teb@stat.Berkeley.EDU (Thomas E. Billings) (09/30/89)
MY HEART IS IN THE HIGHLANDS
A film review by Thomas E. Billings
Copyright 1989 Thomas E. Billings
Synopsis:
A tribute to silent movies, this 1967 Soviet film, silent except for sparse
(Russian) narration, has the look and feel of a 1920s era silent film. Very
creative and visually inventive. Should interest fans of silent films.
U.S.S.R. (Russian voice-over, no subtitles), black and white, 1967, 40 minutes.
Director: Rustam Hamdamov
Perhaps I should start off by saying that I am not a real fan of silent
films, and have seen only a few of them. However, one of my favorite films is
KOYAANISQATSI, a modern film with no dialogue. Thus, at least, I appreciate
the fact that spoken dialogue is not a strict requirement in films.
The story here concerns a young boy, Scarecrow, and his family: his father
the poet, and his mother, a "great woman" who has great difficulty fitting
into her corset. One day a famous actor comes by for lunch, which initiates a
sequence of interesting and visually inventive images and events.
Examples of the visual inventiveness here include: scenes shot from a high
vertical angle, so we are looking down on the actors; and interfacing close-ups
of oil paintings with live-action shots, similar to current usages of matte
paintings in special effects shots. The overall effect of these images is to
satirize the characters.
Although made in 1967, the film very much looks like it was done in the
1920s. The film is grainy, in poor focus at times. The acting: body and
facial gestures are exaggerated as is the silent movie style. The costumes and
props are from the 1920s or before. The "text screens" look like they were
copied from some old silent science fiction film.
Because silent films are not popular nowadays, I cannot recommend this
film for a general audience. However, fans of silent films may find it of
interest.
Distribution. The print source was Goskino; it appears that current
distribution is very limited.
Reviewer: Thomas E. Billings, Department of Statistics
University of California, Berkeley
Reviewer contact: teb@stat.Berkeley.EDU