Larisa Shepitko: Eclipse Series 11 (Wings / The Ascent) - Criterion Collection
starring: Maya Bulgakova, Boris Plotnikov
directed by: Larisa Shepitko
directed by: Larisa Shepitko
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Product Description:
Studio: Image EntertainmentRelease Date: 08/12/2008Run time: 85 minutes
Amazon.com:
Wings and The Ascent, the two films included in this Eclipse series set, are equally bleak and gorgeous. Though they differ greatly, both films focus on heroic characters whose imaginations run free though they are confined by tragic, war-related conditions. Made 10 years apart by Soviet director Larisa Sheptiko, a film-school contemporary of Andrei Tarkovsky's, Wings and The Ascent are social dramas investigating the inner minds of protagonists yearning to be elsewhere. Wings (1966), Sheptiko's first feature, stars Nadezhda Petrukhina (Maya Bulgakova), a retired Stalinist fighter pilot who works as a school headmistress, punishing students in lieu of dealing directly with hard feelings she has for her daughter, Tanya (Zhanna Bolotova), for marrying a man she disapproves of. Though courted by museum curator, Pavel Gavrilovich (Pantelejmon Krymov), "Nadya" wistfully dreams of lost love lost, both for another man and her airplane. Filmed in black-and-white, banal scenes of Nadya shuffling through school halls are interrupted by shots of her plane, gliding through clouds in open air.
The Ascent (1977), on the other hand, is claustrophobically terrestrial. Based on a novella by Vasili Bykov, it depicts two Soviet partisans, Sotnikov (Boris Plotnikov) and Rybak (Vladimir Gostyukhin), searching for food to feed their starving troop in German-occupied Belarus. This war film depicts horror through landscape, featuring long shots of frozen tundra and snowy forests. Well-known as a Christian allegory, The Ascent likens Sotnikov to Christ as he morally transcends corruption and cruelty inflicted upon himself and his partner by Russian Nazi-collaborator, Portnov (Anatoli Solonitsyn). Like Tarkovsky's masterpiece, Andrei Rublev, The Ascent charts a character's path through a dark, dismal historical period. Set partially afield and partially in prison camp, it makes for brutal viewing that is nevertheless stunningly rewarding. It is wonderful to have a female auteur to add to the Russian cinematic canon, as Sheptiko brings to these hardened characters a sensitivity that could be construed as feminine. --Trinie Dalton
Studio: Image EntertainmentRelease Date: 08/12/2008Run time: 85 minutes
Amazon.com:
Wings and The Ascent, the two films included in this Eclipse series set, are equally bleak and gorgeous. Though they differ greatly, both films focus on heroic characters whose imaginations run free though they are confined by tragic, war-related conditions. Made 10 years apart by Soviet director Larisa Sheptiko, a film-school contemporary of Andrei Tarkovsky's, Wings and The Ascent are social dramas investigating the inner minds of protagonists yearning to be elsewhere. Wings (1966), Sheptiko's first feature, stars Nadezhda Petrukhina (Maya Bulgakova), a retired Stalinist fighter pilot who works as a school headmistress, punishing students in lieu of dealing directly with hard feelings she has for her daughter, Tanya (Zhanna Bolotova), for marrying a man she disapproves of. Though courted by museum curator, Pavel Gavrilovich (Pantelejmon Krymov), "Nadya" wistfully dreams of lost love lost, both for another man and her airplane. Filmed in black-and-white, banal scenes of Nadya shuffling through school halls are interrupted by shots of her plane, gliding through clouds in open air.
The Ascent (1977), on the other hand, is claustrophobically terrestrial. Based on a novella by Vasili Bykov, it depicts two Soviet partisans, Sotnikov (Boris Plotnikov) and Rybak (Vladimir Gostyukhin), searching for food to feed their starving troop in German-occupied Belarus. This war film depicts horror through landscape, featuring long shots of frozen tundra and snowy forests. Well-known as a Christian allegory, The Ascent likens Sotnikov to Christ as he morally transcends corruption and cruelty inflicted upon himself and his partner by Russian Nazi-collaborator, Portnov (Anatoli Solonitsyn). Like Tarkovsky's masterpiece, Andrei Rublev, The Ascent charts a character's path through a dark, dismal historical period. Set partially afield and partially in prison camp, it makes for brutal viewing that is nevertheless stunningly rewarding. It is wonderful to have a female auteur to add to the Russian cinematic canon, as Sheptiko brings to these hardened characters a sensitivity that could be construed as feminine. --Trinie Dalton
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - This is what we have to know, remember and use
Movies of Larisa Shepit'ko are not for entertiment. We have to understand simple principles of life and try follow them.
Rating: - Long overdue Farewell
As a huge Criterion fan, I knew I had to bust my cherry with the Eclipse series sometime, and I couldn't have picked a better choice.
To put it blindly, this is their best looking transfer from an old Mosfilm print since they put out "Ivan's Childhood" a year or so ago (the early ones that Criterion put out, such as "Andrei Rublev" and "Cranes Are Flying", look terrible by comparison.)
As part of the dazzling 'THAW' generation of filmmakers (Tarkovsky, Parajanov, German, Klimov) that ... Read More
Rating: - Another Revelation from Eclipse
The stated mission of Criterion's Eclipse line was to bring us good DVD editions of important films heretofore unavailable on DVD, in high-quality transfers and low-cost packages.They've succeeded in spades with their first ten issues, but none have brought me more pleasure than their eleventh, this set of two films from Russian director Larissa Shepitko.Her tragic death in a car accident at the early age of 40 has meant that her international reputation was eclipsed by many of her film school contemporaries. ... Read More
- This is what we have to know, remember and use Movies of Larisa Shepit'ko are not for entertiment. We have to understand simple principles of life and try follow them.
- Long overdue FarewellAs a huge Criterion fan, I knew I had to bust my cherry with the Eclipse series sometime, and I couldn't have picked a better choice.
To put it blindly, this is their best looking transfer from an old Mosfilm print since they put out "Ivan's Childhood" a year or so ago (the early ones that Criterion put out, such as "Andrei Rublev" and "Cranes Are Flying", look terrible by comparison.)
As part of the dazzling 'THAW' generation of filmmakers (Tarkovsky, Parajanov, German, Klimov) that ... Read More
- Another Revelation from EclipseThe stated mission of Criterion's Eclipse line was to bring us good DVD editions of important films heretofore unavailable on DVD, in high-quality transfers and low-cost packages.They've succeeded in spades with their first ten issues, but none have brought me more pleasure than their eleventh, this set of two films from Russian director Larissa Shepitko.Her tragic death in a car accident at the early age of 40 has meant that her international reputation was eclipsed by many of her film school contemporaries. ... Read More
