“Birthday” by Anar Azimov

In today’s russian short film market it is difficult to find movies that have studied and elaborated russian great history of cinema. “Birthday”, a short movie by Anar Azimov, immediately makes us think to the camera movements we see in Tarkovskij, Dziga Vertov and many other great russian directors. It is through camera movements that this short film, very well staged and written, tells us the space and the action of everything that happens. Its biggest value lies in how the camera is moving though the empty, vacant spaces of this destroyed hospital, revealing the action with the pace and rhythm of great directors.

The two main characters act in a very believable way and the script is very convincing. We endlessly wait for this birthday to take place, for this trio to complete. The only flaw in our opinion lies in the choice of lenses and on the work that has been made on color. The image is very digital and a little bit flat. The title sequence has also a typography that is not up to the quality of the direction.

Watching “Birthday”, we sincerely think that we are in front of a potential great director, that has the instinct and rhythm to stage very good movies. This little short, made with a medium-low budget, has learned the lesson of the masters and has already its own peculiarities.