Killed by Lightning a new film by Yevgeny Yufit, the master of necro-realis
Alexandra Paperno
Yufit continues making uneasy films. Certainly in view of the difficult situation of the Russian film industry, this can be described as admirable. He regards himself as an advocate of necro-realism–and is also the only film maker representing this tendency. He is a regular guest in Rotterdam with his films. In his previous film, Silverheads, he was primarily fascinated by the (pseudo) science and the sense and nonsense of the human being. This fascination is also strikingly present in Killed by Lightning. A Russian science-fiction film with, as unlikely source of inspiration, the well-known story by Edgar Allan Poe: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," in which an ape is responsible for a cruel murder. A woman is involved in an anthropological investigation into the first steps in the evolution from ape to man. The story of the film unfolds primarily in her subconscious. Prehistoric ghostly images from her investigation and memories of the dramatic death of her father–who died when she was still a little girl, when the submarine of which he was captain sunk–come together and form a very unexpected theory about the evolution of man. (from the catalogue of the Rotterdam Film Festival, January 2003)
Excerpts from the script (monologue of the main character as a little girl): "[…] evolution doesn’t exist. A stone and a human are units of one chain. Thus, humanity is not the pinnacle of evolution, it is only a phase and its development is endless. The development of nature is a cycle without beginning or end. […] reproduction isn’t a mechanism of evolution because it is not enclosed in a human person or in a bird, or in a tree, or in a stone, or in any other organism. Reproduction is probably only pathology, a mistake unprogrammed by nature. A man can suddenly be transformed into a different, absolutely new creature in the space of one human life. He can become the forefather of a stone, and a stone or a bird can be transformed into the forefather of a man. It’s unnecessary for millions of years to pass for this process to occur. It can happen any second, within anybody."
Yevgeny Yufit is a film director, photographer and painter known as the founder of the art movement called necro-realism. In the early 1980’s he established his own film studio Mzhalala Film where he made several short films (Werewolf Orderlies, 1984; Woodcutter, 1985; Spring, 1987; Suicide Monsters, 1988; Fortitude, 1988; The Will, 1994). In 1989 at the Lenfilm Studio he made Knights of Heaven and in 1991 he shot Daddy, Santa Claus is Dead, which was awarded the Grand Prix at the Rimini Film Festival, Italy. In 1995 he filmed The Wooden Room, and in 1998 The Silver Heads which were shown at many of the world major film festivals. Yufit’s films, paintings and photographs have been shown since 1985 at the State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg; Museum of Cinema, Moscow; Berlin Film Academy, Berlin; Stedelijk Museum and The Netherlands Film Museum, Amsterdam; Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf; Kunstverein, Hannover; The Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City; MOMA, New York.
Killed By Lightning will be screened on May 3 and 10 within the program for Hubert Bals tribute at MOMA (the first screening being the opening weekend of the tribute). Killed by Lightning, Russia, 2002. Director: Yevgeny Yufit scenario: Natalia Skorokhod, Yevgeny Yufit camera: Yevgeny Yufit length: 65’ language: Russian, with English subtitles medium: 35mm
