“Old” and “New” Generations in Search of New Styles (Georgian Cjinema of the 1980s)

Abstract

The cinematography of the 1980s can be discussed as an attempt to enrich or deepen the tendencies that were sharply observed in the 1960-70s. During this period, thinking with coded, expressive elements became important. Preference was given to ‘what’ and then ‘how’. The 1980s became the boundary point when the style of living and communicating by double standards in the Soviet society became clear. The absurdity of Soviet ideology, the sense of illusory prosperity, became more acute, which is why it became important, for both generations of filmmakers during this period, to clearly reflect on the civic positions they held in relation to the moral problems of the society. The focus was not on the analysis of the process but on the outcome. What we got under the Soviet government and what a man has become. Most of the directors were "ascertaining the facts", thus telling from the position of an external observer about the existing acute and topical problems.

The main trends in the cinema of the 1980s can be divided into two stages – before the "transformation" (1980-85) and its subsequent stage (1985-90). In the first stage, the authors tried to talk about the vicious sides of society: bureaucracy, corruption and more. In the foreground were issues of personal and public relations. During this period, such important works were created as: Eldar Shengelaia's "Blue Mountains or an Unbelievable Story", Rezo
Esadze's "Nylon Fir Tree", Merab Kokochashvili's "Three Days of Hot Summer". As for the second stage, in parallel with the old generation, a younger generation came to Georgian cinema. The socalled "80s" who had a different vision in their works.

The reflection of realism in their works lost their lyrical intonation, sense of humor, sophisticated compositional structure, tendency to build a complex spatial perspective, and so on. The gray, seemingly ugly environment, the depreciated values caused a kind of protest in them. Temur Babluani's "Flying Sparrows" (1980) Nana Jorjadze's "Journey to Sopot"(1980), Aleko Tsabidze's "Spot" (1985), Levan Zakareishvili's "Temo" (1986), etc. tell about the lower strata of society, people, who failed during adaptation to the society, who were doomed by society for the hopeless everyday and the future. Thus, the topic discusses the socio political situation of the 1980s, the main trends of Georgian cinema, the creative search of the old and new generations.