Luna Park (1992 film)

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Luna Park
Union Générale Cinématographique
(UGC) - Theatrical
Release date
9 September 1992 (1992-09-09)
Running time
111 minutes
CountriesFrance, Russia
LanguageRussian

Luna Park (

Jewish
ancestry.

The film, of the chernukha (Russian: чернуха, roughly "black stuff") genre, follows Andrei as he explores his heritage and the relationship he begins with his father.

Luna Park was shown at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on 13 September 1992 (1992-09-13), and was released in New York in January 1994.

It was nominated for the

Isaak Schwarz won a Nika Award from the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences
for the film's music.

Plot

Set in a post-

mentally challenged
individuals. The opening scene depicts a crowd of skinheads waving Russian flags and fighting a gang of bikers who they believed have succumbed to western influence and ideology. "The Cleaners" live in Luna Park, an amusement park, with wild roller coasters, and distorting mirrors and regularly head out into Moscow to cause chaos and destruction.

Having originally believed that his father was a Soviet war hero who died in a military plane crash in Afghanistan, he worships his father as the ideal Russian and strives to emulate him. When during a drunken night of confessions, he discovers that his father is actually a Jewish musician and still alive in Moscow, Andrei's life is turned upside-down, partly out of revulsion from whom he is descended, and partly because he wants to know (and be) with his father, and he must someway reconcile himself with this with discovery.

Andrei's initial reaction of shock is furthered by his mother Aliona (

Natalya Yegorova
), who demands he kill his father for the pain that he caused her, when at a young age, his father seduced her (making her pregnant) and then did not cast her as a singer for an important role, which blighted her career after that.

As the movie progresses, Andrei's quest for his father is successful, and we are introduced to Naoum Kheifitz (

Jewish
culture.

His father accepts Andrei and dismisses his

Jewish
roots, and they ransack Naoum's apartment, hang a young woman they find there, and abduct Naoum, taking him back to Luna Park. Andrei returns to the apartment and is horrified at the sight. He rushes to the park and saves his father, meanwhile the park catches fire, and Aliona chooses to perish with the park then face the reality of Andrei's choice.

The movie concludes with a scene of Andrei and Naoum getting on a train that's traveling to Siberia, under the assumption that they will start a new life together, free from the influence of the gang or the city.

Cast

Themes

Luna Park is a member of the short lived

Russian film genre chernukha, which deals with the everyday realities that people faced at the end of the Soviet rule, but also shortly after, as Russia struggled to create a new identity. Very much a movie about the post-Soviet struggle for a new identity, the violence portrayed by the gang is used to highlight the un-ease felt by the general population at the time.[1]

Dealing with the issues of antisemitism and attitudes towards minorities in Russia at the time, Luna Park relies heavily on showcasing the nation as it actually was, and Pavel Lungin uses a setting of darkness and showcasing the drabness of actual life to illustrate the misery of the everyday person. The cramped, often hectic apartment of Naoum Kheifitz (Oleg Borisov) is an excellent example showing some of the living conditions people were faced with at the end of the Soviet period.[2]

Release

Luna Park was originally released in Russia on 9 September 1992 (1992-09-09), and shown at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on 13 September 1992 (1992-09-13). It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1992 (1992-05).

Reception

Luna Park received mediocre reviews from

The Montreal Gazette claimed it was a "long - too long- strange trip" into the way of post-Soviet Russian life.[4]

Awards and nominations

Honors

1992 — Film Award

Golden Aries Award (Russia)
Best Actor — Oleg Borisov

1992 — Nika Award
Best Music Score — Isaac Schwartz[5]

Nominations

1992 — Cannes Film Festival
Nominated for the Palme d'Or.[6]

References

  1. ^ Graham, Seth. "Chernukha and Russian Film" (PDF). Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  2. ^ Graham, Seth. "Chernukha and Russian Film" (PDF). Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  3. ^ Maslin, Janet (21 January 1994). "New York Times Review". Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  4. ProQuest 432631141
    .
  5. ^ "Nika Awards". Archived from the original on 5 April 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  6. ^ "Cannes Festival". Retrieved 29 January 2013.

External links

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