World Cinema
(2009 Russia 130 MIN 35mm)
Directors: Andrey Khrzhanovsky
Screenwriters: Yuri Arbov, Andrey Khrzhanovsky
Producers: Artem Vassiliev, Andrey Khrzhanovsky
Director of Photography: Vladimir Brylyakov
Editor: Igor Malachov, Vladimir Grigorenko
Cast: Alisa Freindlich, Sergei Yursky, Grigory Dityatkovsky, Artem Smola
Andrei Khrzanovsky's bittersweet, endlessly imaginative film begins with the revered poet Joseph Brodsky (Grigory Dityatkovsky, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Nobel Prize-winning poet) approaching his beloved St. Petersburg after a decades-long exile imposed by the Soviet state. In a Proustian wave of memories, his past comes to life, centered around the tiny but welcoming flat he shared with his devoted parents. Long considered Russia's finest animator, Khrzanovsky spent seven years creating ROOM AND A HALF, his fourth feature and live-action debut. The film continues his penchant for honoring artists (Pushkin and Fellini among them) and contemplating the life of the imagination, as he punctuates his film with his typically bright, dreamlike animated images. Khrzanovsky's artistic coup is to convey Brodsky's adventure through the 20th century by framing each decade in that period's dominant cinematic style. More than mere formal device, this strategy becomes a declaration of freedom.
Andrey Khrzhanovsky
Khrzhanovsky was born in Russia, graduated from the VGIK in Moscow and has since become one of the world's leading animators, having created more than 20 works on subjects including totalitarianism, the creative spirit and human endeavor.
Back to AFI Project: 20/20
