Entertainment

I. Yasha Barth- Celebrating 54 Years of "Mashina Vremeni"

II. William Walton- Laika: A Film Review

Celebrating 54 years of “Mashina Vremeni”

Yasha Barth

While their 50th-anniversary tour of North America was delayed by several years, Mashina Vremeni did not disappoint their long-awaiting fans in Washington D.C. on Sunday, February 26th, 2023. From performing songs off of their most recent album “В метре” (Three feet away), such as “Свет рождает свет” and “Часы”, to crowd-pleasing classics “Поворот” and “Свеча”, Mashina Vremeni transformed Lisner Auditorium on George Washington University’s campus into a literal time machine. Fans of all ages were there; for some, this concert was a throwback to their days of youthful exuberance and carelessness when they lived in the Soviet Union, while for others it was an opportunity to experience the past which they never experienced outside of their parents' memories that were shared with them.

Andrey Makarevitch, lead vocalist and guitarist of the band, came to the forefront of the news in 2014 for opposing the Russian annexation of Crimea and again in 2022 for speaking out against Putin and the war on Ukraine, landing him a new title of “foreign agent”. Since then, all the members of the band have left Russia and instead have focused on spreading their music around the world, which is full of references to the corrupt and unjust government of Russia, as well as hope for world peace and cooperation. For example, their one new song titled “То, что всегда с тобой'' ends with a reference to how the Russian government (or the King’s Palace of Culture as stated in the song) only gives out rewards and acknowledgments to those who sing quote-on-quote useful songs to the people.

I was first introduced to Makarevitch, or Makar as his fans refer to him, when I watched a 1996 film called “Старые песни о главном 2” with my mom and brother, where Makarevitch played the role of a pasta-loving chef (the irony being that pasta in Russian is similar to his name: Макароны vs Макаревич). Since then, his unique vocals coupled with the musical talent of Alexander Kutikov, Valeriy Efremov, and Andrey Derzhavin have grown on me and made Mashina Vremeni one of my favorite bands of all time. While my voice is nowhere near as pleasant as theirs, I enjoy singing their songs in my free time or learning how to play them on the violin. This concert was the first concert of a Soviet group that I had the opportunity to see live and I will forever remember how amazed I was that Makarevitch and Kutikov sounded nearly identical to the recordings of their songs that first came out 50 years ago. While I do not know if there will be another concert of theirs that I will be able to attend, I have hope so long as the candle is lit.

Here is a list of some of my favorite songs in no particular order:

Поворот
Свеча
Дорога в небо
Марионетки
Песня о капитане
Спускаясь к великой реке
Я сюда еще вернусь
В добрый час
Все корабли сегодня вернутся домой
Скачки
Синяя птица

Citations:

Some pictures from the concert

Laika: A Film Review

William Walton

If someone had told me that a movie existed that saw Laika the dog travel to another planet with a menagerie of animals and bizarre aliens while fighting off a cosmonaut and astronaut duo, packaged in a Wallace and Gromit style of animation, I wouldn’t have believed it for a minute. However, the first entry in this semester’s RPSS Fantastika film series proved to be an entertaining and surreal experience that left all who watched reeling. The movie’s bizarre plot was both amusing and absurd, yet the eccentricity of the Czech film Laika belied thought-provoking political commentary on the communist past in Eastern Europe.

Laika offers a uniquely Czech perspective on the complicated legacy of the Soviet Union and its achievements during the Cold War. While not a member of the Soviet Union, from 1948 to 1989, the communist government was imposed on Czechoslovakia by its larger neighbor and remained under Soviet political domination. In 1968, when the government initiated a series of reforms increasing political and economic liberty, the Soviet Union and its allies invaded Czechoslovakia and restored authoritarian rule. In Laika, the view of the Soviets as an oppressive colonizing force is evident through the caricature portrayal of Soviet characters as bombastic stooges who delight in advancing their nation through the exploitation of others, including the main character, Laika. Furthermore, Laika offers an alternate perspective on the Cold War that Americans seldom glimpse: a foreign conflict between empires. When a Soviet cosmonaut (a Yuri Gagarin stand-in) and an American astronaut follow Laika and her friends to the new planet, they immediately set about claiming the world for themselves with disdain for everything or everyone else that gets in their way.

While many would agree that watching Laika was a downright peculiar experience, the movie carries a distinct charm, while offering valuable and interesting insights into the Cold War experience of countries besides the United States or the Soviet Union. I can say with confidence that Laika is a great first entry into this semester’s film series!