CoMo No. 15: Armenia (July, 2023)

[sally]

the sixteenth - patvakan barkhudaryan (1929) #ArmenCoMo

pretty movie in which pretty boy gets loose lips. love the fact that the key moment of revelation and shame is associated with a camera (and foreshadowed in the film by little brat too) also some cracking #psycho-arborography

watch here: https://kinodaran.com/movie/492

[niminy-piminy]

THE COLOR OF ARMENIAN LAND (Mikhail Vartanov, 1969) #ArmenCoMo

the ancient and modern art of Armenia

biblical landscapes, the ruins of temples, frescos, cross-stones, contemporary sculptures, as well as the behind-the-scenes of Sergei Parajanov’s landmark Sayat Nova

the first installment of the documentary trilogy with "Minas: A Requiem" (1989) and "Parajanov: The Last Spring" (1992)

KHIMZAVOD (Astghik Aslanyan, Alexander Melyan, 2019) #ArmenCoMo

A short film about a small town where the past and the present are difficult to tell apart.

[niminy-piminy]

THE FIFTH DREAM (Serge Avedikian, 1995) #ArmenCoMo

Not a sound, only landscapes, raw sounds... Some births and deaths of bees... Traveling from one to another space, a man looks at them, dreams of them... Sometimes, he remembers his joyful youth. At the end of his travel, he arrives in a colourful market place, but he is alone, isolated in the middle of the organized and cruel society, like the bees.

this journey is nearing its end


time to light a fire in the other thread


see you there (tho still expect the epilogue)

[karl]

https://twitter.com/carmen_gray/status/ ... 95984?s=19

I been there!

Hey, Sally, this Kinodran you been watching these movies on - it got subs? Cos I'm not seeing any on any of those links you shared.

(Apologies for being late to the party after the Armenian CoMo long finished, especially since I seen plenty of Armenian movies)

[sally]

hey karl

yes on kinodaran (quality is much more fabulous than other prints elsewhere, at least for the ones i saw) but alas no subs. doesn't bother me that much for silents if i can read the plot beforehand or it's so stereotyped that they're not necessary - which is the case for some of the sound films...if i'm feeling particularly brave i'll watch a few as i reckon it's the only way we'll ever see them.....

anyway we should all be watching more armenian films at the moment, the least we can do......

[karl]

I agree!

https://www.youtube.com/@armeniancinematiclegacy994

[karl]

By the way, magpies, you see Malyan's Father with subs or no?

[sally]

By the way, magpies, you see Malyan's Father with subs or no?

with subs!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2R8r9NS7E4

[karl]

I found that one too! Discovered it totally by accident on one of my occasional obsessive Youtube movie hunts (once every two weeks, tops). Was amazed it existed. And despite the 1972 label on the video - most Russian & Soviet films due to the calendar they used are listed as a year earlier over there - this is one for the upcoming '73 poll. Seems I liked it better than you, even if I don't think it's one of Malyan's best. Didn't think it "regime compliant." The kid who cheats to get into university gets away with it, for example - something you sure wouldn't see in a 1953 Soviet flick - and there's a thread of dissatisfaction throughout, even from the Soviet-goodboy patriarch, who I don't think you could say exactly triumphs in the end. Liked the pervasive melancholy-Armenian tone, some good comic touches, but thought it was a little too drifting & not much character development outside of Frunzik Mkrtchyan with the terrific nose & moustache.