The Cinema of Alexander Sokurov: Figures of Paradox (Directors' Cuts Books)

One of the last representatives of a brand of serious, high-art cinema, Alexander Sokurov has produced a massive oeuvre exploring issues such as history, power, memory, kinship, death, the human soul, and the responsibility of the artist. Through contextualization and close readings of each of his feature fiction films (broaching many of his documentaries in the process), this volume unearths a vision of Sokurov's films as equally mournful and passionate, intellectual, and sensual, and also identifies in them a powerful, if discursively repressed, queer sensitivity, alongside a pattern of tensions and paradoxes. This book thus offers new keys to understand the lasting and ever-renewed appeal of the Russian director's Janus-like and surprisingly dynamic cinema – a deeply original and complex body of work in dialogue with the past, the present and the future. One Of The Last Representatives Of A Brand Of Serious, High-art Cinema, Alexander Sokurov Has Produced A Massive Oeuvre Exploring Issues Such As History, Power, Memory, Kinship, Death, The Human Soul, And The Responsibility Of The Artist. Through Contextualization And Close Readings Of Each Of His Feature Films, This Volume Unearths A Vision Of Sokurov's Films As Equally Mournful And Passionate, Intellectual, And Sensual, And Also Identifies In Them A Powerful, If Discursively Repressed, Queer Sensitivity, Alongside A Pattern Of Tensions And Paradoxes. Introduction: The Fragment And The Infinite, Or The Hypothesis Of The Third Term In The Cinema Of Alexander Sokurov -- Lonely Voice Of Man: Singular Murmurs, Multiple Echoes -- Mournful Insensitivity: The Apolcalypse Of The Modern -- Days Of The Eclipse: 'adieu, Babylone': Adieu, Tarkovsky -- Save And Protect: Of Angels And Flies -- The Second Circle: Winter, Light, And The Intimate Sublime -- The Stone: No Way Home -- Whispering Pages: Death, Nothingness, Memory -- Mother And Son: Time Abolished, Time Transfigured -- Moloch: Adi (and Eve): Fear Eats The Soul -- Taurus: 'father, Where Art Thou?' -- Russian Ark: Imperial Elegy -- Father And Son: Beyond Absolute Intimacy -- The Sun: Iconoclastic Humanism -- Alexandra: The Return To Neverwas And The Ambiguity Of Romance -- Faust: Sokurov Waltz. Jeremi Szaniawski. Includes Filmography (pages 316-322). Includes Bibliographical References (pages 323-329) And Index. Contents Acknowledgements Preface Introduction: The Fragment and the Infinite, or, the Hypothesis of the Third Term in the Cinema of Alexander Sokurov 1. Lonely Voice of Man: Singular Murmurs, Multiple Echoes 2. Mournful Insensitivity: The Apocalypse of the Modern 3. Days of the Eclipse: 'Adieu, Babylone'; Adieu, Tarkovsky 4. Save and Protect: Of Angels and Flies 5. The Second Circle: Winter, Light, and the Intimate Sublime 6. The Stone: No Way Home 7. Whispering Pages: Death, Nothingness, Memory 8. Mother and Son: Time Abolished, Time Transfigured 9. Moloch: Adi (and Eve): Fear Eats the Soul 10. Taurus: 'Father, where art thou?' 11. Russian Ark: Imperial Elegy 12. Father and Son: Beyond Absolute Intimacy 13. The Sun: Iconclastic Humanism 14. Alexandra: The Return to Neverwas and the Ambiguity of Romance 15. Faust: Sokurov Waltz Postscript: On the Poetics of Space in Sokurov's Tetralogy (Moloch/Taurus/The Sun/Faust) Conclusion: The (Im)Possibility of an Island Postface Addendum A: Interview with Alexander Sokurov, 2005 Addendum B: Interview with Alexander Sokurov, 2013 Filmography Bibliography Index One of the last representatives of a brand of serious, high-art cinema, Alexander Sokurov has produced a massive oeuvre exploring such issues as history, power, memory, kinship, death, the human soul, and the responsibility of the artist. Contextualizing and closely reading each of his feature fiction films (and broaching many of his documentaries in the process), this volume sees Sokurov's films as equally mournful and passionate, intellectual and sensual, and containing a powerful, if discursively repressed, queer sensitivity within a network of tensions and paradoxes. It therefore offers a new understanding of the lasting appeal of the Russian director's Janus-like and surprisingly dynamic cinema, a deeply original and complex body of work in dialogue with the past, present, and future. Book jacket