Meu Amor

"Moya lyubov" or "My Love", paint-on-glass-animated 2006 short film (26 minutes) directed by Aleksandr Petrov is based on "A Love Story" or "Istoriya Lyubovnaya" (1927) by Ivan Shmelyov. It takes place in the 19th century Russia and tells about the first love of the sixteen-year-old boy Anton who is torn apart by his feelings for a pure and gentle girl, the maid-servant for his wealthy family, Pasha and a mysterious enigmatic next door neighbor Serafima. Shemelyv's story was inspired by one of the most captivating love stories ever told, his famous namesake Ivan Turgenev's "Pervaya lyubov" (1860; First Love), a novella that depicts the love of a sixteen-year-old boy Vladimir for his neighbor, 20 years old princess Zinaida, unattainable, devious but alluring and unforgettable. By the words of Petrov, the film "is about waking of first love, naive and childish, both resolute, and silly, with all tortures of a romantic soul. Not that I have gone through such feelings myself, but I deeply felt all of them." At the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, "Moya Lyubov" was called an "exquisite impressionist vision with a very poetic narrative and profound psychology". I believe that Petrov's film was the best of five nominees in the category Short Animated Films and deserved all awards possible. As much as I enjoyed the 2008 Oscar winner, the slow-motion updated to modern Russia version of Sergey Prokofiev's "Peter and Wolf", Petrov's film is simply in league of its own. Work on the film took place in Yaroslavl, Russia over a period of three years painting on glass sheets, using mostly his own fingers, resulted in 18720 paintings. The film's style is similar to that used in Petrov's other films ("Korova", "Rusalka", Oscar winning "Starik i More") and can be characterized as a type of Romantic realism. People and landscapes are painted on glass and animated in a very realistic yet delicate and dream-like fashion. In "Moya lyubov" Petrov includes Anton's inner thoughts while the boy reads Turgenev's "Pervaya Lyubov" and identifies with its narrator, Vladimir, the boy of the same age and the nightmarish scene when the ill boy imagines himself being buried beneath freshly-fallen deep snow on a dark night.

Every frame of the incredibly beautiful work is literally breathtaking. I can't compare him to any working animator. His films bring to mind the paintings of such poetic Russian Artists as Mikhail Nesterov, Vasiliy Polenov, Victor Borisov-Musatov, and even frescoes and icons of Andrei Rublyov that under magic fingers of the master became living and breathing.

impressionist art. delicate theme. Alexandr Petrov science to explore each nuance in admirable manner. and his unique animation. it is more than a movie. maybe an experience. a beautiful, useful, almost magic one. because more than a film about love, dreams, expectations and grow -up, it is the film about a special age. and the delicacy to explore it does it real great show. it is a film about subtle nuances of an experience and the chance to discover an live the magic of life. a superb movie for the grace of image, for the science to reflect the magic of a delicate episode of life. the story of the young Anton is universal. the talent of director is to transform it in personal experience for each spectator in a splendid manner.

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.

Aleksandr Petrov has been nominated for three Oscars for Best Animated Short Film and also won the Award for THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. While only winning 1 of the 4 times he was up for the award, he easily could have won every time, as his artwork is so unique and transcendent--making the films less as cartoons and more like gorgeous works of art. Sadly, there's almost no information about this important artist on IMDb--and this probably reflects the gap between the East and West. Like all of his films, it is long (for a short) and tells a very complex story in vivid colors and textures. If you've never seen one of Petrov's films before, you'll find yourself transfixed. As for me, it's the fourth one I've seen and so some of the newness has worn off--but it's still amazing and I'll be pulling for him at the award ceremony next month.

UPDATE---This is the day before the Oscars are announced for 2008 and I just got back from a special screening by our local film society of all five films nominated in the category of Best Animated Short Film.

"Moya lyubov" was even prettier on the big screen and of the five nominees it was definitely the most artistic, though I enjoyed watching "Même les pigeons vont au paradis" more. Petrov's film is great and is a pretty good bet for the Oscar. However, it's biggest weaknesses are the plot (which is very unconventional) and the fact that Petrov is a perennial nominee. I think it's definitely between these two films and if I were voting, I'd give the nod to "Même les pigeons vont au paradis" though either one is quite deserving. My advice is regardless of the outcome, see them both.

ONE FINAL UPDATE--2/24/08--The Oscar was just announced and the winner in this category was PETER & THE WOLF. It just goes to show what I know!!

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.