Of the greatest Russian directors of the last 40 years, Nikita Mikhalkov, a special personality, controversial about policies his perceptions, he will shoot some of the most beautiful films of the last decades, managing in a magical way, to convey his classical origins and the great artistic film school of his country, in the most simple and familiar way.

Starting his career with the then president of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchevcontinues to this day in his Russia Vladimir Putinwhom he admires as “true nationalist”, largely setting aside his artistic concerns and losing his directing skills, which is now evident to those who loved his cinema.

Brother of the also famous director and producer Andrei Konchalovsky (“The Great Escape Train”), who distanced himself from the then Soviet regime and worked in Hollywood with considerable success, having previously worked with his close friend Andrei Tarkovsky, Mikhalkov consistently served Soviet cinema, making some of the best his films, such as “The Mechanical Pianos” and of course the lovely drama comedy “Black Eyes”.

On the occasion of completing his 80 years – born in Moscow on October 21, 1945 – is an opportunity to meet the work of the iconic director, but also his heavy background, which seems to have marked his peculiar personality.

Aristocratic descent

Mikhalkov comes from a noble family, as his great-grandfather was the governor of Yaroslavl during the Russian Empire, while his grandmother was a princess of the House of Golitsyn. Nikita’s father, Sergei Mikhalkov, was best known as a writer of children’s literature, was a member of the Communist Party and wrote the lyrics for the Soviet national anthem and years later the Russian national anthem! Also, Mikhalkov’s mother was the poet Natalya Konchalovskaya, daughter of the avant-garde artist Pyotr Konchalovsky and granddaughter of the great painter Vasily Surikov.

Top studies and… westerns

Mikhalkov, with these meager resources, would study at the children’s department of the Moscow Art Theater and later at the Shukin School, then he studied acting at the famous Stanislavsky Studio and film direction at the Moscow State Film School. While still a student, he will appear in 1964 and at the age of only 19, in the film “I Georgi Daneliya”, mainly because of his older brother, Andrei Konchalovsky, and then he made three short films. After graduating, he would act in over 20 films, before directing his first feature film in 1974, a fairly good Soviet…western, entitled At Home Among Strangers. At the same time, while working as an actor, he entered the Gerasimov Film Institute, taking lessons from the famous director Michael Rom.

Mechanical Pianos

He will become more widely known and receive warm reviews even in the USA, when he presented in 1976 his second film, “A Slave of Love”, a sentimental comedy about the adventures of a film crew shooting a silent melodrama while the revolution rages. Next year, he will delight audiences and critics with the well-known film “Mechanical Pianos”, inspired by Chekhov’s Microcosm and the play “Platonov”. An excellent film, which paved the way for him, dominated by a sense of the impossible, irony and a critical look at the society of the Russian bourgeoisie, at the end of the 19th century, of which his own family was a member…

Black Eyes

Mikhalkov, who now began to have the comfort of filming whatever he wanted while also acting as an actor, would become one of the most important contemporary Soviet directors. In fact, in 1987, he will present one of the most important films of his career, if not the most important, the romantic comedy “Black Eyes”, based on four stories by Chekhov and mainly on his famous novel “The Lady with the Dog”. A wonderful atmospheric film, Italian co-production and with an international cast. Alongside the brilliant protagonist Marcello Mastroianni, who won the acting award at Cannes and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, it starred Martha Keller, Jelena Safonova and Isabella Rossellini, and it was the last film appearance of the unforgettable Silvana Magano.

Golden Lion

In 1991, he will win the Golden Lion at the Venice festival with the wonderful lyrical film “Urga”, focusing on the conflict of the love impulse with social stereotypes, but also the alienation of the Asian hero from Western industrial culture. An exquisite film, with beautiful images, authenticity and humanity, which greatly highlights Mikhalkov’s value as a director.

Black stone

Three years later, according to many, his peak moment will come, with his dream film “The False Sun”, with which he will win the Foreign Language Film Oscar and the Grand Prix in Cannesmissing out on the top prize, the Golden Palmfrom Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’, which justifiably enraged him and he fled the French spa town, throwing a black stone behind him.

False Sun

The plot of “False Sun” wants the idyllic vacation of the hero of the revolution, Colonel Kotov (played by Mikhalkov) to be disrupted by the appearance of his wife’s ex-fiancé, Dmitri, after many years. Charming everyone, Dmitri will have to deal with Kotov’s dark motives as we find ourselves in the harshest era of Stalinism. The film was shot at the time of the full condemnation of Stalinism, and Mikhalkov, unleashes mirds against him, as if he fell to earth at that time and for this he will be blamed by a portion of the critics. However, Mikhalkov, who dedicated his film to those “burnt by the sun of the revolution”, will do magical things as a director, in a film of exemplary structure and embroidering with the characters. Mikhalkov will masterfully orchestrate the mosaic of his characters, while standing out for the richness of his emotions and of course for his exquisite poetic images, which come directly from classical Russian art.

Monarchical

Essentially the “False Sun”, will also mean the end of his great creative eraas in the following years he will shoot several films, some indifferent, others interesting, but never at the levels he reached in the 70s-90s. And the reason lies in his mixing with active politics, his nationalist – even monarchical – views,

Cinematic history, however, has reserved for Mikhalkov, a prominent position and it is unfair that his controversial opinions deprive the younger generation of admiring an overlooked film school, his wonderful films, his images of incredible beauty, which adorn the big screen.