The Cranes are Flying (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Done in black and white. Obviously remastered, crisp images with a great story. The whole film a masterpiece of direction, cinematography and acting. Film shows the tough times and good times before and after WW2 set in the Soviet Union. It highlights the romance of Veronica and Boris.I had to turn off Subtitles to get subtitles to play. I turned them on at first no subtitles. Don’t know enough Russian to understand what’s going on.

Beautiful filmmaking depicting Russia’s suffering.Mikhail Kalatozov’s Russian war romance drama The Cranes Are Flying (1957) is a stunning achievement with 97 minutes of pure entertainment and deep emotion. Kalatozov’s direction demonstrates his sincere empathy for young soldiers drafted into WWII or volunteering for combat without realizing the severity of what they signed up for realistically. I really enjoyed how he focuses on the suffering and conflicted feelings of the families left behind, whether it’s lovers or parents. The Cranes Are Flying is one massive tragedy with devastating emotional scenes and reveals that hit hard. Viktor Rozov’s script is so realistic and sad that you feel the melancholy, boredom, and uncertainty of the family wondering whether Boris lived or not.Mariya Timofeyeva’s editing is flawless and innovative. The Cranes Are Flying cleverly splices together a family surviving air raids and family drama with a soldier getting bombarded on the front lines. The crazy cuts of trees, character’s pasts, and face reactions together are really engaging and unlike any edits I’ve ever seen in a movie before. Sergei Urusevsky’s cinematography is insane with long tracking shots running up stairs, running along fences, skipping down hills, and crawling along the front. All the panning shots are so interesting. He even used a shaky cam long before that became a popular style of filmmaking. You will constantly be amazed by interesting angles and perspectives that change often to keep you engaged.Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s score is lovely with haunting traumatic and endearing romantic qualities to it. Tatyana Samoylova’s lead actress performance as Veronika is spectacular with her quiet suffering all displayed on her face. She is gorgeous, playful, desperate, sad, lonely, regretful, mournful, and uplifting all in one magnificent role. I found Aleksey Batalov excellent as the genuine Boris. He is emotional and endearing as the likable Boris. He perfectly captures the eager young Russian heading off to war without realizing what an emotional impact he is having on his lady love. In all, The Cranes Are Flying is a beautiful sentimental and a thoughtful film.