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WE WILL SHOW OUR PROVINCIAL TASTE, A MOVIE CRITIC SAYS ABOUT TAKING "GAREGIN NZHDEH" TO CANNES
March 14 2013
The National Cinema Center of Armenia will present Hrach Keshishyan's
"Garegin Nzhdeh" in Cannes, along with other movies. Armenia will
also participate in this year's Cannes Film Festival that will take
place on May 15-26 and in the Film Market that will be organized
within its framework. www.aravot.am inquired of Artsvi Bakhchinyan,
a movie critic and the Vice-President of the Armenian Association
of Movie Critics and Movie Journalists, what he thought of the fact
that Armenia would also present "Garegin Nzhdeh," which even Armenians
didn't think highly of, despite its big budget, in Cannes. "When they
show 'Garegin Nzgdeh' in Syunik, for example, lay a red carpet and show
a crying Nzhdeh to the people and make them cry as a result of such
cheap effects, you think, 'It's OK, we are provincials, we show our
provincial taste and mentality in the provinces.' However, appearing
at no less than the Cannes Film Festival with such a picture means
to overestimate one's own abilities too much. It is just shameful. It
doesn't matter that its budget is $7 million. Work has been done, but
a move that is, to put it mildly, a disgrace from the artistic and
historical perspectives cannot be the face of the Armenian movie,"
Bakhchinyan said. Our interlocutor will not be surprised, if that
movie gets some local award in the short run and says: "It has
happened in the territory of Armenia, now they have to exaggerate,
praise, a few intellectuals and art critics have to express a high
opinion to curry favor with the rich men who financed the movie,
but the value of the movie will not increase because of that. I think
that one just has to be smart enough not to show oneself to the world
through such pictures. Even the ordinary Armenian viewer who doesn't
know the criteria of great movies was basically not satisfied with
that movie. Many tearstained eyes testify to that, but many sleeping
viewers in the hall don't. Chulpan Khamatova's name alone is not a
guarantee that this movie has a right to be shown at an international
festival. By the way, under the Armenian conditions, in case of a
professional approach, one could have achieved satisfactory results
for the money that has been spent on 'Garegin Nzhdeh' to shoot such a
movie, and it would have allowed us to show ourselves to the world with
a clear conscience. And what we have is just awful." Gohar HAKOBYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/14/152948/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
March 14 2013
The National Cinema Center of Armenia will present Hrach Keshishyan's
"Garegin Nzhdeh" in Cannes, along with other movies. Armenia will
also participate in this year's Cannes Film Festival that will take
place on May 15-26 and in the Film Market that will be organized
within its framework. www.aravot.am inquired of Artsvi Bakhchinyan,
a movie critic and the Vice-President of the Armenian Association
of Movie Critics and Movie Journalists, what he thought of the fact
that Armenia would also present "Garegin Nzhdeh," which even Armenians
didn't think highly of, despite its big budget, in Cannes. "When they
show 'Garegin Nzgdeh' in Syunik, for example, lay a red carpet and show
a crying Nzhdeh to the people and make them cry as a result of such
cheap effects, you think, 'It's OK, we are provincials, we show our
provincial taste and mentality in the provinces.' However, appearing
at no less than the Cannes Film Festival with such a picture means
to overestimate one's own abilities too much. It is just shameful. It
doesn't matter that its budget is $7 million. Work has been done, but
a move that is, to put it mildly, a disgrace from the artistic and
historical perspectives cannot be the face of the Armenian movie,"
Bakhchinyan said. Our interlocutor will not be surprised, if that
movie gets some local award in the short run and says: "It has
happened in the territory of Armenia, now they have to exaggerate,
praise, a few intellectuals and art critics have to express a high
opinion to curry favor with the rich men who financed the movie,
but the value of the movie will not increase because of that. I think
that one just has to be smart enough not to show oneself to the world
through such pictures. Even the ordinary Armenian viewer who doesn't
know the criteria of great movies was basically not satisfied with
that movie. Many tearstained eyes testify to that, but many sleeping
viewers in the hall don't. Chulpan Khamatova's name alone is not a
guarantee that this movie has a right to be shown at an international
festival. By the way, under the Armenian conditions, in case of a
professional approach, one could have achieved satisfactory results
for the money that has been spent on 'Garegin Nzhdeh' to shoot such a
movie, and it would have allowed us to show ourselves to the world with
a clear conscience. And what we have is just awful." Gohar HAKOBYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/14/152948/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia