Image of meaning: "Jura was Here" with Khabensky is released in Russia
The winner of the Mayak Film Festival and one of the most critically acclaimed films of the season, Sergei Malkin's debut film "Jura Was Here" will be shown on February 5. This is a unique film: Konstantin Khabensky played an adult non-speaking person with an autism spectrum disorder. It is difficult to find such an image in the entire world cinema, at least in the game. Therefore, the prize for the best male role at the Mayak festival of contemporary Russian cinema is not quite enough here, they will talk and argue about this film for a long time, especially since the authors provide enough material for this. In their review, Izvestia tells how to watch "Yura was Here" and what can cause a mixed reaction from the viewer.
Khabensky played a man with ASD
Strictly speaking, "Yura was Here" is a novel of upbringing. Three guys live in a rented apartment. Smart, purposeful Andrey tries to behave like an adult and "builds" everyone around him. And the two stooges Oleg and Serega are only interested in punk rock, which they and another friend work out where they have to and how it turns out.
And suddenly it turns out that they will have to take care of Oleg's uncle for ten days in this apartment. Yura has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), he does not speak, is not socially integrated and is completely helpless. But it is thanks to him that the guys will understand something important about themselves and about life and will become a little better if something bad does not happen.
Yura, as already mentioned, is played by Konstantin Khabensky, who, for obvious reasons, was hooked by the script of Malkin's debutant. Because Dustin Hoffman had a talking character in the famous "Rain Man," and here the task is even more difficult. And you can't go out on touching sentimentality, which is sometimes done in films about children with ASD. There are high stakes, great responsibility, and even in the company of young people, who are unlikely to be able to help an artist of Khabensky's level much.
It's a dangerous journey that few people dare to take in feature films, and documentary methods may not work in it — and, looking ahead, they wouldn't work either. Plus, Khabensky is a superstar, which means he still needs the viewer to stop thinking about the Moscow Art Theater, the TV series "Method" and the geographer who drank the globe. In general, Khabensky accepted the challenge and played one of the best roles in his career — along with images in the films "Collector", "Three" and "On the Move".
How did the movie "Jura was Here" turn out?
The irony is that Yura, who is rightly included in the title, is a supporting character in the drama of the film. And the main characters here are Oleg and Serega, and we should connect with them and monitor their evolution. But here there are problems that are not solved in the film.
A shot from the movie "Jura was here"
It all starts with a spontaneous rock concert on the roof, and, of course, here everyone remembers the Beatles and correlates the heroes with the Liverpool four. In other words, we are looking at geniuses, perhaps in a state of internal crisis, with some kind of complicated past, with reflection, with a tragic future.
The rooftop scene lasts long enough for us to not only remember the main band of the twentieth century, but also try to figure out who is Lennon and who is McCartney.
For that matter, since this is a punk performance, we can't help but recall one recent domestic film, where there was also an exuberant show at the beginning. This, of course, is the "Year of birth", where the hero of Yuri Borisov sawed off his head at the peak of his courage, which, however, turned out not to be fatal.
A shot from the movie "Jura was here"
We remembered all this in vain. The scene is necessary for us to understand that the boys have a dream that they are going to achieve. In the final, we will have a catharsis in the form of a big concert, but in order to deserve this happiness, the guys need to understand something. Or at least complicate your view of the world a little and moderate your selfishness a little.
Not such a difficult task, if you think about it. The stakes for the characters here are low — they, by and large, face maximum eviction from a cluttered apartment if they completely forget their manners.
The characters talk either about their goal (to study music), or about the simplest everyday difficulties. They have a fashionable outfit, recognizable speech with witty jokes, they sing quite good songs. But their environment is conditional, they themselves are quite schematic, so there is no way to connect to them.
A shot from the movie "Jura was here"
Perhaps the misanthrope Andrey looks the most interesting of all, because this character appears rarely and always in stressful circumstances, which is why we begin to be a little afraid of him.
According to the plot and its development, it would be something like "Helen and the guys", but without croissants and the gym. If Yura hadn't appeared in the movie. All our attention is on him at once.
We look meticulously, because we instantly realize that in front of us is the artist Konstantin Khabensky, who plays a person with a disability. Is he overdoing it? Isn't it drawing? And where will he perform most vividly now, so that there is a high tragedy, pathos, and significance of the moment?
A shot from the movie "Jura was here"
Strangely enough, our resistance helps both the film and Khabensky, because it creates the necessary distance, without which we would not be able to watch this movie. We understand the extremes you can go to here. Take a real non-professional artist with a disability, and the entire cast will turn into mummers. To invite an unknown actor, he may not be able to cope.
Khabensky's familiar appearance helps us, on the one hand, to learn about people whom not everyone has come across closely, and on the other, to remember that this is not such a person, but an artist. They don't shock us, they talk to us, they show us and explain to us.
There is a lot of physiology and everyday life here, which creates the necessary credibility. Yura can't wash himself or cook his own food. He instantly sticks his nose into any screen, his life consists of rituals, and violating each of them can become a trauma for him and even for others.
You can't say about him whether he's kind or evil, he bribes you with his helplessness, but at the same time he confuses you with the fact that his reactions can be unpleasant and embarrassing for strangers.
A shot from the movie "Jura was here"
Yura is charismatic, he has a secret, but he does not cause emotion. Nor does it arouse fear, although it is a key word to describe communication with people with ASD. This is the fear of not understanding such a person and inadvertently hurting him. The fear, if a loved one is sick, that someone will find out your secret. The fear that this someone will do something dangerous for him and for you.
It is clear why this is not enough in the film: the authors want to help society stop shunning people with ASD, they just want to show that Yuri does not need to be afraid. But there is a danger in this course, because at the first encounter with reality, the audience of the film may decide that they have been deceived, that is, the task will not be completed.
A simple example is pills. With his diagnosis, Yura would hardly have been able to relieve stress without taking medication. Let's recall one of the most terrifying scenes in the 2016 Sundance Film Festival hit "Animated Life": we are introduced to a character who was able to socialize, and then suddenly there is a sharp transition to an episode where he rushes around the apartment in a panic because he cannot find his pills.
A shot from the movie "Jura was here"
This is omitted here. Social services are not shown, as well as all those who delicately avoid people with ASD — just to avoid getting into an awkward situation. The film is called "Yura was Here," and we have so much to learn about what "here" is and how he "was here."
But there remains only Yura, the most important character in the film, and he sometimes turns into a function, into a way to make the boys living with him become a little better, because that's how the story is built. But people with ASD and any disability in general, like children with special needs, are not functions, but individuals who need to live the same long and eventful life as normal citizens.
Yes, Natalia Meshchaninova's "Penguins of My Mother" and Lyubov Arkus's "Anton is Right Next Door" are much deeper and more serious works. But still, a new painting, immature, naive, in some ways oversimplifying the problem, must have a bright and long life.
A shot from the TV series "Penguins of my mother"
"Yura was here" will not be lost against the background of the TV series "Stand Up", also about people with disabilities, which is released on the same day, only not in the cinema, but online, and it's funny that Kuzma Kotrelev plays in both. Because all the same, here we meet a new character for our feature films, written out by Khabensky so carefully, so delicately and so accurately, as no one had done before.
This hero is impossible to understand, but you can love and accept him. And love and acceptance are generally difficult right now, so let the characters sing their songs and grow up as much as they can, but we'll never forget Yura anyway.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
