Music for December
In his Dostoyevsky-inspired drama, Music for December, director and co-screenwriter Ivan Dykhovichnyi uses the metaphor of a river as a symbol for life. Like life, the river cannot stop and has areas of turbulent darkness. In this film, these areas of darkness come in the form of alienation, divorce, destroyed love and violence.
In Music for December, the central character, Alexander Larin (played by Grigori Gladii) returns to his native St Petersburg from America, his adopted country, with the intention of re-living some of his past love affairs. As he slowly rediscovers St Petersburg and its people, he realises that the city he grew up in has changed beyond all recognition and its inhabitants live an existence bearing no resemblence to the one he remembers leaving behind.
Although the idea for Music for December draws heavily on Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, the film is also a very personal one for its director. December is the hardest month for Dykhovichnyi.
'It's a crucial turning point, a painful transition to the new life of the coming year. In Russia's long winter nights December is particularly depressing. The month brings a feeling of agony,' he explains.
In keeping with such an emotive response the music, by Russian composer Anton Batagov, plays a central role in the film. 'I heard the music first, then I wrote the script,' explains Dykhovichnyi. 'It plays a very special role in the film.'
The implicit message of Music for December is one of disapproval of the new Russia, whose inhabitants now often regard life as a series of wild parties ending, more often than not, with a bloody shooting. Ironically, without the very same modern Russia - most of the film's US$1 million budget came from new-generation entrepreneur Leonid Lebedev, a first-time producer encouraged by by Dykhovichnyi's earlier films - Music for December is unlikely to have been made. Eugene Zykov
Prod co: Tzeh Kinovideo Company
Prod: Leonid Lebedev
Dir: Ivan Dykhovichnyi
Scr: Ivan Dykhovichnyi, Maria Shetunova
Ph: Sergei Kozlov
Mus: Anton Batagov
Cast: Grigori Gladii, Natalya Zhukova, Dmitri Dykovichnyi, Elena Safonova, Nikolai Chinyaikin, Irina Piganova
International sales: Intercinema
Running time: 90 mins
[Home ] [Content ] [The Sponsors ] [The Team ] [Comments ] [Help ]
