Aelita 1924
- Director: Yakov Protazanov
- Based on the book by Alexei Tolstoy
- Cast: Yulia Solntseva, Nikolai Tsereteli, Vera Kuindzhi
- Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
- None of them
- Why? Sci fi classic
- Seen: 29 September 2019
In 1921 all the radio stations in the world
get the same message. Engineer Los is convinced it’s a message from Mars.
On Mars Queen Aelita is obsessed with
observing Earth.
Young love, mad jealousy, corruption are
all woven throughout scenes of deprivation and poverty but also the vitality
and optimism of the new Soviet Union. All against a backdrop of the fantastic
Martian realm of Aelita.
It’s all very confusing and the peculiar
English of the intertitles only partially explains what’s going on. I do like
black and white films and this has its beautiful moments but there are so many
side stories and characters that the sci fi aspect almost disappears. Maybe I’m
just a 21st century chauvinist but this just gets sillier and
sillier.
The Soviet Socialist Republic of Mars is
cool though. And somewhere there amidst all the chaos it’s quite a radical
film. In the end I quite like it.
3*
of 5. Maybe even 4. (Hal says 5, or maybe 2 or 3)
PS
As a part of cinematic history, and Soviet history, and sci fi history, it’s a
must-see.
No comments:
Post a Comment