KinoKlub January - Tsar / Царь
Shown with English Subtitles
Booking line - 020 7451 9944
8pm, Tuesday 31 January, PRESENTED BY DIRECTOR PAVEL LUNGIN
Russian Standard cocktail reception at 8pm, film screening at 8.30pm
2.30pm, Saturday 4 February
KinoKlub members go free! Buy membership here
Non members - £12 / £10 concs
Russia, 2009, 123 mins
Directed by Pavel Lungin
Producers: Pavel Lungin, Olga Vasileva, Igor Tolstunov
Screenplay: Aleksei Ivanov, Pavel Lungin
Cinematography: Tom Stern
Starring: Petr Mamonov, Oleg Yankovsky
Music: Yuri Krasavin
KinoKlub's second January film is multi award-winning director Pavel Lungin's historical drama, telling the violent but fascinating story of the moral conflict between Ivan the Terrible and Metropolitan Filipp.
"Russia lives by myths - one of them is that brutal tyrants are what’s best and necessary for Russia and that progress can only be achieved through the spilling of a great deal of blood. [...] Fortunately in our history for every Ivan the Terrible there chanced to be a Fillipp, representing Russia’s spiritual life and allowing it to survive." Pavel Lungin
The film begins in the 1560s, a period when Ivan the Terrible was becoming obsessed with finding enemies and his mind was declining into insanity and brutality. At the same time, the all powerful tsar was becoming feverishly religious and repentant. It is at this point that he persuades his old friend Filipp to become Metropolitan of all Russia, the highest position in the Russian church. Fillipp aims to stop bloodshed by entering into disputes about the spiritual responsibilities of earthly power.
Lungin has said that he was trying to draw links between 16th century Russia and that of Stalin, by looking at Russia’s darkest and most brutal times and considering the most difficult of themes in Russian history, the relationship between power and the people.
‘There’s no greater sin than to disobey the tsar’s will. As it is written, all power comes from God.”
It is a monumental piece of historic drama, with spectacular cinematography by Tom Stern and powerful music by Yuri Krasavin. However, it is not a Hollywood-style blockbuster. ‘I’m not trying to rival Spielburg, I just make Russian films’, says Lungin.
Pavel Lungin
Internationally celebrated director, producer and screenplay writer, Pavel Lungin’s often provocative work offers remarkable insight on human relations. He has directed a number of critically acclaimed films, including his debut Taxi Blues (1990), The Wedding (2000) and The Island (2006). In 2004 he set up his own studio, which creates art house television dramas and documentaries, as well as feature length films.
Tom Stern
Academy Award nominated , Tom Stern is Clint Eastwood’s cinematographer of choice. His most notable works have been Mystic River (2003), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Changeling (2008), Gran Torino (2008) and Invictus (2009).
