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A Room and a Half is a unique journey to the earlier life of Nobel Prize winning Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. A perfect blend of different styles - fiction, animation and historical footage - creates an unforgettable atmosphere, smoothly intertwined with one another in a highly original manner. Brodsky's reminiscences begin with his father (Sergei Yursky) and mother (the great Alisa Freyndlikh) creating a wonderland of familial warmth within their apartment. As a boy, Brodsky sees the world through the confident prism of a loving family. As a college student, Brodsky becomes political, a stance he maintains through his writings until he s exiled in 1972. The poet (the superb Grigoriy Dityatkovskiy) sails to the country of his childhood, and with him we traverse not only geographical expanses, but travel through time as well. Inspired by a poet, Khrzhanovskiy has created his own poetry.
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United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Russian ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Black & White, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: A Room and a Half is a unique journey to the earlier life of Nobel Prize winning Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. A perfect blend of different styles - fiction, animation and historical footage - creates an unforgettable atmosphere, smoothly intertwined with one another in a highly original manner. Brodsky's reminiscences begin with his father (Sergei Yursky) and mother (the great Alisa Freyndlikh) creating a wonderland of familial warmth within their apartment. As a boy, Brodsky sees the world through the confident prism of a loving family. As a college student, Brodsky becomes political, a stance he maintains through his writings until he s exiled in 1972. The poet (the superb Grigoriy Dityatkovskiy) sails to the country of his childhood, and with him we traverse not only geographical expanses, but travel through time as well. Inspired by a poet, Khrzhanovskiy has created his own poetry. ...Room and a Half ( Poltory komnaty ili sentimentalnoe puteshestvie na rodinu ) ( Póltora pokoju )
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Room and a Half is a recall through the techniques of film of an earlier more classical era when civilization and culture had true value.The director Khrzhanovskiy shares with Brodsky a similar historical period being of similar ages,sharing similar friends and being brought up in the famous `room and a half' apartments,celebrated in this film.However they never met.Khrzhanovoskiy is drawn to him as Brodsky did many drawings which the director shows in one of the extras.He is also drawn to his prose essay "A Room and a Half" from the collection "Less than One".
Like Brodsky he was an only child and deeply devoted to his parents.The film is playful in tone as he suggests Joseph Brodsky,the Nobel Laureate, was in his outspokenness about individualism vs.mass conformity.This film is a fiction and takes poetic liberties with the facts of Brodsky's life.Using a perfect blend of different styles-fiction,animation and historical footage-in an absolute mastery of the different formats to create a magical, creative fantasia which is unified.At odds with post-WWII Stalinism and later Kruschev.He spent 2 years in a Soviet prison in the 60's and was eventually exiled from the country and his parents(forever),living in the U.S. from 1972 until his death in 1996.
Walking out of school forever from age 13 his parent's apartment is a creative wonderland in a context of communal living.We see the boy and then the college student.In a hilarious montage of short scenes young Brodsky brings home various girlfriends in the half room,with the ultimate goal of having sex with them,while the parents,a short distance away try to pretend nothing is happening.Stalin's repression of artists and intellectuals(especially Jews) is shown by the image of musical instruments slowly floating above,and leaving,the city of Leningrad,like a Chagall.The soundtrack contains a lot of Bach and his favorite Haydn.
Brodsky's reminiscences of his father and mother are full of heartful nostalgia as they adjust to contracting circumstances.The poet in exile as a university professor in the U.S.is shown phoning home,the umbilical chord of his new life and success.He never returns,so he is shown,in the after-life,sailing to the country of his childhood,traveling through space as well as time to see them once more.Brodsky's poetry is given a few short readings,but the film doesn't get close to Brodsky's importance to world literature as the great poet of freedom,exile and soul lament.If you like the film,go straight to the work.Forget then the life.The real Brodsky is in the poems.The power and lyricism.I loved the film for reminding us of Brodsky,the jazz,the cigarettes,the cats.
Like Brodsky he was an only child and deeply devoted to his parents.The film is playful in tone as he suggests Joseph Brodsky,the Nobel Laureate, was in his outspokenness about individualism vs.mass conformity.This film is a fiction and takes poetic liberties with the facts of Brodsky's life.Using a perfect blend of different styles-fiction,animation and historical footage-in an absolute mastery of the different formats to create a magical, creative fantasia which is unified.At odds with post-WWII Stalinism and later Kruschev.He spent 2 years in a Soviet prison in the 60's and was eventually exiled from the country and his parents(forever),living in the U.S. from 1972 until his death in 1996.
Walking out of school forever from age 13 his parent's apartment is a creative wonderland in a context of communal living.We see the boy and then the college student.In a hilarious montage of short scenes young Brodsky brings home various girlfriends in the half room,with the ultimate goal of having sex with them,while the parents,a short distance away try to pretend nothing is happening.Stalin's repression of artists and intellectuals(especially Jews) is shown by the image of musical instruments slowly floating above,and leaving,the city of Leningrad,like a Chagall.The soundtrack contains a lot of Bach and his favorite Haydn.
Brodsky's reminiscences of his father and mother are full of heartful nostalgia as they adjust to contracting circumstances.The poet in exile as a university professor in the U.S.is shown phoning home,the umbilical chord of his new life and success.He never returns,so he is shown,in the after-life,sailing to the country of his childhood,traveling through space as well as time to see them once more.Brodsky's poetry is given a few short readings,but the film doesn't get close to Brodsky's importance to world literature as the great poet of freedom,exile and soul lament.If you like the film,go straight to the work.Forget then the life.The real Brodsky is in the poems.The power and lyricism.I loved the film for reminding us of Brodsky,the jazz,the cigarettes,the cats.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The film is based on Joseph Brodsky's essays and autobiography. Brodsky was a Nobel Prize winner in 1987, a Russian poet, emigré from of Jewish origin /but not Jewish background/, a native of Leningrad. /In early childhood Brodsky survived the Siege of Leningrad where he and his parents nearly died of starvation./ In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism", and exiled for 5 years to Arkhangelsk, far North.
He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other writers and supporters. He taught thereafter at universities including those at Yale, Cambridge and Michigan.
The film can give you the atmosphere of the not-Soviet mentality surviving in not many Russian people, only in some marginalized intellectuals. A little nostalgic, with beautiful pictures and music -- it cannot give a real image of Brodsky, so one has to go and read his poems also :-) Or read his wonderful essay on Venice, Watermark.
Petersburg is called the Venice of the North, but what a difference in history!
He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other writers and supporters. He taught thereafter at universities including those at Yale, Cambridge and Michigan.
The film can give you the atmosphere of the not-Soviet mentality surviving in not many Russian people, only in some marginalized intellectuals. A little nostalgic, with beautiful pictures and music -- it cannot give a real image of Brodsky, so one has to go and read his poems also :-) Or read his wonderful essay on Venice, Watermark.
Petersburg is called the Venice of the North, but what a difference in history!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
It is a film full of poetry, a voyage into Joseph Brodsky's sensibility, and a nice experience when you can watch a film with a touch of Chagall's paintings. Very, very nice film.
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" First view of a masterpiece"
"A Room and a half" Andrey Khrzhanovsky.
During my first vew of Andrey Khrzhanovsky's masterpiece, I was flabergasted by the amount of beauty I received. Read more
During my first vew of Andrey Khrzhanovsky's masterpiece, I was flabergasted by the amount of beauty I received. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Nora Gluckmann
trip to russia
Definitly one of the best film this year. a unique melancolic travel in the life of brodsky. Between fantasy, poetry and history. A must seen movie
Published 20 months ago by la boheme
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