Pirosmani

Wednesday, 29 January

Pirosmani

Short url: 

https://squ.at/r/7oqp

PIROSMANI     1969 Directed by  Giorgi Shengelaia 85 minutes In Russian and Georgian, with English subtitles
 
This is a little treasure of a film that seems to be utterly forgotten here in the modern world. And it's too bad, because our modern world could use a bit of the poetry and magic that emanates from it. I was dead tired when I first watched this film a few weeks ago, but once it popped on the screen my soul became bright. I watched the entire thing entranced. It is a creative bio-pic about a primitive Georgian painter called Nikoloz Pirosmanishvill who lived at the turn of the last century. He traveled the countryside drifting from place to place, leaving behind his paintings; he often just exchanged them for food and wine in cafes. Today he would be called a naive artist or an outsider artist. His work gathered both scorn and praise, and he would die of starvation in 1918. In a discreet way, this film also questions the role of the artist, and the loner, in a money-based world.
 
This is not a typical film... it is a highly stylized movie, more like a series of tableaux. Beautifully set up, these images are simple but full of precision and detail. The mood, the landscapes, the colors and the Georgian folk music are all utterly intoxicating. Right up there with the best of them, like Tarkovsky. If you know the work of Sergei Parajanov, then this is a less psychedelic version of that style. The entire film is like a pure moving painting... pure enlightenment.
 
This will be a high-definition screening.

Date & Time: 

Wednesday, 29 January, 2020 - 20:00

Category: 

  • film

Price: 

2,50 euro (please bring exact change)
De Kring
Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen
7-9
Netherlands

Directions: 

basically at the Leidseplein, across from De Balie

Weekly programme of film screenings in a circuit of underground / self-organised venues. Forgotten movies that should have been classics, neglected flics, lesser-known gems, always with a personal introduction by the programmer. All films in English, or with English subtitles.

categories: 

  • film

opening times: 

mostly Sunday to Thursday at about 7 different underground locations.