The Road East. Other Look at Andrei Zvyagintsev's 'The Return'

• Authors: Trwoga A.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The aim of this feature is to show links, in terms of form and content, between Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev's film 'The Return' and Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu's feature 'Drifting Weeds' (1959). The author begins his article with showing the similarity of the content of the two - father returns home after a 12-year absence, is involved in a conflict with the son(s), leaves his (their) life, which is the equivalent of the coming of age of the two. There is a case for it: the clear-cut quotes from Ozu's film (motif of a lighthouse, train, use of red colour). The Russian film may be also linked with the genre of 'shomin-geki', whose master was Ozu. The basic categories of Japanese aesthetics, embedded in Zen Buddhism (shibui, mono-no-aware and ichigo ichie) and employed in the analysis of 'The Return', are aimed at finding an answer to the question: why the world of the film heroes is tainted with emptiness, which makes the film less 'Russian'? The author's attempt to make a comparative interpretation of the films' issues and meanings shows that their directors share thoughts and intentions.

Keywords

EN

ZVYAGINTSEV ANDREI

Discipline

• ARTS_&_ARCHITECTURE: ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Sztuki PAN
• Journal: Kwartalnik Filmowy
• Year: 2007
• Issue: 57-58
• Pages: 209-220
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Trwoga A.

• A. Trwoga, c/o Uniwersytet Warszawski, Instytut Kultury Polskiej, Zaklad Filmu i Audiowizualnosci, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

07PLAAAA03126458