Kakhi Kavsadze Movies
- 1987
- PG
Repentance (Pokayaniye) features Avtandil Makharadze in a dual role. As Georgian mayor Varlam Aravidze, Makharadze is a strutting, arbitrarily cruel dictator, something of a composite Stalin and Hitler. Visually he very closely resembles Lavrentiy Beriya, Stalin's right hander and one-time KGB chief. As Abel, the mayor's son, Makharadze finds himself in the middle of an ideological squabble when his father dies. Zeinab Botsvadze, a local woman who had suffered mightily under the mayor's regime, refuses to allow the old man's corpse to be interred. Despite the son's Herculean efforts, Botsvadze continues digging up the late mayor's body, a symbolic gesture to prevent the dead man's villainy from being forgotten. Repentance was the first Soviet film that openly denounced the horrors of Stalinism, though the Georgian director Tengiz Abuladze (known for his poetic and surrealist films) chose to make it allegorical, deliberately using anachronisms and making the leading character look like a combination of Stalin's henchman Lavrenti Beriya, Hitler, and Mussolini. An interesting point -- the last name chosen for the leading character is totally fictional, there is no such name as Aravidze in Georgia. In fact, "aravi" means "nobody" in Georgian. The filmmakers opted for such a name in order not to offend any real person in the Republic of Georgia. Filmed in 1984, Repentance fell victim to Soviet censorship from the moment it left the editing room. When it was finally released in 1987, the film was deservedly garlanded with several awards, including the Cannes Film Festival Special Jury Prize. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Avtandil Makharadze, Zeinab Botsvadze, (more)
- 1978
Poetry, vivid imagery and allegory mark the nearly two-dozen episodes of this epic tale about human life and its troubles, set in the Georgian village of Kachetien near the turn of the century. One continuing thread concerns a young woman, in love with one man, who is married off to another by the village elders. When she is caught meeting her true love, she is paraded through the village for public abuse and ridicule, during which globs of mud are hurled at her. Many vividly drawn and eccentric village characters are portrayed, from simpletons to fortune-tellers, and their dreams reveal what each would consider to be happiness in this life. The well-regarded director of this film, Tengiz Abuladze, was known for his visually sophisticated and symbolically rich works. The Wishing Tree is the second film in a Georgian trilogy by Abuladze: the first, released in 1969, was Encounter, about the primitivist artist Nikos Piosmani the last, released in 1987, is known as Repentance. The Wishing Tree, based on a tale told in blank verse by Georgi Leonidze, won many prizes: the All-Union Grand Prize, the Prize of Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the State Prize of Georgian Republic, and the David Donatello Prize from Italy, as "Best Foreign Picture." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lika Kavzharadze, Soso Dzhachvliani, (more)
- 1973
This unusual musical comedy uses traditional Georgian music and dance and also incorporates some elements from European and American musicals. In the city of Tblisis, Georgia, there exists the bohemian neighborhood of Veriski which teems with artists. There lives Vardo (Sofiko Chiaureli), a laundress who is in love with Pavie (Buba Kikabidze). Pavie is a young widower with girls to raise. Vardo aspires to be a good stepmother to Maro and Tamro, both lovely girls. The children want to study dancing, and Vardo works very hard to make it possible. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sofiko Chiaureli, Vakhtang Kikabidze, (more)
- 1970
Russian filmmaker Vladimir Motyl directs the popular action-adventure Beloye Solntse Pustyni (White Sun of the Desert), written by Valentin Yezhov and Rustam Ibragimbekov. During the Russian Civil War, a soldier named Sukhov (Anatoly Kuznetsov) wants to return home to his wife, but is forced to guard a harem belonging to rebel leader Abdulla (Kakhi Kavsadze). Original music was composed by Isaak Shvarts with lyrics by Bulat Okudzhava. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anatoly Kuznetsov, Spartak Mishulin, (more)
