festival. Despite the chaotic financial conditions of post-Soviet cinema, she has made six more Russian-language feature-length films, and one short film, as a citizen of independent Ukraine. Among her numerous other honours are the Andrzej Wajda Freedom Prize, the prize of the Berlin Academy of the Arts, and Russia's Nike for best direction.

Taubman's book, the first in any Western language to examine Muratova's life and work, traces her development from the woman-centred black and white "provincial melodramas" of the late 1960s through the poetic realism, surrealism, and hyper-realism of her little-known films from the 1970s and 1980s, to her eccentric post-Soviet and post-modern comedies, which include the black humour Three Stories (1997) and Chekhov's Motifs (2002), an idiosyncratic version of two early Chekhov works. With Muratova's unconventional relation of sound track to image, eye for detail, and fondness for non-professional actors, all her films reveal an unmistakable directorial touch. Muratova's style has evolved with each new film, but she continues to be a true inheritor of the traditions of the early Soviet cinematic avant-garde. Kira Muratova is based on extensive interviews, a study of the films' reception by viewers, critics, and bureaucrats, and close analysis of the films themselves.

Contents:

1 Odessa's Uncompromising Eccentric 1

2 'Provincial Melodramas' 11

3 The Unknown Muratova 27

4 Soviet Apocalypse: Asthenic Syndrome [1990] 45

5 After Apocalypse 62

6 Crimes Without Punishment: Three Stories [1997] 77

7 Muratova as a Ukrainian Film-maker 89.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [111]-124).

Includes filmography.

ISBN:

1850434093

OCLC:

56640332

Publisher Number:

9781850434092