Arrhythmia (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Arrhythmia | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Directed by | Boris Khlebnikov |
| Screenplay by | |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Alisher Khamidkhodzhaev |
| Edited by |
|
Production companies | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 116 minutes |
| Countries |
|
| Language | Russian |
| Box office | $1,433,366 |
Arrhythmia (Russian: Аритми́я) is a 2017 Russian drama film directed by Boris Khlebnikov. The film was an entry in the contest Kinotavr,[2] and it released on 28 September 2017. The film follows Oleg, a paramedic devoted to his patients. Oleg struggles to make time for his wife, who begins to believe his patients are more important to him than she is.[3]
Oleg is a young gifted paramedic. He likes to get drunk after each shift. His wife Katya, a doctor, works at the hospital emergency department. She loves Oleg but is fed up with him caring more about patients than her. She tells him she wants a divorce. However, they have to remain living together until Oleg finds a new place. In the meantime, the new head of Oleg's EMA substation is a cold-hearted manager who's got new strict rules to implement. Oleg couldn't care less about the rules - he's got lives to save. His attitude gets him in trouble with the new boss. The crisis at work coincides with the personal life crisis. Caught between emergency calls, alcohol-fueled off-shifts, and search for a meaning in life, Oleg and Katya have to find the binding force that keeps them together.
Themes
The principle of morality in this film is a matter of choice for everybody. So, the truth becomes a cornerstone concept and a form-building element of the film. As we know, everyone has their own truth: Oleg's truth is life-saving, sometimes even at the expense of others’ lives; Katia's is an attempt to understand Oleg's space by separating from him.
Artistic approach
Boris Khlebnikov's Arrhythmia, as well as A Long and Happy Life (Dolgaia i schastlivaia zhizn’, 2012), are about understanding, and about the alienation of modern man, about a kind of intolerance. At the same time the deep tragedy of the characters in Arrhythmia lies in the trivial drama of family relations. Khlebnikov's film is a modern story about eternal choices, because there are no bad or good characters.[4]
The documentary stylistics of the wandering camera, the almost natural lighting, the lack of accompanying music form the brush that creates this lively and sincere portrait of a man. The truth lies in the severity of social and moral conflicts, in their clash and in the absence of smoothed corners of urgent contemporary issues, which incidentally are shown very delicately and without excessive hyperbolization or exaggeration. Therefore, the “trembling” camera and the sometimes ragged editing are carefully arranged accents by the director, who naturally focuses the viewer's attention on sincerity and genuine emotions. Due to the complex dramatic structure—similar to the rhythm of cardiogram, which soars up to small heights or victories and then falls again at emotionally and morally tense points—the film acquires a peculiar tempo, a swinging rhythm, which allows the action to be dragged out and sped up. This pattern embodies the principle of the natural flow of time, above all, in the space of the viewer's consciousness.[5]
Cast
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Aleksandr Yatsenko | Oleg Mironov |
| Irina Gorbacheva | Irina |
| Nikolay Shrayber | Dima Yakushkin |
| Maksim Legashkin | Vitaliy Sergeevich Golovko |
| Sergey Nasedkin | Nikolaich |
| Aleksandr Samoylenko | Mikhail |