Nikita Mikhalkov : between nostalgia and nationalism / Birgit Beumers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beumers, Birgit.

Series:

KINOfiles film companions ; 1.

KINOfiles filmmakers' companions ; 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mikhalkov, Nikita--Criticism and interpretation.

Mikhalkov, Nikita.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

viii, 146 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

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

Summary:

Nikita Mikhalkov is without doubt one of Russia's best-known filmmakers. Internationally acclaimed, he has not only won awards at Cannes and Venice, and an Oscar for his masterpiece Burnt by the Sun (1994), but, at almost 45 million dollars, has made one of the most expensive films of Russian film history - The Barber of Siberia (1998). Swivelling between officialdom and dissidence, between popular and auteur cinema, between patriotism and nationalism, artist and prophet, story-teller and moralist, director and public figure, aesthete and politician, Nikita Mikhalkov is an enigmatic and controversial figure.

Birgit Beumers explores his films in the light of his development as a filmmaker and of the historical and cultural contexts of the periods in which he has worked - stretching from Khrushchev's Thaw through the Brezhnev stagnation, to glasnost and perestroika into the post-Soviet period. During this long creative career Mikhalkov's nostalgia for the past of pre-Revolutionary Russia has grown steadily while his view of the Soviet times never makes his national pride in his country falter. The book investigates Mikhalkov's use of images to create a vision of a Russian national identity, and the way in which he manipulates history while creating at the same time both scrupulous and striking films. In tracing the director's career, Beumers also traces the path of Russia's cultural and cinematic life in the second half of the twentieth century, and this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in Soviet and Russian cinema and culture.

Contents:

1 Nikita Mikhalkov: The 'Father' of the Nation? 3

2 Dreams of a Better Life: 1963-1975 13

3 'Retro' as Style: 1975-1980 40

4 Modern Times: 1980-1985 67

5 Between East and West: 1985-1991 81

6 Russia's Past in the Present: 1991-1999 99.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [145]-146).

ISBN:

1860647855

OCLC:

56645337

Publisher Number:

9781860647857