Gongofer

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Further update here - I still do not recommend approving this article, but up to another AFC reviewer MaxnaCarta (talk) 01:07, 28 February 2023 (UTC)

Gongofer
Directed by	Bakhyt Kilibayev
Written by	Bakhyt Kilibayev Peter Lutsik Alexey Samoryadov
Starring	Viktor Stepanov Ivan Martynov Ekaterina Kmit Maria Vinogradova
Music by	Fedor Chistyakov
Cinematography	Dmitry Perednya
Distributed by	MMM Studio
Release date	1992
Running time	98 minutes
Country	Russia
Language	Russian
Budget	30 000 RUB

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Gongofer (Russian: Гонгофер, romanized: Gongofer) is a mystical film, a black comedy with elements of absurdity and necrorealism, directed by Bakhyt Kilibayev based on the plot of Pyotr Lutsik.

Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema magazine called the movie "one of the most outstanding and experimental films of the 1990s". In the preface to the screenplays collection of Peter Lutsik and Alexey Samoryadov (Okraina, Children of Iron Gods, Dyuba-Dyuba, Wild Field), Dmitry Bykov called Gongofer their most "stylistically appropriate" work. The film won Kinotavr (1994) and Golden Aries (1993) awards.

The movie was financed by MMM, one of the world's largest Ponzi scheme companies.

Plot summary

The film begins with the title: "Once upon a time there was a Cossack Kolka Smagin — tall, handsome, brown eyes. Until he was twenty-five, his eyes were brown, and then they changed to blue. You may ask, "How is that possible?" How were they changed? That's what the story is about".

A company of Cossacks led by Zarubin (Viktor Stepanov) comes to Moscow for an agricultural exhibition to buy a breeding bull. They come across an Old Man Stepanych (Kasym Zhakibaev), who knows a lot about cattle. During a walk through the exhibition, the Cossacks observe a strange wild boar — Gongofer, which was brought to Russia from the Netherlands to "improve the breed". In the delegation accompanying Gongofer, the Cossacks notice Ganna (Ekaterina Kmit). The young Cossack Kolka Smagin (Ivan Martynov) is most smitten by the charms of Ganna.

Having bought a bull and properly celebrated a successful purchase, the Cossacks are going to leave for their homeland. At the train station, in the bustle and crush, they barely manage to buy tickets. The night ends with them waiting for the train. Meanwhile, a limousine pulls up to Kolka, who is sitting on the steps of the station. Ganna, sitting on it, invites Smagin to go with her. Smagin agrees. The limo brings them to Ganna's apartment. During the lovemaking, Kolka, who has forgotten himself in bliss, seems that Ganna takes out his eyes.

The next morning, almost missing the train, Smagin rushes to the station. Already in the carriage, he discovers that yesterday's vision turned out to be true. His native brown eyes have been replaced with someone else's, blue.

Arriving home, Kolka goes on a binge of such terrible strength that he frightens his fellow villagers with his screams. Zarubin understands that the young Cossack needs to be saved. And so, girded up, grabbing a cleaver and a simple supply of provisions, Zarubin and Smagin go on a campaign to Moscow...

The city greets them cheerlessly, as if during this time it has turned into a place full of ugly doorways in which spies, creepy watchmen and witches hide... After wandering around Moscow for a day, Smagin and Zarubin decide to go home. While waiting for the train, Kolka, on a whim, "sensing" something, rushes to chase the Old cleaning Lady (Race Tornau). She turns out to be the henchman of Ganna the witch. And before throwing herself under the wheels of a passing electric locomotive, the old woman tells Smagin that he will return his eyes only when he kills Gongofer, tears out and eats his heart. The Cossacks go to VDNH to fulfill the old woman's dying order. In a fierce battle, they kill the beast, which now looks more like an infernal demon, Smagin cuts out his heart and eats it.

At this moment, they are discovered by the pavilion's caretaker, who, also in collusion with the dark forces, calls the guards and unleashes the dogs on Smagin and Zarubin. They barely break away from the chase, jumping into a taxi at the very last moment. In Kolka's pocket, an Old cleaning Lady's mirror is found, which cracked during a fight with Gongofer, forming a map of Moscow. A taxi driver named Ivan Petrovich Gongofer takes them to the place indicated on the map — Chertanovo.

However, a surprise awaits the Cossacks in Chertanovo — two old women live in the apartment instead of Ganna. They are trying to deceive the Cossacks by telling them that no one lives here except them. However, when Smagin sees two dogs of Ganna in the doorway — a Great Dane and a Bichon, he realizes that they are being tricked. Cossacks storm the apartment. The old women, turning into creepy creatures, put up a good fight to the uninvited guests, but end up getting killed by Zarubin's cleaver.

Zarubin decides to stay in the apartment until Ganna arrives. At the same time, he feeds the corpses of old women to dogs. Very soon, the inhabitants of the apartment begin to suffer from hunger. Kolka and his uncle are finishing their last bread. At this time, a great Dane, brutalized by hunger, rushes at them. Zarubin kills him and feeds the carcass of the Great Dane to a Bichon.

During a card game, when the cheating Zarubin tries to start a fight, there is a knock on the door. Booming and gloomy voices demand to give them a lapdog in exchange for the lives of the Cossacks themselves. The Cossacks, watching from the window as crowds of equally behaving, looking like a zombie walking corpses of people, are being pulled up to the house in Chertanovo, are preparing for a siege. Finally, Zarubin can't stand the psychological pressure and, opening the door a crack, throws the ill-fated dog over the threshold.

At the same moment, Smagin and Zarubin find themselves on the steps of the Moscow Kazansky railway station. The uncle persuades the young Cossack to spit on everything and get out of the capital — fortunately they remained alive. At the very time when the Cossacks are running to the train, Kolka is overtaken by a crowd, knocks down on the asphalt and rips open his stomach with a knife of a very strange shape. The last thing Smagin sees is Ganna, who bends over him and confesses her love to the Cossack.

A sudden change of frame. It turns out that this whole story is told by one of the Cossacks gathered at the table. Zarubin and the lively Kolka Smagin immediately take part in the feast. Then, the narrator says that once he got lost in the steppe, he found a monument to cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov there, emitting a red light from his eyes and making a strange buzz. The narrator allegedly put his ear to the monument to listen to the hum — and as a result, after he got out, the ear began to increase day by day. As proof, the narrator pulls off a handkerchief wrapped around his head and reveals to the surprised listeners an ear of enormous size (which, in turn, pushes the viewer to the idea that Kolka Smagin's story was not a fiction at all).

The song "Северное Буги" (Northern Boogie) by the band Nol sounds. Everyone is dancing against the background of the Moskva River embankment. The end credits begin with this song.

Cast

Actor	Role
Ivan Martynov	as Kolka Smagin
Viktor Stepanov	as Vasily Nikolaevich Zarubin, Kolka's uncle
Ekaterina Kmit	as Ganna
Yuri Tsurilo	as Ganna's bodyguard
Maria Vinogradova	as An old woman in an apartment
Alexander Trofimov	as an old man in an apartment
Kasym Abenuly Zhakibaev	as the old man Stepanych
Vladimir Timofeev	as Chekmarev
Evgeny Zernov	as taxi driver
Rasa Tornau	as cleaning lady at the train station

Festivals and awards

1993 — Kinotavr — special jury prize

1993 — Golden Aries — award for the best screenplay (P. Lutsik and A. Samoryadov)

Diploma of the Confederation of SC screenwriters (P. Lutsik and A. Samoryadov, together with the scripts of the films Children of Iron Gods and Dyuba-Dyuba)

Music

The lead singer of the Russian rock band Nol Fedor Chistyakov was the composer of the film. The song Lady was written especially for the film. The band's participation in the soundtrack of "Gongofer" is a consequence of the film director's passion for the band's music. Most of the songs are taken from the album "Northern Boogie".

• Nol — Журавель (Crane)
• Nol — Имя (Name)
• Nol — Инвалид Нулевой Группы (A Disabled Person Of The Zero Group)
• Nol — Любовь (Love)
• Nol — Привет (Брайануино) (Hello; ToBrianEno)
• Nol — Барыня (Lady)
• Nol — Школа Жизни (School of Life)
• Nol — Полёт На Луну (Flight To The Moon)
• Nol — Северное Буги (Northern Boogie)

Notable facts

• Despite the inscription in the credits "for the first time on the screen", Ivan Martynov at that time starred in two full-length films

• The advertising posters of the film (each of which had the MMM logo) were large and placed in well-visible places, in particular, at the exits and crossings of the Moscow metro. On a poster depicting a monstrous boar hanging over the capital, it was written "A dream that everyone will see." The second poster was an image of a boar with fangs stained with blood and the inscription "Gongofer is coming to you!". Release dates and additional information about the film were not reported on the posters

• Kilibayev wanted to use his own horoscope data to promote the film. This was due to the fact that once again emphasize the mystique of the film.

• The name of the Dutch wild boar Gongofer means nothing.

• The positive characters of the film drink from smoked or dirty glasses every time. And, conversely, the dishes of negative heroes are clean and transparent

• In the final scene, on the lap of one of the characters sitting at the table, you can see a "given" lapdog.

• The film's director, Bakhyt Kilibayev, later directed all the commercials of the MMM Foundation. The film was also shot with money provided by the foundation. The foundation's logo is three letters "M" in an oval, sometimes appearing in the frame.

• Bakhyt Kilibayev was also one of the screenwriters of the cult Soviet film The Needle (Russian: Игла, romanized: Igla), where the main role was played by Viktor Tsoi.

• The film's artistic director Alexey Rosenberg, after the filming of "Gongofer", like Bakhyt Kilibayev, took up advertising closely. Kilibayev did not shoot feature films anymore.

• At Kilibayev's request, Sergei Mavrodi first allocated money "only for film stock." The amount issued was thirty thousand rubles. It became the budget of the film.

• Ekaterina Kmit received seven thousand rubles for shooting in the film.

• At the end of 2009, the film was not officially released either on video or on DVD. The soundtrack of the film was also not released.

External links

• Gongofer at the Encyclopedia of Russian Cinema
• Gongofer on YouTube
• Gongofer at IMDb
• Gongofer at AllMovie
• Nol on the website Discogs.com

This article "Gongofer" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Gongofer. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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