Moya lyubov

Just watched this Russian film that's nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short of 2007. Moya lyubov (My Love) seems to be an oil painting come to life that tells the story of a young man's infatuation with two women: one that's dark-haired who seems so far away from him to have any contact with and one who's blond in pigtails who is very close in proximity and seems to have a very good interest in him. Since I saw this on YouTube as linked from Cartoon Brew in the native country's language with no subtitles, I couldn't completely understand what was going on but many of the painting-like movements presented such a visual dream-like state to the proceedings that I was mesmerized just the same. Very worthy of the Oscar nomination so I wouldn't mind if it won but I saw two others of the nominated that were interesting in their own way so here's to them all.

The love and lust of an adolescent boy. The innocence, confusion and fantasies in a world so complex that he choose his imagination to live while the two woman he fell in love with is dealing with their own confusions, mistakes and tragedy while loving him back. I am falling in love with Aleksandr Petrov's style of animation and filmmaking, one of the most beautiful films I have seen in recent times.

Where the story is only may be interesting for a teenager boy who is in love with women, the scenes take the lead and oh my God, they shine... I wouldn't watch even a minute of it if was a normal movie, but this one is like watching a impressionist painting in action.

Admittedly I was only able to see it on YouTube, so not the best format.

However, I was still very impressed at it's beauty. The icons painted on the wall in the Russian church shown during a service were one of my favorite parts.

It's about a young boy in czarist Russia and his pure idealization and fantasizing about love. He is drawn to a sophisticated older woman but also feels something for his family's maid.

As with most foreign films, the subtitles can not do it justice. You miss a lot of the actual dialogue. The jokes, the rhyming language, the use of informal/formal forms of address that we don't have in English.

Without knowing the culture there is a lot more than falls through. It also helps to have read Russian novels & short stories - you'd know that there's always tragedy and loss involved somehow.

So if you don't speak Russian or know the culture, just understand that there's a lot of context and subtext that you're missing and allow for that - but I think you'll still enjoy it for the pure visual beauty of the piece alone.

it is a great travel. across a feeling. across the images of a lost Russia. it is an admirable work. for the details, for the dialogue and for the magnificent art to reflect states out of words. it is a masterpiece and this is not a real surprise from Aleksandr Petrov. the special thing is the emotions after the end of film. as a ball of tenderness and seductive secret and childish - clear feeling. from a long time ago, for me, the films of Petrov are a sort of gifts of the Christmas Eve. but my love is more. maybe because I am East European. or for Slavic origins. it is a form of rehabilitation of a Golden Age using the perfect tools. and the result is more, real more than you expect.