Of Freaks and Men (1998)
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 4:3 | Cover | 01:28:56 | 3,72 Gb
Audio: Russian AC3 2.0 @ 224 Kbps | Subtitles: English
Genre: Art-house
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 4:3 | Cover | 01:28:56 | 3,72 Gb
Audio: Russian AC3 2.0 @ 224 Kbps | Subtitles: English
Genre: Art-house
Director: Aleksey Balabanov
Dariya the maid getting a boy to touch her large breast is just one incident that occurs when Yohan and Victor infiltrate two families, forcing young Liza and blind Ekaterina to appear in porn, but they are not so innocent themselves.
Alexlei Balabanov directed this period film, set in turn-of-the-century St. Petersburg, where a middle-class family and an upper-class family both become intertwined with pornographic photographer Johann. Dr. Stasov treats railroad engineer Radlov. Johann takes an interest in the doctor's maid and Radlov's daughter, Johann's sister Grunya is Radlov's mistress, Johann is thwarted in his lust for Lisa – until Grunya takes over Radlov's estate after the engineer's death. Filmed with a tint to resemble sepia photographs of the period. Shown in the Directors Fortnight section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
One of the disadvantages of being an Englishman living in Amsterdam, of course, is that the linguistic barriers impose some pretty severe limitations on ones cinematic diet. However, given that the choice between watching films like this and the likes of the 'The Phantom Menace' would have yielded the same conclusion whatever language it was to be viewed in, I am pleased to say that my embryonic graspings of the Dutch language were sufficient to cope in this particular case. Whether this can be put down to simplistic subtitling, the succinct approach to dialogue of Russian films, or director Alexei Balabanov's grasp of the fact that in the hypothetically visual culture of cinema, actions speak louder than words, is debatable. Whatever; I came, I saw, and I enjoyed.
Director Alexei Balabanov, whose 1997 debut was 'Brother' ('Brat'), has here created a fascinating tale around the subject of pornography in turn of the century St Petersberg. Johann (Sergei Makovetsky), a purveyor of salacious erotic autochromes of staged flagellation scenes, along with assistant Victor, worms his way into the lives of two noble families, drawing adopted Mongolian conjoined twins Kolja and Tolja and the delicately beautiful Lisa (Dinara Drukarova) into his enterprise as subjects for his short erotic films.
From the early blue-tinted scenes detailing the birth and background of the twins, set to a soundtrack all but silent save for the presence of hisses and scratches, to the vivid invocation of a feverish preoccupation with all things sexual welling beneath the austere trappings of the Russian bourgeoisie, Balabanov lyrically invokes the spirit of the times. 'Of Freaks and Men' is nothing if it is not beautiful and evocative, crisply photographed in monochrome by cinematographer Sergei Astakhov. There is dark quirky humour here, and a host of eccentric periphery characters, from the lustily compliant serving maid, to a blind wife, and Johann's snaggle-toothed henchman. Visually the film is consistently rich and fascinating.
The premise, of course, is guaranteed to offend the more conservative of viewers. The numerous whipping scenes as well as the portrayal of Johann's treatment of the twins are sure to prove distasteful to those approaching with a more polically correct viewpoint, though the studied art direction and period stylistic veneer distances the viewer to some extent. This, after all is a film about the origins of pornography, and it is not really pornographic in itself. It also touches on a fear of technology (in this case, the emerging medium of cinema), and how that new technology can either empower or enslave. Despite the rather flaccid denouement, and at times seeming slightly overblown in its characterisation of Johann (whose dominance is more usually manifested by means of a handgun rather than a camera), the intriguingly original premise and stunning sepia-toned cinematography should prove ample reward for the curious viewer. After all, there are not a lot of Russian films getting shown over here at the moment.IMDB Reviewer
There are moments in this deliciously subversive film when you suspect Alexei Balabanov is being satirical and those scenes of pornographers taking over the grand houses, only to corrupt them with their nasty habits, refer to organised crime's stranglehold on the Russian economy, not to mention the state of the nation.
The film is shot as a pastiche of silent cinema, without Chaplin's famous fast motion. In old St Petersburg the bourgeoisie live innocent and privileged lives, while in the basement of an abandoned building tight-lipped Johan (Sergei Makovetsky), with his smirking, sinister sidekick (Victor Sukhorukov), organises nude spanking sessions, which are photographed and sold to sado-masochistic postcard collectors, when not purloined by their naughty maids.
The kind doctor has adopted asiatic Siamese twins, who are reaching puberty and being taught to sing. His elegant wife is blind and won't have anything to do with him under the bedclothes. The gentle widower, who is reputed to be a railway engineer, lives with his lovely daughter (Dinara Drukarova), blissfully ignorant of Johan's true nature, or what he gets up to when unsupervised. Soon both these honourable men will be gone and the circumstances of those left behind changed irrevocably changed, not always (if ever) for the better.
When evil triumphs, humour turns black. Glimpses of turn-of-the-century porn has an uncomfortable, humiliating look to it. Balabanov massages human nature's ugly heart. The film is so original and startling, it appears playful, when really it concerns an abuse of power that feeds off trust and decency, perverting both.
Special Features: None
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