I agree Norse, that things are better now socially. And the upcoming generation is very determined for social stablity (marriage and children) and not to replicate dysfunction of parents’ generation. Some young guys I met won’t drink even a drop of alcohol.
Abortion on the decline as well.
Now it’s the HIV crisis they need to tackle.
Yes Ministry of Culture did not finance Zvyagintsev’s film, but they know it’s the best quality choice of the options and they wouldn’t mind for Russian film as a whole to be be respected and recognized on the international stage.
Somebody finances his movies which are pricy and not cash earners indeed.
I agree they are arty but don’t like overall.
That and Leviathan are nothing but a revival of late 1980s dark ‘chernukha’ genre.
I don’t want to go to a cinema and spend money to look into government corruption and family problems presented in a way to blame me as part of society for some evils. Also both movies has sinsible anti-Christian massage betraying it as a depressive leftist propaganda.
New York Times on the other hand seems to love Zvyagintsev work a lot.
I suspect for their propaganda ‘Leviathan’ and ‘Loveless’ are a kind of that ‘Grapes of Wrath’ were for Pravda in USSR.