Luna Papa

(note: this is somewhat incomplete and imperfect, but might yet be of some interest..)

"LUNA PAPA"

I've just seen this movie, and I've just read the Wikipedia entry.

About the Wikipedia entry:
At this point in history "surreal" is a cliche. Best to avoid it.

The story maintains a linear narrative with no disruptions of the time sequence.
Characteristic of surrealism is the use of dreams, and in dreams events may seem to operate according to laws other than those of waking life. This film is more accurately described as containing features of "magical realism"--by which I have in mind that ordinary or everyday events can take on a fanatastic quality. (Someone who insisted on using the word "surreal" might quibble with me about the film's ending; but I think that it too is best classed an an instance of "magical realism".)

(I suppose my greatest discomfort with the word "surreal" applied to this film is simply that the vast majority of events depicted in the film are all-too-real in substance. The film is, in some way, fantastic as Homer is fantastic, but there too the events depicted are fundamentally realistic. --Yes, I know there are gods and such, but the fundamental reality remains... "Un Chien Andalou", e.g., has no such familiar narrative structure in the way that L. P. does.... Of course the Wikipedia writer was probably using "surreal" in a very colloquial and imprecise sense; so much the worse for his entry.)

The Wikipedia entry neglects to mention the visual sensuality of the film. The colors are stunning. And the various villages and structures, jumbles of cars, machines and idiosyncratic buildings produces scenery which is enormously pleasing to see. I would even say I enjoyed hearing Chulpan Khamatova's voice....

Needless to say, I would recommend the film. It is a delight to see. It is fantastic without being an empty fantasy. It is an entertaining tale which maintains contact with reality. There is cruelty in the film, and sadness-- just as there is in real life. Yet the film is beautiful and, even, hopeful.