In a remote corner of northern Russia, postman Aleksey delivers retirement checks, bread, and light bulbs to the inhabitants. But one day he finds himself deprived of his indispensable means of transport – and his beloved – so he puts the question: Isn’t it about time I changed my life? A visually captivating report on human relationships, immutability, and fate.
In the lake region of Russia’s north, the postman often represents the one connection to civilization. He delivers retirement checks and letters, hunts down light bulbs, brings bread – everyone knows and needs him, yet someone deprives him of his one means of transport. On top of that, the woman he loves leaves the unpromising region, and Aleksey is suddenly faced with a tough decision: What direction should my life take? Top Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky tried an experiment at age 77, setting out with a minimal crew to shoot an authentic story about the inhabitants of the Arkhangelsk region. Using nonactors who vivify the trifles of their daily lives without the aid of a script, he was able to create a timeless picture that deservedly won Best Director at the Venice festival. Postman’s White Nights is not merely a good-looking ethnological excursion to exotic places but also a simple and honest presentation of the immutability of the Russian countryside and of interpersonal relationships that contrast sharply with today’s chaotic world of simulated needs.
Kamila Dolotina
110 min / Color, DCP
Director Andrei Konchalovsky
/ Screenplay Andrei Konchalovsky, Elena Kiseleva
/ Dir. of Photography Alexander Simonov
/ Music Eduard Artemyev
/ Editor Sergei Taraskin
/ Art Director Lyubov Skorina
/ Producer Andrei Konchalovsky
/ Production Andrei Konchalovsky Studios
/ Cast Aleksey Tryapitsyn, Irina Ermolova, Timur Bondarenko
/ Sales ANT!PODE Sales & Distribution
Andrei Konchalovsky (b. 1937, Moscow) embodies a unique blend of auteur and mainstream director, while retaining the ability to experiment with genres and technologies even in his later years. As co-author of Andrei Tarkovsky’s first films he incurred the displeasure of communist bigwigs while at the same time earning honors at Venice and Cannes. This strengthened his own film The Story of Asya Klyachina (1966), which was trapped in the censor’s vault for 20 years because of its “unrepresentative view” of the Russian countryside. In 1980 Konchalovsky emigrated to the USA where he made films with Nastassja Kinski (Maria’s Lovers, 1984) and Sylvester Stallone (Tango & Cash, 1989). Since returning to Russia he has focused on film, opera, and theater direction. A Silver Lion from Venice for The Postman’s White Nights (2014) confirms that at age 77 he is in peak form.
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Natalia Arshavskaya
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