The Russian director Boris Barnet, who worked solely in the Soviet Union, had the misfortune of being a lyricist in a time and a place of mandatory declamation, an ironist under a regime of deadly earnestness, a discerning psychologist in a reign of subordinated individuality. His 1933 film “Outskirts” (which I discuss in this clip) appears to fit within the confines of propaganda, depicting Czarist Russia as a place of poverty, prejudice, and chaos, indicating that the workers were imbued with a revolutionary spirit that would soon burst into glorious flower, and presenting the First World War as an imperial, reactionary slaughter that distracted the international proletariat from their inherent solidarity. But a closer look reveals that Barnet brings both a sharp wit and a jolting immediacy to the action, putting degradation and repression at the forefront and offering a ludicrous contrast between official rhetoric and the actual state of things. To the best of my knowledge, there’s no English-language book on Barnet. Giuliano Vivaldi has written a useful overview of Barnet’s career at Bright Lights Film Journal. (Also, I’ve written in the magazine about Barnet’s marvellous first feature, “Miss Mend”—actually, a four-hour-plus serial, from 1926, which he co-directed with Fedor Ozep at the age of twenty-four; it’s available on DVD.)
Goings On
What we’re watching, listening to, and doing this week, online, in N.Y.C., and beyond. Paid subscribers also receive book picks.
Books
How an Enthusiast of Soviet Socialism Fell Afoul of the Authorities
Andrei Platonov’s “Chevengur” depicts a Communist utopia, but Stalin loathed his writing, calling the author “scum.”
By Benjamin Kunkel
The Current Cinema
The Form-Blurring Fury of “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World”
Radu Jude’s TikTok-tinged movie can be breathtakingly funny, but the absurdity is rooted in a powerful sense of outrage.
By Justin Chang
Musical Events
How Arnold Schoenberg Changed Hollywood
He moved to California during the Nazi era, and his music—which ranged from the lushly melodic to the rigorously atonal—caught the ears of everyone from George Gershwin to James Dean.
By Alex Ross
Books
The Forgotten History of Hitler’s Establishment Enablers
The Nazi leader didn’t seize power; he was given it.
By Adam Gopnik