Melody for a Street Organ

Two kids – brother and sister – escape from the orphanage and try to find their long-lost father. They don’t know what he looks like and have no information about him except his address. This epic journey takes them from one social milieu to another: they meet people who live on the very edge and those who travel only by limousines. It also happens to be Christmas and everybody is waiting for miracles to come, even those who don’t believe in them.
While Muratova does not believe in miracles either, this extremely tragic and bitter film looks like a Christmas fairytale or a classic coming-of-age story (in the style of Dickens). But both genres are reversed and deconstructed. Melody for a Street Organ is in the same vein as Among Grey Stones (1983), another of Muratova’s portraits of sensitive and sensible children who behave like adults, and reckless adults who behave like spoiled children.

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