Cinema · Observations · Mores

Family happiness in the grandparents' scene from the film about Willy Wonka

I don't care for the Willy Wonka film, and I can't say what is most dreadful about it, the script, the staging, the costumes or the acting, but I sometimes recall the scene in which the grandfathers and grandmothers of the luckless boy huddle together on

Faith · Cinema · Observations · Rome

I agree with the view that the ostentatious modesty of the papacy, and of Francis's pontificate in particular, turns out, once you start looking into it, to be nothing more than a set of marketing ploys and slogans

The phenomenon is nicely captured in the series “The Young Pope” with Jude Law, in which one of the most important figures in the hierarchy is not a spiritual office at all but something like a PR director

Cinema · People

Life has more imagination than we carry in our heads

François Truffaut

Cinema · Observations · Society · Humour

Film Academy members must watch all nominees before voting in the final round

Hollywood Tightens the Screws. Film Academy members will be obliged to watch all the films in contention for the awards. It is hard to believe that this had to be enshrined in a special rule. Americans! In the final round of voting, the Academy's electronic voting system will

In the Press · The East · Cinema · Observations · Pop Culture

Second podcast episode on Season Three of “The White Lotus” in the context of Eastern cultures

Yesterday my podcast appeared on new platforms, and today the second episode has arrived. We conclude our discussion of the plot of Season Three of "The White Lotus". We talk about poisonings, monkeys, women in search of spiritual growth, family squabbles, and all of it, of course, in

In the Press · Cinema · Observations

Podcast on Season Three of “The White Lotus” now available on Yandex Music, Litres and Apple

Some news: the podcast dissecting Season Three of "The White Lotus" is now available on new distribution platforms. It has appeared on Yandex Music, Litres and Apple. Listen, share your impressions, and do so while we prepare the second episode! Thank you all for your feedback, it is

Cinema · Observations · Society Pages

The word problem in the dialogue of “On This Land”, a film set in 18th-century Russia

Attended the premiere of "On This Earth", produced by Alexey Uchitel. The film is about a certain Russian village in the eighteenth century, where the local simpleton tries to build himself a pair of wings. We shall not discuss the plot; I suspect the authors themselves never got

In the Press · Faith · The East · Cinema

Friends, I've recorded a fresh podcast on "The White Lotus" in the context of Eastern cultures

With my co-host and fellow Orientalist Lesha Strizhov, we discuss how the plot of the series is connected with the history of Thailand. What do the heroes of "The White Lotus" have in common with the heroes of Eastern epic? What mythological and religious parallels can be

Cinema · New York · Pop Culture

Oh, My God!

Oh, my God! So we really did it! You maniacs, you blew it all up! Damn you all to hell! The closing shots of «Planet of the Apes», filmed with a model of the ruined Statue of Liberty, were a director's decision not foreseen by the original screenplay,

NB! · Cinema · People

Tarkovsky with Little Birds on His Chest

Cinema · Books · Observations · New York

The ending of the 1968 film “Planet of the Apes” and how it differs from the original novella

Do you remember the ending of the 1968 film Planet of the Apes? When the ruined Statue of Liberty appears on screen, we learn that the action is taking place not on some distant heavenly body but on Earth, which has fallen under the rule of cruel and narrow-minded

Black-and-white photograph of a young woman with long dark hair reading a book on a chair beside a fountain pool.

NB! · Cinema · People · Pop Culture

Isabelle Adjani in photographs from 1973 and from today

Isabelle Adjani in 1973 and today. A beauty for all seasons