On Saturday, August 1 I will make my way to St. Gayane church in Ejmiadzin for wedding number 2. It's high time that I move onward with a new bride by my side.

Labels: Personal Experiences

Last night the film "Bonded Parallels," a joint Norwegian-French-Armenian production directed by Hovhannes Galstyan, was shown to a packed audience at Cinema Moscow. It was the second time that the film was shown during the Golden Apricot Film Festival.

As the name suggests the film tells two similar stories taking place in totally different settings--one in Norway at the end of World War II, and the other in Soviet Armenia in 1988. To the far north an intriguing, lonely woman named Hanna (played by Siri Helene Müller) who lives in a lakeside Norwegian village while awaiting her husband to return from the war gives shelter to a Russian soldier who has strayed off his path. In their conversational mishaps it is revealed that the soldier, Arakel Serge Avedikian), who has a knack for carving wood figurines of animals, is in fact Armenian. Eventually news arrives of her husband's death and Arakel is there to comfort her. Later they travel together to Armenia, where she gives birth to his daughter. Arakel is carted off by army officials shortly after his return never to be seen again, while Hanna tragically dies shortly after childbirth.

The film's narrative weaves both these stories together, and intermittently the scenario taking place in Yerevan unfolds. Laura (wonderfully portrayed by Laurence Ritter, who I personally know) is a strict, emotionless mathematics teacher who finds fault in her sleepy high-school student named Narek (flatly played by Sos Janibekyan of the hit television mob saga, "The Price of Life") who competes as a moped racer. She beats him on the head one day in class with a disciplinary stick, infuriated by his drowsiness, which later affects his performance on track, and as a result he wipes out. Laura takes him to her home to care for him personally where he stays the night, but he finds himself taking shelter there for several days. Their complicated relationship soon intensifies, and in the tumult of the Soviet Union's last days she leaves Armenia for Norway to give birth to her daughter, raising her in Laura's mother's home. By the end of the film the viewer realizes that the events have simply repeated themselves and the stories are in fact, one.

"Bonded Parallels" was shot by cinematographer Rouben Gasparyan, who is a master in capturing the most intimate moments under pure natural light, incorporating earth tones and the magical properties of water vapor to lure the viewer into the film. The cinematography was absolutely beautiful.

The film's soundtrack composed by the brilliant Vahagn Hayrapetyan, who is in my opinion the greatest Armenian jazz musician on the scene today, was spectacular--a wonderful blend of the tradition, soft Armenian song form with a contemporary jazz ensemble vibe.

"Bonded Parallels," which is reminiscent of the interwoven tapestries of personal loss and hope masterfully designed by film director Atom Egoyan, is perhaps the finest Armenian film produced in recent memory. It is incomprehensible that this film will be made accessible to Armenian moviegoers on only two occasions during a film festival, rather than during an extended stay at Cinema Moscow where it was screened.

But perhaps, seeing that with few exceptions Hollywood movies professionally dubbed in Russian are the only movie offerings available here, there may simply be no audience for such films due to lack of interest, I can't say for certain.

It's not clear how Bonded Parallels will be distributed internationally, but this film is unquestionably something to watch for. Read more about the film here and here.

Labels: Film and Art

On the second day of the sixth annual Golden Apricot Film Festival in Yerevan I attended the screening of the film "Looking For Palladin," written and directed by Andrzej Krakowski.

The film stars in its leading role Ben Gazzara, who has played in dozens of Hollywood-produced films during the last 50 years or so. He is perhaps best known for his work in the from-the-heart, passionate films by independent film pioneer John Cassavetes, namely "Husbands," "Opening Night" and the classic double-cross thriller, "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie."

Mr. Gazzara plays a retired movie actor named Jack Palladin who is a two-time Oscar winner that abandoned the glamour and the living-at-the-moment lifestyle to work as a short-order cook at a cafe owned by a fellow expatriate American in Antiqua, Guatemala. An ambitious and cocky hot-shot talent scout named Joshua Ross, played by David Moscow, is sent to Antiqua in search of Palladin to lure him into reviving his film career, albeit briefly. For Joshua the trip serves a dual purpose, as he is also in search of his father, a retired film studio head who has also gone underground, and the second husband of his mother who, as we come to find out, is Jack himself.

During the two-hour timespan we meet several characters who are part of Jack's everyday life, including a taxi driver who operates his business with a horse and buggy, a bicycle happy Catholic priest enamored with Jack's wife (played incidentally by a gracefully matured Talia Shire), a shoemaker protective of Jack's whereabouts, a jovial butcher specializing in liver, and a woman who is dying of a mysterious illness. Several of the characters in the film were actually played by real people who had virtually no acting experience, but you wouldn't have figured that unless you were told.

Mr. Krakowski, who was at the screening and enthusiastically fielded questions at the end of the screening, revealed that the film's subject was very close to him as some scenes were taken directly from his life, particularly candid moments between Jack and Joshua, who insists that Jack reveal the intimate details of his mother's death who died of cancer. He also revealed that the film was actually intended to be shot in a suburb north of New York City, but decided to move the setting to Antiqua while keeping the entire scenario intact.

"Looking For Palladin" is essentially a study of relationships that could have been between sons and fathers, or would-be stepfathers in Jack's case. At one point Joshua tells Jack that "I could have been the best son you ever had." Jack acknowledges that sentiment in a handwritten note he later hands Joshua as he is ready to depart Antiqua.

From what I understand "Looking For Palladin" has yet to secure distribution by a company specializing in marketing art-house films in the US. That fact is quite disconcerting given the solid performance of a veteran, gutsy Hollywood actor, a well-written script containing natural dialog strikingly spoken by the players, and the stunning cinematography in the picturesque town of Antiqua. Nevertheless, in this day and age of absurd, comically void movies, sugar-coated romantic dramas and gimmicky horror films released by Hollywood, that reality can unfortunately be expected.

Labels: Film and Art

I'd like to call readers' attention once again to Footprints, a new blog about Armenian news and social issues in Armenia sponsored by Hetq Online. I was asked by Hetq's editor, Edik Baghdasaryan, to post entries on the blog regularly. I'm going to discuss Armenian political issues on that blog rather than on this one, with hopefully very few exceptions. Other matters like Armenia's fragile ecology, economics, and social issues will also certainly be raised there.

I just read a news report about plain-clothed policemen beating several teenagers for handing out leaflets and making pro-opposition statements through a sound system of some kind. Numerous youths were rushed to the hospital, they were beaten so bad. The attackers even used guns to hit them. Unsurprisingly, the Yerevan police claimed that the officers themselves were attacked first, which seems dubious.

Labels: Politics