Days of Eclipse

Days of Eclipse
Directed by	Aleksandr Sokurov
Written by	Yuri Arabov Pyotr Kadochnikov Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Music by	Yuri Khanin (original score) Vladimir Persov (sound)
Cinematography	Sergei Yurizditsky
Editing by	Leda Semyonova
Distributed by	Lenfilm Studio Troitskiy Most Prodimag (2005) (Spain, DVD)
Release date(s)	1988
Running time	133 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

Days of Eclipse (Russian: Дни затмения) is a 1988 Soviet film directed by Aleksandr Sokurov. Screenplay written by Yuri Arabov and Pyotr Kadochnikov based on a screenplay by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky and very loosely based on their novel Definitely Maybe (Billion years to the end of the world, Russian: «За миллиард лет до конца света»). Practically, owns only the names of the characters from the Strugatsky novel.

Plot

Days of Eclipse is filmed in a psychedelic manner close to stream of consciousness, any distinctive plot in the film is absent - which is very different from the actual novel on which it is based. The action is set in Middle Asia - Krasnovodsk, Turkmenia.

A Pediatrician, Dmitri Malyanov, a geologist, Vecherovskiy, and a war service engineer, Snegovoy are coming up every day with numerous people and their destinies, with an odd to them eastern reality.

In a half-documentary manner, where black-and-white frames are mixed with color, Sokurov pictured the life of wretched town in Turkmenia, sick children, psychiatric clinic and the Desert, which is populated with a mix of sounds in the background - radio retranslations, symphonic music and multilingual voices.

Long monologues of the characters; boy-angel, who asks non-childish questions and, finally, in the end of the film, the Ascension of the Malyanov's guardian angel.

Cast

The film features a cast of non-professionals.

• Aleksei Ananishnov as Malyanov
• Eskender Umarov as Vecherovsky
• Irina Sokolova as Malyanov's Sister
• Vladimir Zamansky as Snegovoy
• Kirill Dudkin as Gluchov
• Aleksei Yankovsky as Snegovoy's Father
• Viktor Belovolsky as Gubar
• Sergei Krylov as Little Boy

Awards

• European Film Awards (Special Award for Best Music) of European Film Academy of 1988 to the composer Yuri Khanin
• Nika Award of the Union of Cinematographers of USSR for the best 1989 sound work to Vladimir Persov
• Composer Yuri Khanin was also nominated for 1989 Nika for the best music.

External links

• Days of Eclipse at the Internet Movie Database
• (Russian) Days of Eclipse commentary by Irina Graschenkova