Product Details

• Actors: Dodo Abashidze, Sofiko Chiaureli, Ramaz Chkhikvadze, David Dovlatian, Nodar Dugladze
• Directors: Dodo Abashidze
• Format: Color, Subtitled, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kino Video
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Run Time: 73 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304574673
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #439,237 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Film as Poetry, February 27, 2000

By 

Neil Arditi (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ashik Kerib [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Visually, this is the most stunning film I have seen. It conflates the art of narrative and the art of the tableau--like the friezes Keats describes in "Ode on a Grecian Urn." Of course, the figures move--the subject is a romance, a quest. But the plot seems less important than the lyricism--a lyricism which includes, and yet extends beyond the visual. One feels the heartbreaking love of the director for a world half imagined, half real. The real basis of the world portrayed was largely destroyed by the Soviet Regime (and the general march of modernity). This too is present--a portion of the mysterious emotional impact. "Ashik Kerib" is an Oriental fairy tale, an esoteric protest, a song, a poem--an unforgettable work of art.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "It's a miracle!", May 4, 2006

By 

RR "cargdouill" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ashik-Kerib (1988) (DVD)

Now I know there are too many reviews on Amazon that give 5 stars to every worthless item like your favorite sci-fi book the one you read in 3rd grade with the neat kinds of invading alien vehicles years later you discovered was copped right out of H.G. Wells . . . but sincerely, REALLY, this is a film unlike any you have seen before or since.... I first saw the beginning 15 minutes of this film in art school stupidly high after lunch break and was completely blown away. Most of the shots have this uniquely flat compostion to them which combined with the colorful costumes and general extravagance in everything make this less of a movie than a puppetshow or moving painting. And so much of the effect would be less without the incredible music . . . it is almost like watching a silent movie there is so little dialogue. --Of course my teacher only had the KINO copy, which if you read the reviews for their version you will get an idea how bad it is. Well, let me tell you, the difference cannot be overstated. Here I have finally gotten a hold of the RUSICO DVD and it is everything I hoped it would be. First of all, you now actually have the option of subtitles. And the colors before were so basic everything was in primaries -- now the picture is so much more intricate and detailed. My only complaint is to the Special Features, where the documentary on Paradzhanov (the director) lacks the option of English. But the film is even more fantastic than ever. I can't begin to single out one favorite scene. The part where Kerib's mother thinks he is dead and goes blind, and the camera moves back until it rustles the bushes is just as fine choreography as Fellini or Tarkovsky, who are much better known. But then, nearly every shot is literally "picture-perfect", -- as I said, every frame worthy of a painting. The part where Kerib faces the strange tiger with the spinning head . . . is surprising, funny, disturbing, surreal, all at the same time, -- perfection. All this is not to give the impression this is a "highbrow", utterly inaccessible film either. There's nothing intellectual or aloof about this, -- in fact I'd try to summarize by calling it eye-candy without the guilt.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The final masterpiece from one of the most unheralded giants of cinema..., May 9, 2009

By 

Grigory's Girl "Grigory's Girl" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ashik Kerib (Special Edition) (DVD)

This was the final film of Sergei Paradjanov, one of the greatest (and most unseen) filmmakers from the former USSR. Despite making only a handful of pictures in his entire career, he still managed to remain an artist and he never lost his touch. This film is one of his most mesmerizing films, and it's one of the most strikingly beautiful films ever made.

The film is based on an Armenian folk tale about a poor minstrel who has to find a fortune before he can marry his true love. The film is told in typical Paradjanov style, ellipitcal, non-linear, and told mainly through music and imagery. But what imagery! And what music! Paradjanov surpasses himself here, weaving some of his most spellbinding images in any of his work, and the soundtrack is one of the most unique in cinema history. It's a shame that Paradjanov died only 2 years after making this film, and we were robbed of more films by him, but it does not diminish the film. The film bristles with life itself. It's my favourite Paradjanov film.

Sergie Paradjanov was also one of the most persecuted filmmakers in film history, possibly the most persecuted. He was very outspoken against the Soviet government, his films were celebrations of Ukrainian, Georgian, and Armenian folklore (which was a big no-no in the USSR, where nationalist tendencies were to be suppressed in favour of Russian sensibilities), and he was very vocal about whatever was on his mind. The authorties prevented him from making films for years, and when he did, they were heavily censored. In 1974, Paradjanov was sentenced on trumped up charges, including "incitement to suicide" and homosexuality (a crime in the former USSR), for 15 years. Due to international outrage and lobbying by foreign artists (including American author John Updike), he was released around 1980, but didn't make another film unitl 1984 (The Legend of Surami Fortress was that film). The authorities did not break him. He never lost his art. Paradjanov remains untouched.