Alexei Balabanov (Cargo 200, Brother) invests historical drama with dark energy in his glowering adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s amazing memoir of obsession and addiction at the time of the Russian Revolution.
Surprisingly beautiful and compelling... it sure does look and feel authentic.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2009
Morphia 2008
Morfiy
Alexei Balabanov (Cargo 200, Brother) invests historical drama with dark energy in his glowering adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's Notes of a Young Doctor. It's 1917 and Polyakov has been assigned to a tiny rural hospital far from the Revolution. Barely out of medical school and seemingly out of his depth, he soon takes refuge from the stresses of complicated childbirths and emergency trachaeotomies in the arms of his head nurse – and the oblivion of a morphine high. The film exhibits tremendous classical virtues: Balabanov has a beautiful eye for place and period, right down to the elegant art nouveau chapter headings. But although the film delivers the expected shocks and pleasures – such as richly detailed social interaction and a memorable night ride through a snowstorm, pursued by wolves – Morphia's electrifying impact is as a portrayal of a pivotal historical moment through a prism of personal disintegration. — BG