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Nikita Mikhalkov _________________
Russia (1945- )
Often called the "Russian Spielberg," Nikita Mikhalkov, who wrote, directed and played the lead role of Serguei in Burnt by the Sun, was born in Moscow in 1945 into a distinguished artistic family. His father wrote the lyrics to the Soviet national anthem (and was a Communist). His mother is a poet, and his older brother is the filmmaker Andrei (Mikhalkov) Konchalovsky.
Mikhalkov studied acting at the children's studio of the Stanislavsky Theatre and later at the Chuksin School of the Vakhtangov Theatre. While still a student, he apppeared in his brother Andrei Konchalovsky's film A Nest of Gentry (1969). He was soon on his way to becoming a star of the Soviet stage and cinema. While continuing to pursue his acting career, he then went to VGIK, the state film school in Moscow, where he studied directing under filmmaker Mikhail Romm, teacher to his brother and Andrei Tarkovsky. Mikhalkov had appeared in over twenty films, including his brother's Uncle Vanya (1972), before he co-wrote, directed and starred in his first feature, At Home Among Strangers in 1974, a kind of Soviet Western set during the 1920s civil war.
Mikhalkov established an international reputation with his second feature, A Slave of Love (1976). Mikhalkov says that he improvises on the set, "in the way that Bergman does. " Partly because I'm not sure that what I intend to do will be right, and partly because a film is always a living thing and I need to confirm this constantly. I don't set out to 'make cinema.' it's rather that something happens between the cinema and me and the result is a film."
MAJOR WORKS:
Mitchell, Paul. "Fire and Water Imagery in Nikita Mikhalkov's Burnt by the Sun." Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies at Miami University.Good paper from a conference on Russian culture. Clark, Katerina. "Burnt by the Sun." American Historial Review 100.5 (October 1995): 1223-1224.
Menashe, Louis. "Burnt by the Sun." Cineaste 21.4 (1995): 43-44.
Glaessner, V. "Blind Faith: Nikita Mikhalkov on his Film Burnt by the Sun." Sight and Sound 6.1 (1996): 61. |
