The Russian snark
Here we have a couple of firsts: Golden Bay’s first ever one-film festival and New Zealand’s first-ever feature film with a serious amount of Russian dialogue.
The Russian Snark (written and directed by Stephen Sinclair) was meant to be in our last festival but it wasn’t available in time, so Village Theatre manager Sarah Kay had to find a substitute. It’s a shame, because The Russian Snark is simply ideal festival fare – independent, arty, challenging and ultimately very rewarding. While we were missing out, it was winning the gong for best foreign film at the Garden State Film Festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey. If you’re a film festival lover, put some time aside and see this little gem. It deserves to be a hit and the people who put up their own money to make it deserve to get it back.
Like my other recent homegrown favourite, The Insatiable Moon, this film is made with money put up by the director and his friends. The New Zealand Film Commission had better watch out – films they choose not to support are rapidly becoming my favourites. What’s that about?
Out-of-favour Russian filmmaker Misha (Stephen Papps) and his long-suffering wife Nadia (Elena Stejko) arrive in New Zealand in a converted lifeboat, apparently from Vladivostok. Misha asserts that he has heard that New Zealand takes very good care of its filmmakers. This is the first of the fairly broad jokes, both verbal and visual.
Misha is hoping that this new country will take his demanding aesthetic seriously and enable him to complete his current film. It aims to visually explore the relationship between the human form and the natural environment. Unfortunately New Zealand proves to be no more receptive than Russia, and Misha becomes more and more obsessive and inward-looking. Nadia points out that while Misha is clearly suffering for his art, she is the one posing naked on the rocks and in the mud and living in a run-down boarding house. Their relationship deteriorates and Nadia feels she must find some work to pay the bills. The work she chooses puts more stress on their relationship and Misha and Nadia fall apart.
When he runs out of choices, Misha is saved by Roseanna (Stephanie Tauevihi) and her utterly charming children. This obliges him to confront the key question: “Is it better to be a good man or a great artist?” He seems perfectly capable of quickly revising his artistic philosophy to take account of such things as family connection. He looks happier too.
The Russian Snark took me by surprise. It seemed to take itself very seriously but it made me laugh. It pretended to be a film about films without narrative but its story drew me in. It had some rough edges where the lack of budget clearly showed, but I willingly forgave it.
Stephen Sinclair has not directed a feature film before. As a screenwriter, he has collaborated with Peter Jackson on Meet the Feebles, Braindead and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The Russian Snark is a very strong debut. It’s layered, witty, clever, warm and very charming. In some ways it’s made to resemble one of those stereotypical Russian dolls - with one thing inside another, inside another.
Director of photography Steve Latty deserves plenty of recognition too. He had a lot of fun shooting The Russian Snark, and it shows.
Check out the one-film festival – it’ll only take one evening.
Neil Wilson
