Vocal Parallels

After a break lasting several years, Tashkent-born director Khamdamov marks his return to film with a lesser-known genre that to some may seem rather dated: the film concert. This was a well-loved genre during the Stalin era, the time of the grand international Soviet opera stars. For someone like Khamdamov, this choice is not so surprising however. As well as being an internationally known visual artist, he is also a fashion and costume designer and stylist; talents he has brought together in this film. There is no story to Vocal Parallels, only fragments of opera arias (La Traviata, Tosca, etc). The stunningly attractive narrator, Russian film diva and director Renata Litvinova (who featured in the Tiger Competition last year) leads us through the film. The singers are great stars of Soviet opera, such as Roza Dzhamanova and Bibigul Tuligenova. They sing in surprising locations in Kazakhstan, for instance in a yurt, a traditional nomadic hut. These worlds, at first sight so different, are woven together in a fascinating way by Khamdamov. After each aria, the narrator appears on screen, each time in a different beautiful haute-couture creation. She talks in philosophical aphorisms and metaphors about opera and the human voice, which she describes as a gift from God. She does this (in dubbed Kazakhs, by the way) in the acting style so typical of her: teasingly seductive and with a sense of humour. (LC)