Cinema
By the Bluest of Seas
U samogo sinego morya
Boris Barnet · 1936
Synopsis
A storm capsizes a ship on the Caspian. Yusuf, a sailor, and Alyosha, a mechanic, survive clinging to a wreck until fishermen pick them up and take them to an island, where a collective enterprise lives off fishing. Both fall in love with Masha, who runs it: Alyosha wins her favour by offering his skills as a mechanic, which makes Yusuf jealous, and the rivalry between the two friends grows as they take part in the fishing campaigns.
Context
The film brought together Mezhrabpomfilm and the Baku studio, from a screenplay by Kliment Mints, with Mikhail Kirillov on camera and music by Sergei Pototsky; Barnet shared the direction with Səməd Mərdanov. Shot in 1935, it was released on 20 April 1936, with Elena Kuzmina, Nikolai Kryuchkov and Lev Sverdlin in the three leading roles. Soviet critics of the time reproached it for excess of emotion, and it was not released for the public until 2012. Jonathan Rosenbaum sees in it a masterpiece, light in appearance, very physical and melancholy underneath.
Who it is for
A little over an hour, in black and white and in Russian; a comedy carried as much by its music and songs as by its plot.
Prizes and reception
Shunned on release, it is now ranked by part of the critical establishment among the summits of Soviet cinema; state property in Azerbaijan.
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