In Spring is a 1929 Soviet Ukrainesilentexperimentaldocumentary directed by Mikhail Kaufman. It was the first independent work of the cinematographer, made in accordance with the ideas of the avant-garde manifesto Kinoks and was Kaufman's directorial debut. According to some Russian media, at the end of the 20th century the film was considered lost; a copy was discovered in 2005 at an archive in Amsterdam.
Production
A discord between Michael Kaufman and Dziga Vertov foreshadowed the creation of the film "In Spring". Between the filmmaker brothers there were creative differences even when working on the picture Man with a Movie Camera. According to Kaufman, the film itself had a lot of chaos, and footage assembly was carried out without "a clearly worked out plan". The spat led to Mikhail deciding to create his own film on the basis of stylistic and technical methods that have been used by him in previous films: By composition, the picture "In Spring" was divided into five nominal parts, but the director did not conduct a special "organization of material for the film"; at the heart of the work was only observation of the progress of life. At the same time, as noted by Nikolai Ushakov, author of the book "Three Cinematographers", Kaufman sometimes had to take on the role of a tamer: to get closer to a bird which is filmed and to get its trust, he "accustomed it to a movie camera".
Overview
The beginning of the film shows the gradual progression from winter to spring. The snowman, which in the first frame looks strong and monolithic, suddenly reduces in size; streams are flowing on roads, thawed ice is melting on the roofs. Citizens open windows, remove winter insulation, wash the glass and bring warm blankets to the balcony. On the streets there are mobile cisterns and carts with kvass with ice cream. Next part of the picture presents an industrial landscape which is a continuous movement of mechanisms, gears and trolleys. One of the shops lays out the newspaper "Socialist emulation Bulletin" for the year 1929. Then the camera transports the viewer to the city parks and gardens. On the trunk of a tree a snail is moving, in the branches birds build nests, bees swarm around flowers, buds bloom directly before the eyes. Citizens, freed from winter clothingwalk in pairs or singly; young mothers wheel open strollers through the streets. May Days. A demonstration with flags, sport competitions, a football match at a packed stadium. Daredevil-bicyclist rides on a street while playing the harmonica; girls are dancing.
Reception
The film, released in 1930, received a positive response, and became a subject of special film studies research. The French film theorist Georges Sadoul declared Kaufman's directorial debut film as "the best picture of 1929". During the discussion which took place in Kiev after the premiere of "In Spring", the writer and critic Leonid Pervomayskiy noted that in the film are present "both Kaufman the artist and Kaufman the poet" and described the author's montage as "brilliant". According to writer Oleksandr Korniychuk, creator of the picture was able to "brilliantly organize scattered pieces united by a common idea". Reviewers did not do without comparing aesthetic positions of Vertov and Kaufman. Nikolai Ushakov when comparing their style noted that "Kaufman exceeds Vertov in deciphering reality because the director 'partially abstracts' what is shot by the cinematographer". At the same time the film historian Lev Roshal described the film as "one of the most beautiful, lyrically delicate and plastically perfect documentaries", gave credit to Dziga as the mentor brother: "The pupil has learned a lot. <...> It was Kaufman's victory but Vertov could also be proud of it." The creators of "Modern History of Russian Cinema", establishing the genre of "In Spring" as a cinema poem, have separately identified "a generic trait", which defines not only the Kaufman film, but also other documentary films of the 1920s - "a vividly pronounced beginning of an auteur".
Stylistic Aspects
In his last interview published in the journal "New World", Mikhail Kaufman said that during the work he also wanted to show a destructive force and "biology of spring", and the change in the consciousness that comes along with the melting snow. To the director it was important to "avoid head-on proselytism": the spectator observing together with the author the short-term transformation of everything living has to feel the symbolism of individual shots and sequences by himself. Special emphasis during montage was given to the rhythm: he took charge of the "natural processes", and the traffic and movement of citizens on the streets. Kaufman combined "gustatory, olfactory and auditory sensations" of nature when demonstrating the "lyricism of spring": flowers in his film directly before the eyes fill with vitality and chestnuts "communicate" with each other. At some point the viewer changes from the passive observer to an active participant of the on-screen action: in particular during the scene where water splashes charge from the screen - under the wheels of the car - right into the cinema hall. The same proximity effect to observed events is visible in the episode with the train:
