Parajanov, Ashik Kerib, 1988

Ashik Kerib, 1988
(image source: tumbral)
no copyright infringement intended

One thing to note is how he makes two-dimensional icons come to life in the film. If there is a man that "paints" on celluloid, it is Parajanov (Jonah-7, A stunning experiment in living icons)

(image source: The Art History Journal)
no copyright infringement intended

Ashik Kerib is the only one of Parajanov's films to have a happy ending. The lovers are reunited and a white dove alights on a movie camera, representing Tarkovsky, to whose memory the film was dedicated (Elif Batuman in Guardian, Sergei Paradjanov: film-maker of outrageous imagination)

(image source: pinterest)
no copyright infringement intended

Parajanov starts here from a short story by Lermontov to go further in his own way, sometimes very far from the original. It's true, both novel and movie end with the same promise for the two lovers (happy together for ever and ever), but along the film Parajanov follows his own instincts and abandons some very important points that are present in Lermontov's story.

Actually the story is in the film only a pretext. Well, in all the great movies of Parajanov, starting with the Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, the story is more a pretext for the master to immerse in a traditions' universe and to enjoy there the view. But here in Ashik Kerib, even the traditions' universe becomes a pretext! The master simply plays with all kind of artistic genres from all kind of traditions' universes, to see how they fit. All kind of treats or tricks, that may leave you in total perplexity. At a certain moment it's like you attend a Kabuki theatre.

(image source: tumbral)
no copyright infringement intended

Some other times you seem to visit an exhibition of Azeri or Persian art.

(image source: pinterest)
no copyright infringement intended

It all seems gratuitous, only to see at the end that Ashik Kerib is dedicated to the beloved memory of Tarkovsky: a dedication like a joyous present.


And here is the movie - a copy on youTube. Unfortunately you'll find it difficult to understand too much if you don't know Russian (or Azerbaijani, or Georgian: the personages speak Azerbaijani, there is then a voice-off in Georgian, explaining a bit what's happening in the screen, and another voice-off, this time in Russian, is doubling). Luckily for me, I watched the movie on a dvd (also Russian manufacturing) providing the choice of English and French subtitles.

Ashik Kerib, 1988
(video by Khachatur Tovmasyan)

(Parajanov)