Issue 65 (2019) |
Natal’ia Pershina: Dead Swallows (Mertvye lastochki, 2018) reviewed by Zhanna Budenkova © 2019 |
In her interview before Kinotavr 2018, where Dead Swallows competed with Aleksandr Gorchilin’s Acid (Kislota) for the debut of the year, Natal’ia Pershina identified her film as a mystical thriller with elements of fairytale and horror genres. She said: “In the film, I attempted to recreate what is referred to now as ‘creepy story’ or contemporary folklore—in essence, the same thing as fairytales” (Ostasheva 2018). Indeed, Pershina’s debut is deeply steeped in motifs traditionally associated with Russian folklore: the film’s protagonists interact with all kinds of wood spirits, including leshii and kikimora, and have a dramatic encounter with a deceased man who has risen from his grave for the occasion. At the same time, Dead Swallows touches a nerve in modern-day Russia, attempting to deal with issues of trauma and identity, for which the fairytale and horror aesthetics serve as a generic camouflage.
The film revolves around two men, Sasha and Kulik, who escape their life in the city and venture into a dense Russian forest to live in the wild and enjoy some fishing. At least, this is the official version of the story. In reality, Sasha is hiding from his girlfriend who is asking for money to get an abortion, because he does not want the child. Unaware of Sasha’s true motivations, Kulik agrees to accompany him on the trip to the cabin which once belonged to Kulik’s grandfather when he was alive. As the story unfolds, we learn that the grandfather had fallen prey to a bear that killed the man and his two dogs. Following the canons of the horror genre, Dead Swallows is deeply invested in reflection over gender role distributions, family relations, and the questions of guilt and responsibility, which the film treats in a characteristically conservative fashion. The theme of childrearing and associated duty is given center stage. Apart from direct references, the theme is emphasized through the narrative of fish spawning, which Sasha is willing to disrupt with his illegal fishing activities. The focus on Sasha’s irresponsible behavior serves to assert a more traditionalist value system, which is reinforced by fairytale motifs.
As Sasha and Kulik acquaint themselves with the cabin and the forest, they become aware that they are surrounded by some mystical forces that are willing to interact with them. These forces are gendered—leshii is shown to us as a man, and kikimora as a woman who, similar to Sasha’s girlfriend, cannot resist his charms and falls for the newcomer. As the narrative unfolds, kikimora is willing to fulfill all Sasha’s wishes in exchange for him singing for her (in the film, Sasha is a professional performer of folk songs). Before Sasha has a chance to see kikimora, he primarily interacts with her mysterious voice seemingly coming out of nowhere. In turn, his own vocal performances serve to connect him to kikimora and please her. The world of kikimora and leshii in the film is endowed with an ability to create and destroy life; in this capacity, this realm is the nature itself, powerful, mysterious and procreating. At the same time, it is also the nostalgic realm of Russian rural tradition with its folklore and strict codes of gender behavior. Being an urban dweller, Sasha is both unaware and unwilling to respect this realm, which backfires for him as the film progresses. Unlike Kulik, who knows about the dangers of the forest from his grandfather, Sasha is dangerously reckless—after flirting with kikimora, he rejects her advances, which causes a series of disasters both for him and his companion. Interestingly, in the film kikimora is presented as a little girl (her part is played by the star of Aleksei Fedorchenko’s Anna’s War [Voina Anny, 2018], Marta Kozlova), so she is both a rejected woman and an abandoned child, which asserts Sasha’s double guilt—to his girlfriend and her baby.
Apart from the reflection on gender roles and identity, Dead Swallows contains references to Russia’s tragic history throughout the 20th century. While the friends are living in the forest, they have to briefly cohabitate with a person called Sashok (diminutive version of the name Sasha)—one day, this man simply appears at the door of their cabin. From the narrative, we understand that Sashok is a dangerous criminal, probably a runaway, who served his time in prison for brutally murdering a person. The part of the criminal is played by the famous Russian actor Aleksandr Bashirov, known for his roles in post-Soviet cult films. As Sergei Sychev (2018) observed in his review, when Bashirov appears in the film, he completely steals viewers’ attention. Bashirov’s character introduces the motif of a double, important for the genre of horror; the actor’s photogénie definitely helps to make the motif more prominent. Before Sashok dies in the hands of kikimora, we notice similarities between two Sashas in the film: apart from the sharing the same name, they both turn out to be brutal murderers. While Sashok’s crime is more evident (he tells about it shortly after he settles in the cabin), Sasha’s crime is more subtle: he just wishes aloud that Sashok disappears somewhere, and kikimora was fast to fulfill this wish. The terrifying nature of Sasha’s crime against Sashok becomes evident when we are presented with the latter’s mutilated body hanging from a tree in the woods. The scene creates a powerful impression due to the graphic depiction of the corpse and the striking parallel between two Sashas. This parallel is accompanied by the narrative of the prison, which is important for Russian history, especially since the great terror under Stalin. Sasha’s general indifference to the moral and physical suffering of his neighbors alludes to the indifference of society, which silently agrees with the ongoing violence, unwillingly sanctioning it. Not the most optimistic evaluation, but an acute one.
Zhanna Budenkova
University of Pittsburgh
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Works Cited
Ostasheva, Daria. 2018. ‘Natal'ia Pershina: “Stsenarii fil'ma nachalsia s real'noi istorii o mertvykh lastochkakh.”’ ProfiCinema. 25 May.
Sychev, Sergei. 2018. ‘Vse uzhasy russkoi zhizni: Sudy, rybalka i Danila Kozlovskii.’ KinoPoisk 9 June.
Dead Swallows, Russia, 2018
Color, 93 minutes
Director: Natalia Pershina
Scriptwriter: Natalia Pershina
DoP: Maksim Golubev
Production Design: Irina Sapozhnikova
Music: Aleksandr Suprunov
Editing: Ol'ga Proshkina, Natalia Pershina
Cast: Valerii Barinov, Aleksandr Bashirov, Evgenii Okorokov, Oleg Bilik, Marta Kozlova, Anna Glaube
Production: Gorky Film Studio, Airfilm
Natal’ia Pershina: Dead Swallows (Mertvye lastochki, 2018) reviewed by Zhanna Budenkova © 2019 |