Smekh i gore u Bela morya

This film has an ingenious structure - it begins with an old Pomor seaman telling tales in a little fisherman's cabin to his few companions. The place is somewhere near Arkhangelsk, in the far north of Russia by the White Sea. The time is indeterminate - partly in the past, partly in the "present" (anachronistic touches abound). The tales which he tells were originally written down by folklorists and writers Boris Shergin and Stepan Pisakhov at the beginning of the 20th century.

This is some really well-written stuff. What's more, it is absolutely hilarious. Our narrator speaks in a colourful northern Russian dialect which is very difficult to translate well into another language. He describes ridiculous stories about the "daily lives" of the villagers living in Russia's far north. For example: the daily run of the "icebergers"; people who harvest icebergs. The penguins who come up north to make some money in the off-season. The bear who sneaks into their village to sell kvass.

As the evening grows late, the stories become a little more serious... and the last story of the night is incredibly moving, far more than what you would expect. By the time the film is over, it becomes clear that it is not simply a funny collection of tales, but a veritable masterpiece. Everything comes together to an extremely satisfying conclusion.

The animation in the film is on a tighter budget than a typical western feature film, but the skill level of the artists shines through. The character animation in particular is very good, and the background art is typical of Russian folk illustrations.

Overall, this is an excellent film. Watch it if you can find it anywhere!

What I've come to love about Soviet animated films is that many of them say something profound about the culture of their land, or at least tell the story in a way that evokes the mood of a classic folk tale. The little-known animated feature, 'Smekh i gore u Bela morya {Laughter and Grief by the White Sea} (1987),' tells its story in such a way, as an old and wizened Pomor fisherman recounts a selection of unlikely historical anecdotes to a few attentive listeners. The hour-long film was directed by Leonid Nosyrev and produced at the Soyuzmultfilm studio, and was compiled from various new and previously-released animated shorts. As an aggressive storm rages outside the seaside cottage, located on the edge of the White Sea, the old man sits back in his homely lodgings and regales the younger fisherman with assorted tall tales, despite resolving to "tell the whole simple truth."

Early in the film, the stories are laced with all the "untruth and silliness" of which the old fisherman previously spoke so disapprovingly, and he recounts the past daily lifestyles of people in the region, whether they be selling "eternal icebergs" to prospective brides, or packaging beautiful women's songs {frozen solid by the -500º temperatures} for exportation to warmer lands to be enjoyed by the rich and sophisticated. The tone of these stories is initially very light-hearted, bordering on slapstick: the polar bears are employed to assist with daily business of the people, and a brown bear – covered with flour – attempts to sneak into town to sell some food of his own, only to have his brown feet betray his true identity. Even the penguins come north every year to make a profit, despite usually lurking on the opposite side of the globe.

Also on the agenda is the fable of Ivan, the warm-hearted peasant who saves the life of a sacred snake and so inherits a magic ring, only to have it stolen from him by a deceitful princess. Luckily, the adorable dog and cat whom Ivan also adopted {by giving away his clothing, despite needing it to acquire food for himself and his mother} find a way to repay the kindness that has been shown to them. The old fisherman also offers two other tall tales from his own life, about a stressed wife whose scream is fierce enough to cut down trees, and a fumbled orange fruit that thrives into a massive underwater tree. The animation in these sequences is very well done, despite working with a presumably low budget, and there are many moments when you simply sit back and admire the craftsmanship of the artists.

If the preceding stories are simply very good animated sequences, then the final tale is an absolute masterpiece. As the night wears on, the old fisherman moves on to a more solemn fable, that of Ivan and Adrian, two fisherman brothers who became stranded on a small ocean island and so spent their final weeks carving out their epitaphs on a block of driftwood. This sequence is one of the most powerful animated moments I've yet seen: as their mother sings a passionate prayer across the ocean, the two brothers wait patiently for their time to pass, and two graceful geese symbolically return to the coast. Though you'd expect that such a tale would seem out-of-place amongst such an outrageously ridiculous collection of stories, it sums up the entire film perfectly, reflecting both the happy and sad moments in the region's culture. Once again, my greatest appreciation to the IMDb user Niffiwan, who not only alerted me to this film's existence, but also posted a fully-translated copy on the internet.

A treat for animation fans and also those of Soviet films. The budget may have been tight, but it doesn't show that much. There is a lot of detail in the character designs, and there are some beautiful backgrounds especially in the final story. The music does quirky and melancholic very convincingly, and Laughter and Grief by the White Sea is very well written. The comedy is genuinely hilarious and when Laughter and Grief by the White Sea takes a serious turn it is very poignant too. Those qualities are reflected too in the story structure, which always engages and is well-structured, and not to the extent that the changing moods jar too much. There isn't the two different films sort of feeling, which is a good thing. The stories that make up this structure are light-hearted and moving, the final story is stunning in every regard. The narration is thoughtful and sonorously delivered, and the characters carry their stories beautifully. The voice acting is noble and sensitive, with some entertaining theatricality in the earlier stories. In conclusion, hilarious and beautiful, recommended without any kind of hesitation. 10/10 Bethany Cox