Dovlatov

What a good movie!!!

In this movie audience witnesses a week of Russian author Dovlatov's life. Panoramic view of those seven days shows interesting details of everyday lives of intellectuals and artists in the late period of USSR.

Within a plain but masterfully designed visual composition, with no agitative langue, the movie presents satirical sub-texts on pressure of state-bureaucratic principles on artistic production, degeneration of USSR administrative regime and confliction of factual-economical position of artist in life and existential and inherent artistic motivation etc...

Critics on state-art relation in this movie not only satire historical conditions in USSR but also compose a general and actual critical sense on relevant matters indicating negative picture of the ideal conditions.

Watching "Dovlatov" is a great cinematic pleasure, a great experience!

Why? I was waiting for this movie and familiar with Dovlatov's story, but the movie was disappointing from the very beginning. First, something is completely wrong with the way Main actor talks. He murmurs, doesn't pronounce half of the letters and sound completely non-professional. Second, the work of director very primitive. Also, acting stars were only supporting characters and you couldn't really enjoy enyone's performence. Overall, feels like everyone is slacking while working on that movie set.

Dovlatov is a good biographical film about a famous Russian writer. The majority of biographical films are divided into 2 types: either the film tells the whole life of a person or in detail about some period of life. It is type 2 that I consider preferable, as in 2-2.5 hours of conditional timing it is difficult to lay down a whole life of a person. Dovlatov is just such a film, the action of the film unfolds in just a couple of days 1971. Transfer of an era, life and life of Leningrad of the 1970th years simply 10/10. One of the best films about the period of Brezhnev stagnation of society. Just a good film, in which there are only dialogues and internal conflict of the writer, who alone opposes the state structure.

One of the highlights of the 68th Berlin International Film Festival was the film Dovlatov, directed by Alexei German Jr.

Sergei Dovlatov is a rather well-known writer in Russia, but not so famous in the West, and is mostly associated with the circle of friends of Joseph Brodsky. Alexei German chose to depict only four days of Sergei Dovlatov's life in 1971. The film was a co-production between Russia, Poland and Serbia. The cinematographer was Lukasz Zal, known for his work on Oscar winner Ida.

The film is made in a non-hurried pace. What is depicted is the everyday life of a writer who unsuccessfully tries to get published, while working as a journalist. The first impression after watching this film is that the director intentionally exaggerated the misery of Soviet-era life. The scenery is too bleak and life is too poor, for example, later in his life Sergei Dovlatov wrote in a letter that his flat in St. Petersburg was better than his American flat. Also the depiction is not accurate. This concerns the small details such as styles of cars and important events described in the film. In particular, the episode with the officers of OBKhSS (Department Against Misappropriation of Socialist Property) chasing the poor artist, portrayed by Danila Kozlovsky, with red IDs is completely fantasy. First of all, OBKhSS was an organization which only investigated large-scale economical crimes and it was out of their jurisdiction to chase after petty criminals. Another segment with the suicide of an office worker does not have any factual basis concerning Dovlatov's real life or have anything to do with his writings. Also, neither Sergei Dovlatov's heavy drinking nor womanizing is shown in the film, as everyone else imbibes except him. Dovlatov tries to impose the point of view that the artists who were not union members were nothing. However, this is not true.

German obviously wanted to present Sergei Dovlatov as a victim of the Soviet regime. However, he was not a rebel or a non-conformist as for example Aleksander Solzhenitsyn. Dovlatov lived in Russia by it's rules and legally emigrated.. He worked as a journalist and wrote commissioned articles. Aleksander Solzhenitsyn was physically thrown out of the Soviet Union and stayed a non-conformist till the end of his life.

A person who did not live in the Soviet time and is not too familiar with the life there, after watching the film can receive a false impression of that period. At the press conference German defended modern Russia. Somehow his film illustrates the contrast between 1970s Soviet era and Putin's Russia, where, as German said there is no antisemitism, no censorship. However in Soviet times Russia was more rich with talents than today. I told Alexei German Jr. about this when we met in Berlin on the 18th of February 2018. There is no plot or dramatic conflict in the film and it is too long to hold the viewers attention. It is quite natural that a writer wants to get published, but 99% of the time it does not happen very quickly and does not have anything to do with Soviet reality. The question rises about the intentions of the film; perhaps for some people it is beneficial to represent Soviet Russia as a miserable and scary place with no creative freedom. At the press conference German spoke that spoke that some people and forces try to demonize Russia. While it is partially true, with this film he himself demonizes the Soviet Union and with it, inadvertently, modern Russia, because present-day Russia inherited a lot of the Soviet times.

Some of the positive aspects of the picture include the acting of Milan Maric, who is charismatic and creates an interesting character, however according to the testimonies of his many friends, the real Dovlatov was much more brutal and humoristic. The most vivid supporting role was by Danila Kozlovsky, who played the tragic role of an artist who earned money by selling goods on the black market. He did the best of his part, although the events happening to him are pure fantasy.

A.German tries to convince the audience that Dovlatov was not published because of that particular time of stagnation when talents were not appreciated and the arts were controlled by people who did not understand anything in it. It is interesting to compare the film with modern Russia, where there are a lot less of great writers and directors then in the period of stagnation, despite German saying that there is no censorship today. That Dovlatov considered himself to be a better poet than Yevtushenko is his own very personal opinion, which is very far from reality. Only time can prove if Dovlatov will continue to be a popular writer alongside the great writers of Russia. The fate of an artist or a poet is a difficult one in all countries, and many writers superior to Dovlatov experienced hardships with publishing their works.

The Soviet time is shown as shabby, hopeless and wretched, which is also blown out of proportion in the picture. At the press conference, German said that there is no censorship or anti-Semitism today in Russia. But in reality, the time of the 1960-1970s bore the peaks of Russian creativity in all fields of art. All the best writers, poets, ballet dancers, directors, all of them worked in the 1960-1970s, including Alexei German Sr., without whom there would be no Alexei Alexeevich German. Lack of open censorship does not equal the flourishing of arts.

I was surprised that he tried to make a hero out of Sergei Dovlatov for his immigration. He immigrated legally and nothing threatened him. I compared the emigration of Nureyev, who was given a seven year sentence for betrayal of homeland. On the other hand, Dovlatov peacefully followed his wife and child. If he had not become an alcoholic, he would have been alive during the Perestroika and could have returned to Russia as Edouard Limonov did. Because of this the film lacks drama, despite German's attempts of creating tragedy with fictional characters where there is none.

Alexei German Jr., has a great cast in the film, which includes newcomer Milan Maric, and also well-known actors Danila Kozlovsky, Svetlana Khodchenkova and Elena Lyadova. However, their parts are quite weak, in spite of the big potential of their actors. Kozlovsky, is especially unlucky lately with his roles - in the film Matilda he played the villain who was kept in an aquarium and later burned alive, the role was completely senseless and stupid. In the film Dovlatov, Danila Kozlovsky did his best, but his role was also absurd. Elena Lyadova had a completely insignificant part despite her great acting talent.

Overall Dovlatov is a mediocre film about a mediocre writer for a mediocre audience.

Saw this at the Berlinale 2018, where it was part of the Competition for the Golden/Silver Bear. A lot of faces pass by, in crowded apartments or various other just as crowded places. Some of those faces will reappear several times. No need to remember all of them, apart from the main protagonist, his ex-wife and daughter of course, as there is no continuing story that brings you from A via B and C to Z.

The division in six days is also not really relevant. It gives you a clear marker, however, that the movie jumps to something completely different each time a date appears on screen. It provides for some structure albeit not crucially important.

There is room for humor, not too much as there is no happy ending (no spoiler: we know this writer was not recognized in his own country and emigrated later, and we also know his own country valued him not until after his death).

Be prepared for name dropping of several famous writers, most of whom I recognize vaguely by name, but have never read them in my life. Maybe you have better luck in fitting them in the context in which their name is mentioned, and judge the name dropping as appropriate or merely done out of pomposity (I assume the former, given the circles our main protagonist usually is in, where one surely knows these names and would protest immediately when improperly quoted).

Trick question: did this movie enlighten me about the period and Russian politics at the time?? No, I think not. But anyone who has read some of the writers who have been quoted, may think otherwise. Several reviewers mentioned that it was a time of a stand still.

What this movie makes abundantly clear, is that the regime does not allow frivolities with their policy, keeping a tight lease on all publications such as journals, magazines and books. It is something that all such regimes seem inclined to do as a matter of course. Is that only to close the ranks, out of fear that the communist dream is not so rosy as one is taught?? Or it is just to not endanger the positions of the current politicians?? I assume that all of the above applies. It seems to apply equally to contemporary dictatorial regimes (Turkey, Iran, and many others), a parallel observation that makes this movie more relevant than it intrinsiccally is when considering the Brezjnew period alone.