I am quite curious about the song in this animation, I can only find the lyrics in the beginning "Эй на Ивана, эй на Купала..."
Which song do you mean? There is more than one. They are in Ukrainian, I think, but I also am not sure how to find the specific names and recordings. Perhaps a specialist in Ukrainian folk song might be able to...
I love the format of these short loops, and I hope there are more that will be made. They remind of the loops that were often used in animation of the early 1930 - for example, in Tsar Duranday (1934).
It's like a hybrid art form between painting and full-scale animation. Paintings that move, but nevertheless keep showing the same thing.
Also, Stas Santimov is clearly someone who feels and thinks deeply about the art he makes, and this makes a strong impression (whether or not I agree with every single one isn't the point - I value the honesty and conscientiousness).
>>1
Which song do you mean? There is more than one. They are in Ukrainian, I think, but I also am not sure how to find the specific names and recordings. Perhaps a specialist in Ukrainian folk song might be able to...
To get a sense of people's reactions to this music video, I recommend this forum thread. People generally say that Rasteryayev captures the spirit of those years very well, though some had a guitar instead of an accordion, or bicycles instead of motorcycles, or had to walk, or had no river. Someone points out that this song is really about teenage years rather than "childhood".
In a 2018 interview, Rasteryayev writes that he decided to use animation, despite its difficulty, because he saw no other choice:
"Nowadays you can't make a video about that time. That era is gone; it seems to be nearby, but its attributes are gone. For example, in Rakovka there is no longer a single "Minsk" or "Voskhod" motorcycle, which they used to race on. [...] That is, it is impossible to recreate this world that seemed to exist only yesterday."
Of Rasteryayev's three (or so) animated music videos, this one is the most "true to life", and based on his actual personal experience, while the other two are fanciful versions at historical events.
I can see that a genuine effort was made, but this is still my least favourite of the three films (I think the first is still the best, and each subsequent one took away some of what made it so memorable).
Personally, I was disappointed with this one and think it's the weakest film by Pekar that I've seen so far. There are some interesting visual designs, but the plot is barely there ("two Korean aristocrats are in love and get married, then a dragon threatens the land and the lady sacrifices herself which somehow defeats it"?), the characters don't seem in any way real, and the scene changes are plodding. The film he made next year is way better.
Like a fair number of other films of Bardin's, this one is about the nastier side of human nature. However, there isn't too much humour here to soften things.