Alexei Viktorovich Gusev (born September 11, 1977 , Leningrad ) is a Russian film and theater critic, film critic, teacher and director.
| Alexey Gusev | |
|---|---|
 At the premiere of the film “List of Ships” (St. Petersburg Cinema House, 2008) | |
| Date of Birth | September 11, 1977 ( 41) |
| Place of Birth | Leningrad , RSFSR , USSR |
| Citizenship |  Russia |
| Profession | film critic , theater critic , film critic , teacher , film director , theater director |
| IMDb | |
Film Studies and Criticism
Biography
In 1993 he graduated from the Phys.-Math. gymnasium number 30 ("Thirty") . From 1993 to 1996 he studied at the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of St. Petersburg State University . In 2006, he graduated with honors from the Cinematography and Scripting Department of the All -Russian State Institute of Cinematography (film department, workshop of A. Zolotukhina and V. Utilov ). He began to publish articles in 1998 [1] . The head of the World Cinema section and the author of a number of articles in the encyclopedia “The Recent History of Russian Cinema. 1986-2000 . " From 2003 to 2006, he was deputy editor-in-chief of the Session magazine . Author of over 500 articles. Published in the magazines Petersburg Book Bulletin, Session [2] , Cinema Notes [3] , City 812 [4] , Theater Petersburg, Kommersant Weekend, Sobka.ru , and Thing .doc ", the newspapers" Empire of Drama " [5] and" Chronicle ", in the Internet publications Colta.ru , Fontanka.ru and others. For publication in the" Session "for 2004 received the Prize to them. M. Levitina Guilds of Film Critics and Film Critics of Russia (2006) [6] . The author of comments on the second edition of the book by A. S. Konchalovsky “Low Truths” (2006) [7] .
Since 2012, Alexey Gusev is a member of FIPRESCI [8] . He participated in the jury of FIPRESCI at the 34th Moscow MKF. (2012) , 9th Mkf. in Miskolc (2012), 57th MKF. in Valladolid (2012), 15th MKF. in Bratislava (2013), 16th MKF. documentaries in Thessaloniki (2014), 65th Berlin IFF. (2015) , 13th Mkf. "Pacific Meridians" in Vladivostok (2015), 9th MKF. OffPlus in Krakow (2016), 7th Odessa MKF. (2016), 73rd Venice Film Festival. (2016) , 70th MKF. in Locarno (2017) and the 28th MKF. in Stockholm (2017). In March 2015, he became the successor of Andrei Plakhov as coordinator of the Russian section of FIPRESCI. In 2014, he was a member of the jury of the 5th Séries Mania festival in Paris [9] .
In 2012-2014 led the author’s program “Lumiere Factory” at the Neva FM radio station, for which he received the Golden Pen prize in the category “art criticism” (2013) [10] .
Stylistics and Themes
The film criticism and film criticism of A. Gusev is characterized by a combination of archaisms and an “elevated” essayistic style with colloquial turns, a deliberate difficulty in manners, an abundance of cultural allusions and a distinct ideological message, paradoxically combined with a tendency to a purely formalist analysis.
Why, having gone down after Eurydice, you cannot look at her; why in search of Beatrice inevitably find yourself among Lucifer and Judah? Why, looking for another, to deny and reject itself, dooming to the pangs of failure and loss of identity? Why, oh Lord, only the last will be the first, and only the falling - will ascend, the ascended - will fall, breaking through the funnel of hell in the universe, in sight and on the path through which the soul will have to dare? Then, that, having remained in place, afraid of dizziness, clinging to the cornice of the world, you doom yourself to the worst betrayal. Once and twice renounce; from a friend, from love. And this is not theology, not the jungle of kenotic ethics - this is the plot of Hitchcock's “Vertigo”, the products of Universal. Having renounced, in a dream - which he never deceives in the cinema - you will see: not others fell, you fell, collapsed into the abyss. Because he could not overcome the fear of her. He kept away from others: he watched, looked, watched. Remained himself: voyeur, coward, killer; filmmaker. Do not look, Orpheus, now do not look; do not turn around, Frodo, do not look at your house, angel; Don’t think, Alice, go down the hole. Man - he goes through the wall [11] .
The most complicated of Gusev’s texts is considered to be the article “F as Faust: Improvisation” [12] , written in imitation of the text of F. Lac-Labarte “Pasolini: Improvisation” [13] .
Despite A. Gusev’s repeatedly emphasized commitment to the aesthetics of silent cinema (“Cinema must be silent and black and white” [14] ), which led, in particular, to lively discussion in film circles after his “harsh” review of the film “Artist” [ 15] , he pays attention to the current film process and the history of cinema of the sound period, including a lot of work in the genre of “portrait”. Among the filmmakers to whom A. Gusev’s monographic articles are devoted: David Cronenberg [16] , Marlon Brando [17] , Werner Herzog [18] , Henri-Georges Clouseau [19] , Claude Chabrol [20] , Ken Russell [21] , Paul Meriss [22] , Sidney Lumet [23] , Vadim Yusov [24] , Laurent Terzieff [25] , Jean-Louis Barrot [26] and others.
For several years, Alexei Gusev was considered the "leading author" in Russian theater criticism of the Comedy Francaise theater, whose performances he regularly wrote reviews and review articles [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] . Gusev’s theatrical criticism has the same features as cinematic: style play, formal analysis, difficulty in manners, with an even greater degree of ideologization of the text.
To make the viewer “empathize” means to deceive him. Catch and inflate. Take advantage of what Ortega nobly called "noble weakness": natural empathy, an automatic, instinctive response to someone else's emotion. After the game rushed to the decoy of the hunter, to prove himself an ally. An accomplice. Victim, consonant to use. To equip the awakened spectator emotions and passions with a pretty picture, a beautiful image, a spectacular plot, and in especially cynical cases - morality. The viewer starts looking for something in the play that meets his desires, and the play is filled with “the unclean momentary of someone’s life” (according to Moriak), beyond which, of course, it’s not enough time to discern the original, genuine, time-slipping creation ... This is in all listed nuances - cocotte tactics. Consonant to use, or rather - living at the expense of their own use. Attracting, equipping, filled with momentary impurities ... "Humanity", which critics languish about, is the ideology of a brothel [33] .
The clearly marked tendentiousness of A. Gusev’s cinema and theater criticism is expressed, first of all, in the frank conservatism of addictions, orientation towards academic Western European culture, often in contrast to the traditions of Russian culture (which is especially evident in his long-term and consistent polemic with the foundations of Russian psychological Theater [34] [35] ). However, at the same time, Gusev's invariably positive critical assessment over the years has been received, for example, by the work of the Little Drama Theater , which has been methodologically fully included in the Stanislavsky tradition [36] [37] [38] [39] .
In addition, in articles written outside the critical field itself and devoted to current events in the cultural policy of the state or the social reception of culture, Gusev’s style often crosses the line between “polemical” and “provocative”, and ideologues gravitate to slogans (“ No film distorts the facts. Because no film simply does not deal with them. " [40] ," Let's just confirm this once and for all. Art cannot unite people. Art always splits society. the usability always shakes the foundations. Or it’s not it. " [41] ," Authentic conservatives are always avant-garde. The problem is that there are no genuine conservatives among current conservatives. " [42] ," Oscar-winning films do not receive "outstanding" films; she simply doesn’t have such a task, and she never had. The Oscars are awarded to films that meet the criteria for the Oscars. The Point. ” [43] ). On the other hand, Gusev’s sharpness of such statements is combined with a repeatedly emphasized emphasis on the utmost objectivity of analysis and objectivity of assessment - in particular, he claimed this as a professional credo in the framework of a large-scale discussion held in 2012 by Session magazine about the meaning film critics in modern culture [44] :
Anyone who publicly makes an opinion on the basis of his personal preferences and tastes and takes money for this, can not be called otherwise than a quack. I may like a bad film and not like a good one, and in order to not consider my taste impeccable, elementary common sense is enough. But the fee is not paid to me for a personal opinion, but for an expert assessment, and a good movie I didn’t like will be meritorious, and a bad one I like will be harshly criticized [45] .
Pedagogy
Since 2008, Aleksey Gusev has been conducting a film research workshop at SPbGUKiT . The release of the first workshop, which took place in 2013, was marked by the publication of three diploma works in the journal “Cinema Notes” with an introductory article by A. Gusev on the principles of teaching the history of cinema [46] . From 2010 to 2014 he taught the history of cinema at the University of Kabardino-Balkaria to students of the director's workshop of Alexander Sokurov [47] [48] . From 2007 to 2016 he taught the history of foreign cinema at the Kadril Film School [49] . Since 2016, she has been teaching the history of cinema at the St. Petersburg branch of the School of New Cinema [50] and at the Higher School of Directors and Scriptwriters.
Gusev’s pedagogical activity, apparently, is characterized by the same radicalism of the method, formalism of the approach, and academic thoroughness elevated to the dogma, as well as his kinological studies and critical articles.
We are watching everything. Without leaving a single frame uninvited. From ten in the morning until eleven in the evening. [...] Only silent films will cope with the very central task of educating film scholars - to "put an eye" on them. A person who understands l'Herbier does not save either before Lynch, or before Ruiz, or even before Houston - this is he, in an extreme case, somehow himself. But you can be sure: whoever does not understand Krimgilda’s passage to Siegfried’s body from the beginning of the seventh song “The Nibelungs” would be better off not having to deal with the cinema at all. [...] The bar is raised too high. And the point is not that they all can take it without exception. And in internal confidence: below - it is pointless. Everything that is not at the limit of their capabilities is generally not worth the effort. The "ceiling" can only be raised this way. Those from whom he does not rise, take documents from the dean’s office - this is how to hit the bell in the “Jane Soldier”. Special forces are being trained here [46] .
When Gusev arrived, we were ready to sit for days and catch his every word. It was very interesting: he didn’t just give us a theory, we analyzed light, sound, and camera movement [51] .
Alexei Gusev gained fame in St. Petersburg thanks to several courses of public lectures on the history of cinema: “Cinema of Fascist Italy” (2012) [52] , “Salvation by the Rules: Religious Motives in Genre Cinema” (2010-12) [53] , “Once in of life: Directorial experiences of film actors "(2012-13) [54] ," Unseen movie "(2013-19) [55] ," Introduction to the history of cinema "(2013) [56] ," Cash movie hits of the 1920-70s "(2013-19) [57] ," Photography in the movie "(2014) [58] ," Centennials of the former stars "(2014-16) [59] ," Matter of sleep: Physiology of the film noir "(2015) [60] ] , “Selected Cinema” in the House of Jewish Culture ESOD (20 18-19) [61] . For the cycle “Salvation by the Rules” in 2013, he received a diploma from the Guild of Film Critics and Film Critics in the nomination “Sine charta” [6] .
Directing
Theater
Immediately after entering SPbU, Gusev was accepted into the University Theater Studio , where he carried out his first directorial experiments and soon headed the so-called. "Independent movement", contrasting its innovative artistic quests with a more academic style, professed by the artistic director of the studio Vadim Golikov and teachers [62] .
The dispute grew hotter and an hour later turned into a mutual cry: the venerable director and the director, who was just “starting to begin,” loudly defended each other their aesthetic principles <...>. Having dispersed in different corners of the studio ring, we drank Corvalol: for the first time in my life, Vadim Sergeevich - probably in the thousandth - but from one bottle.
In the period from 1994 to 2004, Gusev put on the stage of the Studio Theater of St. Petersburg State University several dozens of works, including “Tombstone of Komati” by Yukio Mishima (1996), “Hungry” by William Saroyan (1999), “The Last Temptation of Mary” on the radio play by Finn Havrevoll “Swallows fly low” (2001), as well as several performances and cycles based on the works of Daniel Harms . He played the role of Treplev in the play by Vadim Golikov “Art requires sacrifice?!.” (1996) and Orpheus in the “independent” production of Eurydice by Jean Anouy in a duet with Elena Kalinina . He wrote and performed music for the play “3 Sadur 3” based on the plays by Nina Sadur “Wonderful Woman” and “Hair Power”.
In 1997, he founded the SaturN Theater, where he carried out the so-called. “Symbolic naturalism” (or “supranaturalism” - the term was borrowed from the novel by J.-C. Guismans “Down there”), which served as the reason for the original spelling of the name of the theater. In the article “Atmosphere as a Sign”, which became a kind of theater manifesto, Gusev wrote about the system of “cross-mounting of atmospheres” as a methodological basis [63] . Among the productions: “Respondez !, or Years of False Movement” (1997), “I Don't Dance” (1997, the prize of the festival “Christmas Parade” for Best Actress [64] ), “Apocrypha” (1998), “Garden of Pendulums” (Woodland Rhyme, 2000, based on the works of W. B. Yeats ), “The Magic of Power” (2001, laureate of the 1st degree at the 1st festival “Musical Rainbow”), “Sleep at Home” (2004, based on a poem by Eugenio Montale ), “ Desert of the Day ”(2006),“ Mirror Chronicle ”(2006, according to the poem by Francisco de Quevedo ),“ Conspiracy of Blood ”(2007, based on the play by R. M. del Valle-Inclana ) [65] .
“The Desert of the Day” (sounds pretentious, but in the case) is defined as a performance, but its secret essence is - oh, my God! - almost an ambitious half-liturgical drama. There are four angels marching along the empty stage venue (with the washed faces of high school students), here God has perched on the steps (he is played by a girl in a black fur coat). Here in half an hour they will tell you the story of the suffering and transformation of a lonely Soul. The soul, of course, is also played by a girl in a white dress. But you will not be allowed to concentrate on mugs, as genuine fanaticism flashes in the girl’s eyes so that all emotion will be taken off like a hand. On this contrast, the artless simplicity of the means and the almost ecstatic emotional richness of individual episodes made the play by Alexei Gusev. And when, at the end of the action, blood pours out onto a white dress from an orange pierced by a dagger, and the heroine beats in death agony, this move will seem both outrageously accurate and vaguely expected. This happens when the deep layers of theatrical memory are connected [66] .
The performances of the SaturN Theater took part in many St. Petersburg independent art festivals (International experimental art festivals at the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall , KUKART International Festival, International Movement and Color dance improvisation and performance festival, etc.). In 2007, Gusev announced the termination of the theater.
Cinema
In 2008, Alexei Gusev released the installation non-fiction film “List of Ships” [67] , which is an adaptation of Arkady Ippolitov ’s lecture “ The Ship of Fools” by Jerome Bosch and “Battleship Potemkin” by Sergei Eisenstein , which had been read to students of St. Petersburg State University of Cinema and Television a year earlier. The film consists of fragments of more than a hundred classic films, as well as musical and pictorial works on the subject of the ship, interspersed with a small number of own shootings (cameraman Pavel Kostomarov ) with the participation of the lecturer himself. The film exists in two versions: “producer” and “author's”, which differ in footage (52 and 70 minutes, respectively) and the sound design of their own shootings: in the “producer” version sounds the music dedicated to Arkady Ippolitov by Leonid Desyatnikov , in the “author's” one - verses of different poets about ships performed by Nicholas Marton . The production version was shown at the 19th Russia Documentary Film Festival [68] and received mixed reviews: the VKSR jury presented the film with a prize “For a successful start in cinema,” while critic Viktor Matizen found that “The list of ships” contains “components good individually and bad together ” [69] . The original version was first shown at the international conference “Input” in Warsaw (2009) [70] , and then received the Grand Prix in the non-fiction film section at the 3rd IFF. "Cinemarina" [71] .
Notes
- ↑ A. Gusev. Some eternal things: "Arcadia" Stoppard staged by the BDT. Petersburg Book Bulletin, No. 1 (2) '1998.
- ↑ Articles by Alexei Gusev in the journal and blog "Session".
- ↑ Articles by Alexei Gusev in the journal “Cinema Notes”.
- ↑ Articles by Alexei Gusev in the magazine “City 812”.
- ↑ Articles by Alexei Gusev in the Empire of Drama newspaper. Archived March 26, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ 1 2 Elephant Prize in the field of film criticism and film science.
- ↑ Konchalovsky A. S. Low Truths: [seven years later]
- ↑ Articles by Alexei Gusev for FIPRESCI.
- ↑ Présentation du festival Séries Mania saison 5.
- ↑ Golden Pen Award winners 1995–2015 Archived April 2, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ A man goes through a wall. "Session", No. 39-40.
- ↑ F as Faust: Improvisation. "Session", No. 47-48.
- ↑ Philippe Lacou Labart. Pasolini: Improvisation. “Cinema Notes”, No. 32, 1997.
- ↑ Alexei Gusev: Personal quotes.
- ↑ Invalid film. The Internet portal of the magazine "Session", February 20, 2012.
- ↑ Rampage of the Flesh: David Cronenberg, moralist. Session, No. 23-24.
- ↑ Human beast. "Session", No. 21-22.
- ↑ Amid the chaos. Session, No. 32.
- ↑ A person with a minus sign. The Session, No. 33-34.
- ↑ Claude Chabrol died. Session Internet Portal, September 14, 2010.
- ↑ Ken movie. Session Internet Portal, December 3, 2011.
- ↑ A man who was not here. Session Internet Portal, January 14, 2013.
- ↑ The last teacher. "Session", No. 61.
- ↑ Invisible. The Internet portal "Colta.ru", August 28, 2013.
- ↑ Centaur. Empire of Drama, No. 39. (Unavailable link) . Date of treatment April 26, 2015. Archived April 3, 2015.
- ↑ Lunar plexus. Empire of Drama, No. 41-42. Archived April 3, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ On the fidelity of tradition. Empire of Drama, No. 8. Archived April 4, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Clean craft. Empire of Drama, No. 32. Archived April 4, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Point of view on chaos. Empire of Drama, No. 40. Archived March 26, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Shift system. Empire of Drama, No. 48. Archived April 4, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Darkness that came from the Aegean Sea. Empire of Drama, No. 50-51. Archived March 18, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ To be continued. Colta.ru Internet portal, November 20, 2013.
- ↑ "There is no one to empathize with." Empire of Drama, No. 41-42. Archived April 3, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ The sky is in rhinestones. Empire of Drama, No. 6. Archived April 4, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Revaluation of values. Colta.ru Internet portal, March 27, 2013.
- ↑ Naked nature. Empire of Drama, No. 10. Archived March 26, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ “This is my garden, and I grow it”: Interview A. Gusev with Leo Ehrenburg . Empire of Drama, No. 24. Archived March 26, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Sister dot sister dot sister sister dot. Empire of Drama, No. 43. Archived April 4, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Ehrenburg: poetics. Colta.ru Internet portal, May 5, 2014.
- ↑ About what they put to us. "City 812", No. 14'2015. S. 36-37.
- ↑ Great schism. Colta.ru Internet portal, April 24, 2015.
- ↑ Lethargy of habit: On fidelity to the original. Colta.ru Internet portal, March 20, 2013.
- ↑ Mikhalkov's “Citadel” at the Oscars? There she is dear. Internet portal Fontanka.ru, September 22, 2011.
- ↑ Critics of film criticism.
- ↑ Friends strike back. Session Internet Portal, March 16, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 A. Gusev. Arrival of film experts. “Cinematographic notes”, No. 102/103, p. 234-242.
- ↑ Malika and Maryana: Interviews with students of the directorial workshop of A. Sokurov
- ↑ We have no other space than culture: Interview with A. Gusev and A. Sokurov. Drama Empire, No. 46. Archived March 26, 2015 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Киношкола-студия «Кадр».
- ↑ А. Гусев на сайте Санкт-Петербургской Школы нового кино (недоступная ссылка) . Дата обращения 4 марта 2017. Архивировано 5 марта 2017 года.
- ↑ Кинотавр-2014: Малика и Марьяна.
- ↑ Кинематограф фашистской Италии.
- ↑ Спасение по правилам: Видеозаписи и тексты лекций.
- ↑ Раз в жизни: Видеозаписи и тексты лекций.
- ↑ Невиданное кино: Лекция первая. «Что-то в воде».
- ↑ Цикл лекций: Введение в историю кино — События — CitySpb.ru
- ↑ Курс «Кассовые кинохиты 1920-30-х» от лучшего киноведа города Алексея Гусева Санкт-Петербург 2013 Архивная копия от 2 апреля 2015 на Wayback Machine
- ↑ Lectures — Цикл лекций «Фотография в кино» и кинопоказы Архивная копия от 4 апреля 2015 на Wayback Machine
- ↑ АБОНЕМЕНТ № 2. «СТОЛЕТНИЕ ЮБИЛЕИ БЫЛЫХ ЗВЁЗД» / Дом Кино
- ↑ Цикл лекций о нуаре в Музее игровых автоматов.
- ↑ Кинолекторий «Избранное кино» с Алексеем Гусевым.
- ↑ Алексей Гусев. История «независимых».
- ↑ А. Гусев. Атмосфера как знак. Альманах «Апология танца», № 1'1997. С. 8-9.
- ↑ Лауреаты фестивалей «Рождественский парад».
- ↑ Ж. Зарецкая. Испанские баллады. «Вечерний Петербург», 6 февраля 2009.
- ↑ Лилия Шитенбург. Надежды маленький театрик. «Город», № 3 (181)'2006. С. 37.
- ↑ Фильм «Список кораблей» на сайте IMDb.
- ↑ Результаты I—XX фестивалей «Россия».
- ↑ Виктор Матизен. Не для телевизора. «Новые известия», 8 октября 2008.
- ↑ Фильм «Список кораблей» на сайте конференции Input-2009. Архивная копия от 2 апреля 2015 на Wayback Machine
- ↑ Четвертая «Синемарина» пройдет летом 2010 в Марокко.