Andriesh (Yakov Bazelyan/Sergei Parajanov, 1954, Soviet Union)

Andriesh is the debut feature of director Sergei Parajanov, who co-directed the film with Yakov Bazelyan. A remake of Parajanov's graduate short film Moldavian Tale, Andriesh is a Moldovan folk tale. Parajanov, born in Georgia but of Armenian background, made a career of exploring the various folkways of the former Soviet Union. Andriesh set the tone for his future work. It centers on the titular young shepherd, who dreams of becoming a knight, and his battle against the "Black Whirlwind," an evil wizard who hates everything. The film was recently noted as an inspiration for Robert Eggers's latest adaptation of Nosferatu, in particular the visual look of the vampire, which is unmistakably based on the Black Whirlwind.

Andriesh is remarkable for how fresh it feels. Despite being made in 1954, the film has a great sense of what could be called magical realism. On the one hand, it is pure fantasy. Yet it does manage to capture a vision of rural life. The vistas of the landscapes are particularly beautiful, and there are numerous striking images throughout the film. While certainly not as hyper-stylized and tableaux-infused as Parajanov's later films, Andriesh unmistakably demonstrates Parajanov's distinct visual style and it is easy to see it as the work of the auteur.

One would hope that eventually this film and other Parajanov films receive wider distribution, as this film is only available on YouTube with Russian subtitles, which need to be auto-translated for non-native speaker. This makes the events of the film somewhat difficult to follow, though all-in-all the film is not particularly concerned with plot details and is a general parable of good and evil. Andriesh is worth watching for fans of both Parajanov and Soviet cinema of the era. It certainly is a precursor to Parajanov's more adventurous and daring works of the 1960s.

7/10