Boris Khlebnikov’s film, which opened the Moscow Film Festival, was originally called “Three Minutes of Silence”, based on Georgy Vladimov’s once-popular novel. The novel was published in Novy Mir in 1969, at the end of the short Khrushchev meltdown, and immediately came under whirlwind criticism. “The right scolded me for representing the Russian people as cattle, the left for idealizing these people,” commented Vladimov, clearly not trying to please one or the other.
The novel was written in the style of “documentary fiction” a few months after the author’s actual voyage as a sailor on a fishing boat. Vladimov himself was easily predictable in the image of the hero, while other scourge characters can be recognized as tough and childish children of the post-war USSR, surviving through “I can’t” in the grip of a planned economy and habitual poverty. but with the memory of their father’s heroism.
Boris Khlebnikov and Natalya Meshchaninova did not follow Vladimov’s plan, not only preserving the conditions: a fishing boat, trainees, fishing, a storm and the rescue of foreign fishermen, who in the film turned from Scots to Norwegians. The ship in the movie is called “Bullfinch”, not “The Horseman”, and that’s the only thing I can’t explain in this picture. The rest is very clear.
The action is carried into the present, which has changed a lot in characters. The main character is completely removed – in the cinema there is no need for a narrator, the main thing here is the picture. And it was very impressive. “Snegir” – the ship is old, rusty, but in motion. Inside, it’s typical for the male garage community: too much iron, too little comfort. The probation officers, from the sailor (Oleg Savostyuk and Makar Khlebnikov), who stare in amazement at the dull cabin and cockpit, rightly fear their fate, the company looks painfully ugly. The mocking-nosed cook Vitya (Sergey Nasedkin) feeds the crew with bread and soup, the crew eats under the screw with a sick film, the foreman nicknamed Father Gennady (Alexander Robak) looks gloomy from under his eyebrows, the ship’s jester Yurets (Timofey Tribuntsev) is a dreadful amongst other men turns with a face like a little demon. However, they turn out to be quite beautiful on the inside – despite their irregularity and rudeness, they seem to love the tough seafaring work, at least they are proud to belong to it. Yes, the main thing for them is to make money, but they work hard and in hellish conditions. Why these conditions? Yes, who knows, it happened, he went to sea, why be kind, you must work hard, and in between you can get drunk, break the dry law and poison the arrogant without malice but with a sadistic delay. so that the boy doesn’t feel better than the others.
The conflict between the Muscovite Nikitka and the team is growing more and more: at first, the fishermen even love the witty speaker, but it is precisely until it turns out that his hedonism and cheerfulness do not quite get along with the usual picture of the world in which any of them are. especially hard and low paid work is valor and the desire to live with pleasure is doubtful. In the script of Khlebnikov and Meshchaninova, this conflict of positions is very subtly articulated. Nikita takes care of his new comrades, generally likes to live. But it is precisely this lightness that causes resentment among the team. “Who will you be?” – the experienced brat reproaches and there is a heavy hesitation when he says he will be himself. No one is himself here, it is not, here everyone is “his own” and everyone has a role.
The picture is slowly emerging: the ship is old, the equipment is in poor condition, the hooks, the cranes – everything threatens with injuries, but no one cares about safety, there is no worker protection, everyone from the captain to the seafarers is exempt from compliance with laws and regulations, except those that benefit the collective income. Risk and danger are perceived by fishermen as a special elegance, a mandatory feature of the sea. They respect power, they understand courage, they do not fear death, their world is simple and crude, like this rusty ship.
From the very first frame, as the young trainees appear at the port with their hipster backpacks, it seems that something terrible is about to happen, the plot seems to gradually drift away, but the tension builds up in each scene. your contradictions.
It is possible to understand: now Nikita drinks brandy, which is revealed by the humanized Gennady, talks with him about his twin daughters, which his father does not understand … But fate is preparing a decisive turn.
Tragedy comes every day, as if everything tied to a string, randomly held on parole is going to take over, suddenly stop working, collapse and cover it up. And it turns out that it was the boyish youth of these middle-aged men that made their lives so miserable and hopeless. All their simple garage life and their perilous business are the result of inner laziness and unwillingness to think, and what is there to think about…
In Khlebnikov’s film there are no comments, only the image, simple dialogues and texture created in the pavilions, but very recognizable. Alisher Khamidkhojaev’s camera helps to see the ship and its heroic everyday life as both a reality and a metaphor. The world built on violence against others and also against oneself cannot fail to explode, is full of disasters, victims are inevitable. At the same time, the sailors continue their impetuous lives, intoxicated with grief and stretched when it is necessary to save the ship and themselves, bravely and courageously do the impossible and readily accept – this time is over. But experience teaches nothing. And although they also have good human feelings, the routine wins, the habit of living one day at a time.
Very unobtrusively, with subtle irony, Yurts’ attempt to share his autograph video with the rescued Norwegians is shown, showing them a registered phone, but the Norwegians just politely nod where the team bursts into hearty laughter. We spectators will only see this Yurt number in the finale and we will be able to decide for ourselves how funny it is.
The movie was conceived in 2018, but filming only began in the summer of 2021 and Bullfinch will hit theaters in June 2023. These five years were filled with major events that could make the film obsolete. But that didn’t happen. On the contrary, the story that, in terms of film technology, seemed just an excuse to create an interesting genre film about a sea storm, male initiation, and generation gap turned out to be prophetic. Sketches of road workers from Free Swimming, guest workers from Crazy Help, waiters and restaurant guests from Until the Night Parts are a metaphor for Khlebnikov’s earlier paintings, the whole layer of Russian life. Complete carelessness combined with romantic illusions and the cult of testosterone found its way out. Despite the restrained everyday language prone to global metaphors, perhaps “Bullfinch” turned out to be the most symbolic of this director.
They were waiting for the rusty ship when it finally came ashore. Police, doctors, border guards. And an inspector. She is the first woman to appear on the screen in this all-male movie. He calls the team members to question, asking him to tell the gist of the incident, as he does not understand the peculiarities of the work of minesweepers. But the children were ready for this conversation. Obviously there will be no court.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.