More comediesand cartoons of the Stagnation era

Everyday life and philosophical exploration of being

Eldar Ryazanov (b.1927)

Numerous hit comedies, including

Irony of Fate, shown every New Year’s Eve since 1975

Comedy of characters Irony Poetry and songs in

films Social criticism Humanistic values

Office Romance (1977)by E. Ryazanov

A sad (despite the happy ending) and detailed comment on many aspects of life during the Stagnation (dull senseless work, hypocrisy, lies, overloaded women, ugly daily life, line-ups, monotony, hopelessness).

Georgy Danelia (b.1930)

Among his most popular films:

I Walk Through Moscow (1963)

Afonia (1975) Mimino (1977) Autumn Marathon

(1979) Kin-dza-dza (1986)

Mimino (1977)

Georgian, Armenian and Russian characters: Soviet Union at its best

A man in search for himself

Mild irony, comedy of characters and situation; verbal comedy

Human values tested and asserted (friendship, love for one’s birthplace and family, one’s vocation, etc.)

Autumn Marathon (1979)

Sad comedy, tragicomedy Pathetic, indecisive (though

endearing) character caught between two women

Complex irony Subtle social criticism: day

by day, nothing changes The central problem

unresolved – a metaphor for the Stagnation

Cartoons

Escapism: making films for children was a “less serious” matter, thus less censorship. Risky themes, Aesopian language.

Artistic experiments: exploration of different techniques and styles – clay and plastic dolls, drawings, paper-cut figures, etc.

Just You Wait (1969-2006)by ViacheslavKotionochkin

Mystery of the Third Planet (1981) by Roman Kachanov

Plasticine Crow(1981)by AleksandrTatarski

Hedgehog in the Fog(1975) by Yuri Norstein

Yuri Norstein b.1941

Hedgehog in the Fog trivia:

The muzzle (profile) might be a portrait of a writer Liudmila Petrushevskaia

Fan sites, popular punch lines (“Freak!”)

A stamp (1988) and a monument (Kiev, 2009)

Norstein and Petrushevskaia (the “prototype” of the Hedgehog)

Hedgehog in the Fog

Hedgehog in the Fog

In 2003, based on a survey of 140 cinema critics and animators worldwide, proclaimed the best film in history of animation. Norstein is given the highest Japanese order for his influence on world and Japanese animation.

Original “blurring” technique conveying the philosophical content.

Based on a story by Sergei Kozlov

Hedgehog in the Fog

Existentialist experience: as one faces the unknown, all senses sharpen.

The voice of a loved one leads through the danger. Exploration of the unknown (its duality). Getting out of touch with familiar reality Relativity of reality: morphing, shifting, unstable forms

of objects. No objective point of view. The notion of beauty (white horse)

Existential loneliness; the metaphor of life as a path

Threats and dangers

Familiar objects turn strange

Small hedgehog, big world

Exploring the unknown

A white horse: the elusive beauty

Hedgehog in the Fog

Going with the flow, accepting one’s predestination

Isolation of an individual Internal dialogue Self-exploration (“Who are you?”) Unseen Someone – divine interference? Life-changing experience: leaves H.

shattered.

The bear cub is lookingat thehedgehog, the hedgehog is looking inside himself: