As you know from these pages of my journal and my Facebook posts,
I have been actively working on his new music album. But now I give my Musician-self
a day-off, and let my Actor and Writer incarnations step forward, which already
cannot wait to tell you what fills me now as a Human. And so, I begin.
I first met with actor Samvel Tadevosyan in the Summer of
2016. He was playing together with Aram Karakhanyan in the "Я здесъ" ("I am Here") play. The performance was
notable for his original stage direction, design and the main character performance
by Aram. Samvel complement everything well and perfectly played his supporting role.
The play was played several times with different actor, but I was unable to
visit the Puppet Theatre on those evenings, where the play is being staged.
Therefore, I remembered Samvel Tadevosyan like that – an assistant director.
When I saw his face on the posters announcing the upcoming premiere of «Կյանք
ու
կռիվ»
("The Line", 2016), I was curious to see him in one of the main roles
of a new Armenian film.
I did not go to the cinema. I did not really believe the
fact that I would not blame myself for time lost, which was the least of the reasons
for not going to the cinema. Some personal experience also spoke for that: even
when you see yourself on the big screen, but do not get pleasure from what you
see, you begin to involuntarily think about the lost time and lost opportunities,
to say "the whole country is in a similar situation, so what could one
expect from a movie", and joking when your friends tell you, "we have
seen you there!". Also, I happened to participate as extras in a movie directed
by Mher Mkrtchyan, but I did not get to the final cut of the film. "Well, I’m
not alone whose career began with deleted scenes," I kept on joking off.
And a few months later posters appeared in the city to promote the second part
of the film. "It’s all plain to me," I said to myself, and continued
to live quietly.
But on the 28th of January, the sensational film
was broadcasted on our First Channel. On that evening I made significant
progress in recording demo versions of the songs for my new album, so I decided
to make myself some snack, to bring a cup of coffee and to try this new
production of our national cinema.
...
No, you won’t hear me retelling the story in the movie.
Instead, I will say that exactly two hours later I was watching the same movie
for the second time, but already necessarily accompanied by someone who
invisibly and constantly keeps me up to date with the interests, aspirations,
ideals, and experiences of the progressive part of today's youth – my eldest
daughter. I knew that she... that they all need such a Movie. It tells them not
only about the generation of their parents who lived in those years, but it also
carries the meaning of something bigger, something more generic and valuable, so
that that very quarter of the century that separates the events of both movies would
require to explain it.
Direction, script, actors, musical design, camera work and
lighting – everything is in harmony here. The historical events do not dominate
over the personal lives of the characters in the movie, so you cannot definitely
say that the movie is about the war. Anxiety is always implicitly present in
scenes that show relationships between characters and their drama, and in the
battle scenes increasingly reveal the personal qualities of the characters.
Laughter and tears, pain and joy, resentment and pride – everything is just
like in the real life, and most importantly – everything is not like in
middling movies made in “anyhow” genre.
Many of us enjoy watching the annual ceremony of one of the
most prestigious awards in the world cinema – The Award of the American Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, or simply Oscar Award. Each of the
contenders for the title of best film of the year is presented by a short
fragment, for which this film is remembered, even if you won’t be watching the
whole movie. Those fragments are able to catch potential viewers, to deliver or
to convince them in something that is sometimes much bigger than just
"Imagine how good is this movie!". In my opinion, the fragment below is
worth representing the movie, even at the most prestigious festivals.
I’ve already lost the count of how many times I have
replayed this scene, but there are so many great episodes in the movie. We see
people with both their weak and strong points: friends, putting a spoke in wheel,
love expressed in the form of hatred, betrayal built upon brotherly love. All of
this exists in our daily lives, and nothing of it is to be judged categorically.
It can happen to anyone of us.
The creators of this movie need to know that they did
something very important, extremely necessary to all of us, and they did it so good.
Very good! So good that I did not want to go to the cinema to watch the second
part of which I had heard a couple of scrappy but consonant comments, the basic
meaning of which was: “It’s not the same already”. But I watched the first part
once again yesterday, this time accompanied with representatives of the older
generations: my mother with whom I discuss theater and cinema topics quite often,
and my grandfather who had long lost his normal hearing and hardly understands
the Armenian speech, yet who watched the whole movie through. Two hours after the movie started playing, it was decided that
we will go to the cinema today in the morning to watch «Կյանք ու կռիվ 2: 25 տարի անց» ("The Line 2: 25 Years Later", 2017).
Common in that pair of the unflattering comments were
"not that spirit" and " disharmonious casting". I am
already able to leave my own comments about what I saw, but they will sound
different. Not that spirit? Yes, the Armenia 1991 has changed significantly
over the past 25 years. People have changed, their attitude to life too, so did
the balance of power, but the main component did not change: the human essence.
Wrong faces? A just remark. Yes, faces are different. And if in the cases of Anna,
Eduard and Levon casting team still coped well, I myself cannot imagine if it
is possible to make Sophie (played by Ellen Sargsyan) look old, who sheds youthful
energy both on screen and in the real life. I think the producers have decided when
casting actors for the roles of grownup Sophie and Arman, betting not on their appearance
but on something else, most likely on their experience and acting skills. It
seems to me that they were right in their decision. After all, the actors team
worked perfectly, like everything else.
"Isn’t there anything negative I could mention here?",
you may ask. I can note the dinner scene filmed taken “from the shoulder” which
added undue walking frame effect, blurred sound of quiet low voices, and, maybe, glued piercing, if it actually was so. That's all.
However, by the end of the movie when I’ve got the overall
impression from the movie already, I was still missing something that could
make me applaud. Still, I was waiting for something; still I could not give my laconic
"Yes". Everything was clear, somewhat predictably, plain as life
itself. And here, close to the end, rather in the penultimate scene, we hear
(in the case of Sophie – see) the conversation of four, at the end of which one
phrase is sounded, which not only adds bold exclamation point to my laconic
"Yes!" and bursts my applause out, but also puts the cinematography of
my country far ahead of where it stood a year ago.
We were able to make movies, and we were making great
movies. Times were tough, so we changed cameras, clapperboards, pens and
microphones on car wheels, tradesman bags, carnival costumes and guns. Life forced
us to. We had to fight – so we fought. You can fight the whole life through and
still did not get what you want. But 25 years passed, and some of us were able
to look around and see the way that we have already passed, look forward again and
say, "Ready! Camera! Action!".
And then we hear the sound of shot...
... But we continue to live. We can fight, and we can and
know how to speak, write or sing about war, but at some point we just want to
start to live again and to love this
life (by the way, a literal translation of the movie title is "Life and
War"). And we will be able to sing of life and to choose hope instead of
despair. And again, like it or not, give it or take it, call it whatever you
like and however would you renounce it, the ground for everything is Love!
Was that a miracle or just the result of realization of
someone's dream, today we have a small collection of our modern cinema of a high
quality. Even in the most difficult times, we did not stop laughing, and it is
not surprising that one of the first successes in the Armenian cinematography we
got really successful comedies, for example, «Ալաբալանիցա»
("Alabalanitsa", 2011) and Poker.am (2012). Now it's time to show ourselves
in serious movies, during which you will be thinking, worrying, crying, certainly
laughing, but you will definitely not be losing your time in vain! Here it is,
the main merit of our producers and directors, writers and casting
professionals, cameras and lights, composers and sound designers, make-up
artists, costume and production designers, and of course, actors and actresses.
United by the idea, they are able to lead the next generations and give hope
for the future. They just need a little support, we should not hinder them, or tell
them "how to live" – just what we all need today. I think, we have
already learned so much, and are now returning to our path to, for the journey upon
which we have come into this world.
So let's all unite in that Love, in creativity, in mutual
understanding, just like all of those in the audience today – of all ages, who packed
(!) the cinema hall for the earliest (!!) Sunday (!!!) show in the
"Moscow" cinema today to view together all two hours through, who
suffered together, laughed together and gave standing ovations...
Who they applauded? Actors, directors, script... Oh, come
on, what I am talking about! They applauded not someone or something, but that
same Spirit, the meaning of which they can comprehend, but which does unite
them!
So if you ask me now about the film, I will tell you:
"The Spirit is still there!"
