Along with the statement on dramatic plot, there is a problem of dramaturgical completeness in the recent period of Georgian cinema, which can be explained by several types of reasons: the absence of the narrative and the artistic vision coincidence; something that deprives a sense of reality to the voice; what hinders the narrative from developing in itself - the suddenly discovered, less organic metaphors between the tasks of the actor and the director.
“Memento Mori” (2022) is a short feature film directed by Giorgi Kadagidze and the sad dramatic story of its main characters includes a small dramatic story found on the verge of a momentary sense of life and death: a young girl whose mother died when she was 7, is sick with the same disease and tries to temporarily escape the demands of her father’s (Zurab Kipshidze) care and treatment.
This mystical night described by the authors is full of familiar sights and the seemingly unexpected, really loses the thread of the narrative, which is mainly in the falsity of these metaphorical bonds again and again: intonation, behavioral naturalness in characters forcibly created from a simple poetic metaphor. Apparently, this is a general problem, since between the dramatic, professional actress and the type, Mari (Matilda Gvarliani), despite their functional difference, there is such a big difference in these roles that even a few fragmentary assessments, from Zurab Kipshidze’s (father) side, can in no way interrupt this forcible flow.
When talking about the general characteristics of Georgian cinema, the dramaturgical image and its uniqueness are precisely what needs to be developed. Following this, there is a kind of traditionally important feature of the artistic development of the image in Georgian (and naturally, not only Georgian) cinema - this is a question from the series of necessary questions - who, how and why acquires an image in this or that story.
This is the question that must be asked in relation to Matilda Gvarliani’s character, whose presence on the screen can only formally fulfill a certain type of plot logic, since the metaphorical subtext of this story is not readable or it is so vague that it is completed only by the mannered appearance and disappearance of another, unknown character who came from nowhere.
Emerging from the tragic past of one family, Mari asks the question, “Am I going to die?” which is followed by a chain of despair born of actions and doubts, although it is completely separate, out of context and lost, unfortunately, missing even that restrained emotional intonation that Zurab Kipshidze’s hero establishes from the very beginning. However, everything that accompanies the mysterious, well-groomed space of old Tbilisi should help the viewer accept the feeling and transform.
This might be a problem of modernity - reading the acting subtext is necessary, although often the existence of this subtext also raises doubts. Why and how Mari’s attitude changes is not incomprehensible. On the other hand, both persuasiveness and the sensations of a mystical night are artistically removed. The plot in memories is clear: the past and the deceased mother are reflected for a few minutes with the orphaned flower of a hydrangea. The same flower - a metaphorical bond, at the beginning of the film, in Marie's hands, the frequent demonstration of street dancer wilted flowers, sometimes still present memories of her mother, cannot preserve the charm of this metaphorical directness. Even in the smallest-format fabric of modern cinema, it may be necessary to search for the unity that will create a form. We cannot say that associations must necessarily prevail in numbers in artistic thinking prone to metaphors, however, if a hint or claim to this has appeared, naturally the next question also arises - why, what is this sad and continuous pedaling of hydrangeas for.
The format of a short film is even more pretentious, much more difficultly oriented towards dramaturgical integrity than that of a full-length film. There is an explanation for this - the visual system of a short narrative is much more easily subject to fragmentation, to a rhythm divided into fragments and pauses, than a long narrative. Strange as it may be, the history of short film in Georgia has such a large and important tradition that short forms of narrative should have an infinite resource of search and artistic integrity, starting from free screenings of world literature (“The Record,” “The Jug”, “Serenade”), ending with the narrative of the new generation of cinema (“Flight of Sparrows,” “Mother of the Place”) and starting from Mikheil Kobakhidze’s poetic-metaphorical cinema (“Wedding”, “Umbrella”, “Musicians”), ending with the traditions of student cinema.
As difficult as it is to think about creating new forms taking into account the experience of this heritage, it is so important to maintain the traditionally colourful artistic conceptual diversity. First of all, this concerns the diversity of characters and personalities created on the screen. Beauty, aesthetic fullness, unusual, characteristic people, images of problems and people emerging from natural space - all this has left its mark on the history of short films for many years. It is not necessary that the large-scale, most important message for the world contain what the author wants to say. Finally, in cinema and other fields of art, this authorial choice is determined by many things, although it is only an authorial choice and nothing else.
Based not on the volume of what is said but on its form, unfortunately, “Memento Mori” does not respond to the associations about the phenomenon of death or the meaning of “let us remember” in an interesting way to continue the tradition of diverse short films in Georgia.
Ketevan Trapaidze
