Every year, more and more talented directors appear in the world who have something to tell the viewer about. In most cases, they prefer to make films targeted at a mass audience. In such films, as a rule, we see typical and not much different stories that can be safely watched by the whole family. In such a movie you will not hear swear words. And certainly you will not see explicit scenes.
But there are those people who are not afraid to experiment. These directors make an unusual movie that only certain and well-trained viewers may like. Their films rarely reach our box office and go unnoticed by many. In our country, the art house is also starting to gain popularity. In the 21st century, more and more young directors began to appear who have something to say. One of the most extraordinary personalities of Russian cinema can be safely considered a director named Ilya Khrzhanovsky. His work will be discussed in our article today.
Director Biography
Ilya Khrzhanovsky was born on August 11, 1975 in the capital of Russia - Moscow. He is the grandson of a well-known artist and artist Yuri Khrzhanovsky in the past. So it is not surprising that Ilya eventually decided to choose a creative path. Even in his youth, Ilya Khrzhanovsky understood what he wanted to connect his life with. Initially, he went to a local educational institution where he studied painting. But soon Ilya realized that he was more attracted to the cinema, which in those years was already a major success, although it was in temporary decline.
All this led to the fact that Ilya Khrzhanovsky entered the directing department of VGIK, which he successfully graduated from. He began to shoot his first works back in the distant 90s. But they did not bring much success to Ilya. Next we talk about his more famous films.
Filmography
The filmography of Ilya Khrzhanovsky is extremely modest. She has only a few films. Moreover, some of them are incredibly difficult to find on the Web or on media. All this is connected with the director’s non-standard style and unusual stories told in his author’s films.
The film "4"
The first real success came to the director after this film, which was released on December 8, 2005. This picture has serious age restrictions. So the young and the most impressionable are advised to refrain from viewing. The film turned out to be truly rebellious and innovative for Russian cinema. That is why the film "4" received so many flattering reviews from critics, and also received many prizes in Europe.
In the center of the plot of the film "4" are the three most ordinary and at first glance unlike each other people who previously did not even know about each other's existence. In the evening, after a hard day's work, the butcher, grand piano tuner and prostitute meet in the Moscow night bar to relax after a difficult day. As a result, a conversation ensues between these random strangers. They tell each other various fables that come up to the best of their sick imagination ...
The famous Russian musician Sergei Shnurov starred in the film , who played one of the main roles. Given the fact that the leader of “Leningrad” appears in the movie quite rarely and, as a rule, only in episodes, for fans of his work this is a great opportunity to appreciate the acting talent of this extraordinary personality. The remaining roles were played mainly by little-known people who did not have serious acting experience. But despite this, all of them successfully fit into their roles, thanks to which we got this masterpiece of Russian cinema.
It is also noteworthy that the film "4" was originally conceived as a regular short film. But over the four years of filming, he eventually grew to a full meter. We think that every film fan and amateur movie lover should definitely get acquainted with this non-standard tape.
The film "Dow"
This film is a real long-term construction, still not released. It’s hard to believe that work on Dow began almost ten years ago. At the time of writing the script, this movie received the title of one of the most promising projects in the world. But due to various difficulties shooting this film lasted until 2016. It was then that it was announced that Dow was in the post-production phase. However, the premiere of the film did not take place.
This film tells about the life of the Soviet physicist Lev Landau, well known to many people. The film was shot for ten million dollars worth of solid money by the standards of our cinema. The shooting took place both in Russia and in the CIS countries. In addition to our country, Germany and Sweden also took part in the creation. So it can be stated with full confidence that this director’s creation will turn out to be quite large-scale.
The script is based on memoirs, so most likely, everything is shot with maximum biographical accuracy. And the director Ilya Khrzhanovsky is clearly not one of those people who love to embellish stories. The main roles were played by actors from various countries. But the director again decided to refuse the services of stars and professionals.
Well, we can only wait and hope that the film "Dow" will be released as soon as possible.
Recognition of the work of Ilya Andreevich Khrzhanovsky
As we noted above, those rare films by Ilya Khrzhanovsky enjoy considerable success at various art-house festivals in Europe and receive solid prizes. All this is due to the fact that the jury members at such events are sophisticated spectators who are well versed in author and avant-garde cinema.
Other activities of the director
Ilya Khrzhanovsky is not limited to directing only. He is also a co-founder of a well-known company founded in 2005 and called Phenomenon Films. Thanks to her, a considerable number of various art-house films by novice directors appeared. Many of them were a major success.
Also, Ilya Andreyevich Khrzhanovsky is a member of the Directors Guild.
In general, in order to get to know this person better, you should look at his creations. Some of them, as we have already mentioned, are really worthy of attention.