Happy Go Lucky

Nothing could be simpler: a Siberian farm-worker and his wife travel south for their first holiday, meeting characters such as a smooth-talking con man and a professor of folklore, who invites them to stop off in Moscow. In his fourth and penultimate film as a director, the beloved Vasili Shukshin (1929-1974) united his three personae: a popular actor, a writer who spoke for the ordinary Russian people, and a filmmaker with a distinctively blunt, yet often poetic style. Shukshin and his real-life wife play the country couple making the great journey that defined modern Russia, from village to city, and their knowing banter is a delight. Simple, yet revealing: as Andrei Konchalovsky said recently, “If you want to understand Russia, you’d better see Shukshin.” Craggily handsome, always ready to pick a fight, yet insecure among “cultured” folk, Shukshin represented a Russia too rarely seen. Here, he bares his soul, with music and glorious ‘scope cinematography to match. –Telluride Film Festival