Chekhov's Gun

It was funny to read Ivan Bunin's comments on The Cherry Orchard .  He criticized Chekhov for making so much of an orchard when it was impossible to grow much of anything in the region he described, and that the land would have been of little value to a speculator like Lopakhin. It seems Bunin, like many others, had a tendency to take Chekhov literally, when the play was intended as a comedy. Stanislavsky once again staged the play as a historic drama, taking the role of Gaev himself and casting Lopakhin as an unsympathetic local businessman intent on wresting the estate from poor Madame Ranevskaya.  Chekhov apparently didn't see Lopakhin as good or bad, but rather someone who was sympathetic to the woman and was trying to work out the best deal for her, but she and her brother simply couldn't see past their rose-tinted glasses, imagining the estate in its former glory rather than sad state of affairs that now existed. Not surprisingly, later Soviet versions played up...

The problem with Chekhov is that once you get started it is hard to stop.  I turned to The Seagull the other night in this wonderful collection , translated by Laurence Senelick.  It is perhaps his most engaging play with characters that leap off the page, such as the eternally young stage actress, Irina Arkadina, who constantly terrorizes her son, Konstantin Treplev.  He is vainly trying to break standard conventions when it comes to play writing, but finds himself unable to elicit the emotions most persons, especially his mother, look for in theater. Senelick noted that Tolstoy didn't think much of the play, content only with a single passage in which Treplev castigated the state of the theater at the time.  But, Chekhov struck a wonderful balance between comedy and drama, not letting his speeches dominate the play.  Treplev finds he is no match for his mother, who diminishes him at every turn.  The play opens with Konstantin staging one of his play...

It was a return to Chekhov over the weekend as I watched Vanya of 42nd Street , an interesting adaptation of the play by David Mamet filtered through the lens of Louis Malle.  I had seen it years ago and had remembered it fondly.  It was nice not to be disappointed the second time around. The production has its flaws.  I think it was a little too melodramatic at times but Wallace Shawn is good as Vanya.  Larry Pines is excellent as Astrov and Julianne Moore simply divine as Yelena.  The supporting cast is filled out nicely with George Gaynes providing the necessary aplomb to the role of Serybryakov. There is a certain amount of overlap in Chekhov's plays but it was interesting to see that Uncle Vanya is an adaptation of an earlier play, The Wood Demon , with several of the same characters and much of the same dialog.  Chekhov was never satisfied with his earlier play and chose to rework it.  He had fallen under the spell of Tolstoyism during the...

This documentary caught my eye, which chronicles the attempt by Sony to bring Everyone Loves Raymond to Moscow, recasting the situation television comedy with Russian actors.  Unlike previous efforts with The Nanny and Married with Children , Raymond proved to be quite cumbersome.  Maybe that's because it wasn't a very good sitcom to begin with, but one that filled a void on American television after the long run by Seinfeld . But, you can't argue with success and Rosenthal chooses to lash out at Russian producers and costume designers who tried to jazz up the show, thinking it might play better to a Russian audience.  Here's the trailer . From what I've seen Russians tend to prefer variety shows, with comic sketches, such as the highly popular Наша Russia ,  rather than the uniquely American situation comedy.  While some sitcoms do travel well, others fall flat.  Friends has a big international audience, thanks largely to the star power of...

When it comes to "Cold War" movies, I prefer mine stirred, not shaken.  Always had a soft spot for Bond's second escapade, From Russia with Love , which featured the lovely Daniela Bianchi as agent 007's muse, Tatiana Romanova.  Robert Shaw provides the nasty villian, and Lotte Lenya makes a surprise appearance as KGB agent, Rosa Klebb. The Soviet Union was a dark, mysterious place seen mostly through the lens of the Cold War.  Apparently, Putin and his KGB comrades used to enjoy Michael Caine's Harry Palmer movies, such as Funeral in Berlin , or so the story goes.   Even in films like North by Northwest you could see it in the subtext.  But, perhaps the most memorable film from that era is The Spy Who Came in from the Cold with Richard Burton as British agent Alec Leamas near the end of his rope.  The film focuses mostly on the East-West divide in Germany, and was adapted from a John Le Carre novel. The theme has its earlier precedents,...

It was fun watching Oleg Menshikov in Moy lyubimyy kloun the other night.  The movie dates back to 1986, the year of Chernobyl, and offers an interesting look at life under the big top.  The film revolves around Sergei, the clown, and a 6-year-old boy, Vanka, whom he has adopted.  The film has the added bonus of Vladimir Ilin as Menshikov's sidekick.  Worth checking out in full.

  Call it a continuation, if you want, but extending The Irony of Fate into present day Russia simply doesn't work.  Much of the irony was in response to life in the old USSR, but here we get an all too contemporary view of Russia (2007) with a young couple repeating virtually the same situation as in the original movie.  It doesn’t help that the young actors fumble with their roles, unable to achieve the same spark that existed a generation before.  The only real twist is the relationship the young couple has with the main characters, Nadya, Ippolit and Zhenya, from Ryazanov's 1975 classic .  All three actors reprise their roles.  Better to see the original again.