This is by far the darkest film by Leonid Kayukov I've seen so far. All the earlier films by him that I have watched were insanely sweet and child-friendly, while this one is not shy about showing blood and death. The last time I remember hunting being shown so relatively "realistically" in a Soyuzmultfilm production may be all the way back in 1938, in Aleksandr Ivanov's "Fyodor the Hunter" (not on the site yet). But the art style in this is much nicer and really radically different from any previous film by Kayukov, which tended towards the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

In the Perestroika era, artists were more-or-less left to their own devices in the USSR, while still being funded by the state. For some directors, this led to a real flowering as they finally felt bold enough to be more artistically daring, and their films became stronger (e.g. Galina Barinova). Others (e.g. Vladimir Tarasov) abandoned their successful previous artistic directions and began making rather questionable things. Sometimes (let's say, in the case of Aleksandr Petrov, or Robert Saakyants), opinions will differ.

In Leonid Kayukov's case, he seems to have chosen to spend this period making animated films about the natural world. I'm curious to see the others, now.

I've tried to find the textual source of the tale, by the way (by Vasiliy Yuksern), but with no luck.

I'm also not sure about that mask that appears in the beginning of the film. I couldn't find any photo or drawing of any Mari mask that looks like that - it looks rather more like a Native American mask.

A sad yet beautiful story; its ending reminds me of Milovitsa from Belarus. It truly is a masterpiece of Ukrayinian animation.

The sky has been intertwined with humanity since the dawn of history, so it inherently contains many of humanity's irrational aspirations. Each individual tries to send a few dreams, from small to large, into the sky, so the sky and its objects often reflect something in the human psyche. Even I, in any situation, try to photograph the sky, especially the cumulus clouds, as a way to relieve my soul. Each person, depending on their circumstances, easily associates the image of clouds with something they know from their life, but ultimately, it's just imagination; however, that imagination helps to uplift the soul. This story is great because it accurately portrays the psychological development of teenagers through the imagery of clouds. And you, what do you usually think about when you look at clouds?

>>3
>Music by Nodar Mamisashvili
Thanks, I've updated the subtitles.

A beautifully made film (even though it is, in the end, a sad story) about the importance of respecting the boundaries of those you love. Well, and about the physics of water too, I suppose.

The final film in the "Parasolka" series, made after a 3-year gap. It feels quite different from the rest, and is also probably the best of them. Which is no surprise, considering that the director was none other than Vladimir Dakhno, a master of comedic timing and slapstick who had already become well-known for his "Cossacks" series.

The basic plot is like Charlie Chaplin's "The Circus" (1928), if everything had turned out well.

Like the first two films in the series, this one focuses heavily on slapstick, and not very much on any actual social satire associated with car ownership. Its only "social message" is "drinking excessively is bad".

Music by Nodar Mamisashvili

Major error: the script editor is not Andrey Dmitruk, it could be Taisia Dimtruk instead as i observed T. Dmitruk instead of A. Dmitruk, the name Andrey has no T

>>1
>From what I've seen, Kyїvnaukfilm has many films about elephants
Do they? What are some other ones?

>However, because they were blind, each could only see by touching a different part
I think that story is relatively well-known in Europe and the West, as well. But few are those who take its lesson to heart and internalize it enough to manage to avoid needless conflict with others. Yulian Kalisher adapted it (in a rather joking manner, along with some other Eastern wisdom) in his film The Obedient Pupil (1991).

I have to agree with Georgiy Borodin on this one. The main character spends the whole film being awful, and I was wondering for the whole film when the payoff would come. Then at the end, (spoiler), it just ends with a door falling on him? Uh, what? I really get the sense that by this stage in her career, Strautmane just saw her job as little more than work-for-hire, because I can't see a lot of effort or inspiration from her here, especially compared to some of her earlier films... (not that it's that surprising, because her earlier attempts to do something that inspired her tended to end badly... and also, she had left Soyuzmultfilm on bad terms and was now working at the only alternative studio, and I guess she felt she was on thin ice and trying not to take any artistic risks).