TODAY’S BET: Betray the Motherland for a Parking Place? Гараж/The Garage (USSR. Mosfilm, 1979)(Mir, 23:25). --> In “Garage,” a classic and defining satirical commentary on and from the late-Brezhnevian Deep Stagnation era, director E. Ryzanov brings to bear a sharpness and wit so formidable they rival those trained by Gogol on the Russia of Nicholas I – and make you wonder how the movie got off the studio lot without drawing a sentence to the infamous Mosfilm Shelf for telling too much truth. In fact, way too much. Eventually somebodys dissertation will tell us whether an armored car was actually involved, but in the meantime... The story involves a museum workers kollektiv forced by highway reconstruction to exclude some of its members from spaces in their now a-building communal garage -- but the question is which ones? Tensions mount as a parade of characters – fine, upstanding Soviet citizens all, played by a marvelous ensemble cast (many from the informal “Ryazanov Company,” incl. A. Myagkov, L. Akhedzhakova, G. Burkov) – attempts to demonstrate by turns (a) how much more equal each is than the others and (b) his/her ability to game the system…making it impossible, it seems, to drop *anybody*. The resulting impasse prompts a series of amusing/revealing schemes and machinations from various kollektiv members: one character pompously suggests “I propose we do this by democratic Soviet principles” – the response to which is prolonged laughter. Another stops the proceedings cold by defining *his* deserving status with “I betrayed the motherland to buy my car” – which adds a quick dose of gravity to the situation, until the double entendres behind “betrayed” and “motherland” emerge. A third (played by the director) comments profoundly on the seriousness of the debate by declining to stay awake and take part in it. Based on the true story of the now-infamous Mosfilm studio lot bypass, this is a deeply, touchingly anti-Soviet film that captures much of what was wrong with the society it managed (almost miraculously) to emerge from – yet also depicts quite tellingly what was right with many of the ancien régime’s individual constituents, starting with their resourcefulness, perseverance and their ability to call a spade a spade, in the end, no matter how deeply stagnated. Screenplay by Ryazanov and frequent collaborator E. Braginsky. Tune in (or watch below on YouTube) and be reminded of how funny -- and daring -- a visibly failing society could be. Highly recommended.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 05:01:50 +0000
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