RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL: Love with an Accent (Любовь Ñ Ð°ÐºÑ†ÐµÐ½Ñ‚Ð¾Ð¼) is a very sunny film. It’s so bright and cheerful, it makes, say, the Wiggles look dour by comparison. Part of this bubbliness has a lot to do with attitude and politics. It’s set mostly in Russia and Georgia – indeed, it’s the first Russian-Georgian co-production in 20 years – but these aren’t places I recognise from the news or the movies. Which is to say that Love with an Accent is a fantasy where romance transcends all: cultural conflict, all feuds, class, poverty, confusion and even geography.
like a compilation of some of the best available romantic storyline conventions
Still, there are moments spread throughout that tap at prejudice and dysfunction. There’s a bit set amongst Georgian mountain people. The plot allows the possibility that these folks, suspicious of strangers, may give voice to their feelings concerning not only new comers, but Russians, especially. Alas, if these people hold fast to some unpleasant attitudes as regards to the Russian people, we never hear about it (though these Georgians are made to look like stupid yokels, yet very scary ones, so the film’s sense of good spirit isn’t altogether consistent.)
The film is directed by 31-year-old Rezo Gigineishvili, who was responsible for the teen romantic comedy hit Heat (ЖÐRÐ, 2006). In the Russian press I’ve read, a lot has been made of the fact that he’s Gen Y. This is intended to account for the way Gigineishvili and his cohorts have sort to purge all specific contemporary social and cultural detail from Love. But I’m not so certain. I think the film’s lack of social context (and its lack of bite in terms of its 'clash of culture’ theme) has a lot more to do with an ambitious filmmaker out to experiment with the conventions of romantic comedy; and, of course, that choice in itself is something of a political statement.
Gigineishvili has given the whole thing a rapid pace, and a bright look to support and encourage the film’s upbeat disposition. He’s cast it perfectly, too. Everyone here is likable, funny and openhearted (or close to it). It makes you want them to see them kick a goal in life and love. In terms of its style, it’s a sitcom that plays with farce; there are plenty of sight gags, the occasional one-liner and lots of physical comedy. (Indeed, whenever a scene needs punching up Gigineishvili has one of his large cast throw themselves at some furniture or off a hillside, just to add a bit of variation.) There’s no single storyline. Instead, we follow 10 characters, all of whom are consumed by plots where they are pursuing love, or trying to keep it, or are seeking ways to mend it. Some of these storylines are inter-connected, some only tenuously, but I think the point is that when it comes to love these characters (and the rest of us) are all in the same 'existential boat’ so to speak. Not a devastating insight, of course, but Gigineishvili does a nice sales job.
The single most interesting thing about the film is that each of the subplots Gigineishvili and his co-scenarists employ could fill out an entire narrative on their own. Or to put it another way, Love with an Accent is like a compilation of some of the best available romantic storyline conventions, but done in miniature.
There’s one where an arranged marriage ends up complicated by mistaken identity; there’s a story of a shy man who is too timid to speak up, so he uses intrigue to get his desire’s attention; another has a Georgian man, who is house bound (he’s in hiding) but falls in love with his neighbour.
But the two best storylines offer the most incident and excitement. Helga (Anna Mikhalkova) is plump, happy, and keen to get knocked up. She heads off to Georgia for a holiday when she discovers that there is some scientific proof to suggest that the local men there have very good genes. She tries picking up but ends up pursued by a resort hotel bell hop with a funny moustache.
The other one I liked a lot is a great screwball plot. It concerns an upper class husband and wife filmmaking team Filipp (Filipp Yankovsky) and Sveta (Svetlana Bondarchuk) whose marriage has ended. Their divorce is about to be confirmed. But when Filip gets lost in the Georgian wilderness where Sveta is on location shooting their latest project, she is overcome with a change of heart. As she pulls out all resources (including an army chopper), Filipp ends up in the high country posing as a male-order beau in an arranged marriage.
Not all the storylines end happily it must be said. But even when they don’t, Gigineishvili and co. pay off the plot on a note of blinding optimism, a promise of better things to come.
