1914- Short project titled, “Child in a Big City”

1914- Short project titled, “Child in a Big City”

This story started out with Marya in the basement with unknown characters in the scene outside there being her mother. At the very beginning, her mother was to be meeting her maker from consumption. Just as we focus on the last moments of the dear elder’s life, the screen skips to a more delightful screen showing NINE (9) years later.

The scene has a factory setting showing Marya daydreaming of a world far beyond her imagination. The day dream is preventing Marya from holding her end of the work load, deeming her part as non-productive in comparison to her co-workers. This is confirmed by the reaction of the supervisor when she noticed the wondering mind and body of Marya while making the rounds during her shift. Marya, jumped back to her seat to mock sew on the machine she was assigned to from her employer.

It seems as if wealth and living a rich life is a main focus for Marya, so much so she is found distant, once again,  from the real world and just as her mind slips away while window shopping, low and behold two gentlemen comes up and asks for her hand. Does she say, yes? Or does Marya, simply say no until the obviously rich scholar of a young man comes in place? You may find the answer to those questions shortly, in my blog.

The story jumps to a well to do room with at least two gentlemen rummaging around in search of something. What makes these gentlemen look frustrated and disoriented, you might ask. Well, one of the gentlemen has, to his knowledge, searched all around for the perfect woman yet hasn’t found that unspoiled women of his desire. The item that victor and his friend were searching for is an album of the many women he had already looked at, up until this point in the storyline.

Now, we are brought to a well lit, cozy section near the back of a fine dining establishment. The place setting extends a warm welcome for both gentlemen and Marya. She is greeted by the older gentlemen holding a shot of liqueur for the both of them. It doesn’t take long before the nearly 6 ounces of elixir to be consumed by either fascinating characters. It was a creative touch when the older gentleman does get the leading lady and we find that the younger, wealthier gent is greeted with a kiss that certainly played well with the gradual speed of the background music chosen for the scene.

Now, is the time we see the twist of how the rich gets pulled into an uncomfortable situation and fails at holding his fortune long enough to keep his beloved lady. The scene of a celebration is short lived and the rude reality of disparity and loss is evident when the once well off young buck is shown sitting at his desk trying to plea with her via a written letter which says, “ We will Live Modestly for each other.” This doesn’t go over well and backfires, remember she dreamt of wealthy and it was apparent that her husband was no longer filling the needs she set for herself.

Marya’s now ex-husband couldn’t live without her, so much so that he ended up killing himself the door step after the second attempt to share his feelings of love for her, in hope to gain her love in return. Marya’s new friends and abundantly wealthy group finds him on the stairway and we hear a member of the snooty sort exclaim, “They do say meeting the dead brings/makes happiness.” 

Overall, I enjoyed the chosen transitions of the project. I felt that the cinematographer paid a great deal of attention to those important money scenes and it all came together for the film.

Little bit of Extras I noticed during the viewing of this particular short film project

That is the largest Hat box/Shopping box I ever saw, which looked as if it would out weight the main character easily. You can see this Bright white circular monstrosity during the window shopping scene

There was a point a car drove in frame that had, what appeared to be; our modern day office chairs style for their actual bucket seats

The dancer on stage, during the celebration scene, had an image of a girl printed on her leggings. The print was seen only on one of her legs, as the other leg hadn’t a picture

The lighting on top of the Despair and loss scene flickered at nearly the same pace as the music

I would’ve picked the money versus the road to no return, myself at the end of the day but the project is just that, a project and it was an honor to be able to view this Russian film from 1914