Šinel

G. Kozincev was able to create very high-quality films throughout his career, and it must be noted that he was able to do so in various styles within the history of European cinema. In The Overcoat, we witness Kozincev's/Trauberg's unique incorporation of elements of German expressionism: indeed, the winter St. Petersburg under the cover of night, in which long shadows of criminals and bureaucrats crawl in the light of gas lamps, reminiscent of a certain Murnau vampire, is similar to the supernatural world of the German classics; the mysterious "surrealistic" story (after all, it is Gogol about Russian bureaucracy ...) about the world of bureaucracy, which is even further removed from the ordinary person than the most magical world of the relevant German classics. It is astonishing that as early as 1929, the same directing created The New Babylon, which is characterized by a high-quality (although not at the level of the best) reception of the montage school elements of their compatriots, in which, unlike in The Overcoat, the notable stylization, the tight little fictional world, and the game with the camera will give way to the game with editing and large, directorially demanding scenes with political and historical motivation. It is unnecessary to mention that Kozincev would end his career as a master of the most faithful and realistic film adaptations of classical Shakespearean dramas. (05.10.2015)