A surreal journey of a displaced spirit as he wanders in the interminable darkness through the temporal landscape of a quaint and isolated feudal-era fishing village. Guided by a series of faintly illuminated rooms, the wandering spirit comes upon ancient souls who take on physical forms as they recount their personal stories of daily existence, loss, and tragedy in the peasant community. Intrigued by his initial visit to a curiously distracted elderly woman, the spirit returns to her home in order to ask a fundamental question - "What is happiness?" - an existential query that is innocently answered with innate humility and accepted unknowingness.
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Cast
1 person
Aleksandr Sokurov Director · Alexey Fedorov Cinematographer Vera Zelinskaya Production designer
First release April 26, 1996 · Produced in Japan, Russia · Languages Japanese, Russian
Production
NHK
Production
Severny Fond
Production
Lenfilm
Production
Japan · Russia
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Восточная элегия
Original language
Russian
Spoken on screen
Japanese · Russian
Release dates
Germany · April 26, 1996
Premiere · Source: MUBI (Oberhausen International Short Film Festival)
No release date listed for United States.
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Some details come from TheTVDB.