Will the Real Alexi Navalny Please Stand-up

 In 2022, a documentary film entitled 'Navalny, won an Oscar for Best Documentary Film. The film depicted the latter part of the life of Alexi Navalny, the Russian politician and opposition Party leader to Russian President Putin.

Navalny died last Friday while incarcerated in a Russian penal colony. He was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism, he was 47. His official cause of death was determined to be sudden death syndrome. 

Navalny was considered to be one of Vladimir Putin's major political critics and had been so since the early 2000's. In 2021, after returning to Russia from the U.S. (where he had been residing) he was tried and imprisoned.

In the U.S. and Western nations, Navalny was considered to be an anti-Kremlin and outspoken Putin adversary who wanted to enact reforms against a corrupt Russian government. This viewpoint is what is portrayed in the 2022 documentary, which begins after Navalny was poisoned and returned to Russia for trial. The film premiered at the Sundance Festival and then went on to win an Oscar.

Navalny's wife, speaking at the Oscar presentation.

But. there is more to this story. It's a bit more complicated. The Western press would have us believe that Navalny was a great anti-hero and political activist who spent his life as a crusader for the Russian people. Since 2005, Navalny was active in anti-government protests within Russia, primarily in Moscow. Then, in 2013 he received a suspended sentence for embezzlement of political contributions. He then ran for the mayoral race in Moscow and placed second. In 2014 he received another suspended sentence for embezzlement.

Navalny (on left) attending the Yale World Fellows Training Program

In 2010, Navalny received a scholarship to Yale University's World Fellows Program, an instruction program which teaches individuals how to get elected and govern in foreign countries. Navalny's scholarship to the Program was sponsored and funded by the U.S Central Intelligence Agency. After he finished his work at the WFP he returned to Russia and ran for Mayor of Moscow. The general plan was to get Navalny elected Mayor and use that office as a stepping-stone for higher office, mainly the Presidency. It seems there was no plan B. 

It seems illogical that Putin, who has a 90% approval rating would bother with Navalny let alone have him killed - he just wasn't that big a threat. 

During the 2020 U.S. Presidential race Navalny endorsed Bernie Sanders; however, he has always been a fervent anti-immigrationist and was widely known to despise the Muslim community in Chechnya. His campaigns were, for the most part, funded by post-Soviet capitalists and, more than likely, the CIA; however, his support within Russia is vastly overstated by Western governments and the press - as his popular support was only about 3%.

Obviously, his death was unexpected, but it had been reported earlier this year that Navalny had decided to go on a hunger strike as he wanted to be transferred to a less secure and better located prison and he was in poor health since being poisoned. 

Like many sagas, the Navalny story will really never be fully aired. Conspiracies will develop and misinformation and disinformation will shroud the truth.

By: Jim Lavorato, Entertainment Equipment Corporation

Akira Kurosawa: The Greatest Filmmaker EVER

 

Akira Kurosawa is by far my favorite filmmaker, with Stanley Kubrick a distance second. 

Kurosawa made a crime drama in 1963 called 'High and Low', which is being reimagined by Spike Lee and Denzel Washington with shooting scheduled to start next month. 'High and Low' was based upon a novel called King's Ransom by Ed McBain, which Kurosawa turned into a classic film which starred Toshiro Mifune as a wealthy man in ruin after paying the ransom for a kidnapping. 

Spike Lee, like so many other filmmakers, has voiced his admiration for Kurosawa, saying "my 1986 comedy 'She's Gotta Have It' was highly influenced by Kurosawa's film 'Rashomon'."

Kurosawa's works have been remade over and over and used as the foundation for many outright classic films and franchises, and even film genres over the last seven decades. For example, in 2022, the 'Living', which starred Bill Nighy (who received an Oscar nomination his performance) was based upon Kurosawa's 1952 film 'Ikiru' - a story about a terminally ill government bureaucrat on a search to find the meaning of his life. 

The Spike Lee/Densel Washington's 'High and Low' remake will be released theatrically before being streamed on Apple+. Densel's latest film, 'Equalizer 3', grossed just shy of $200 million globally but he is adamant that there will be no Equalizer 4 for him. The word is there may be a prequel to the Equalizer franchise based upon how Robert McCall began the equalizer. At the moment, Densel is working on the sequel 'Gladiator 2', in which he co-stars - this to be released in 2025. 

Lee and Washington agree on remake of 'High and Low.'

Note on Akira Kurosawa (1910 - 1988)

Kurosawa directed 30 films and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in cinematic history. From his first acclaimed film, 'Drunken Angel' (1948) to his last 'Ran' in (1985) each can be viewed as a masterpiece in its own way.

The 'Seven Samuri' was the foundation for the classic Western 'The Magnificent Seven' and 'A Fistful of Dollars' was based entirely on Kurosawa's 'Yojimbo' (the bodyguard) which Sergio Leone only made minor changes to the original. While 'The Hidden Fortress' was the basis for the Star Wars saga, as George Lucas has openly attested to. 

In fact, many past and present filmmakers have stated they were highly influenced and revered Kurosawa, including Lucas, Spielberg, Coppola, Bergman, Fellini, Polanski, Lumet, Kubrick, Altman, and the list goes on. 

Akira Kurosawa is the goat (greatest-of-all-time) filmmaker, and you should seek out his works to view and enjoy. My favorite is 'Dreams'. 

By: Jim Lavorato, Entertainment Equipment Corp.

Why Hollywood is Falling Apart... It's Not a Lack of Moviegoers

It appears most moviegoers just want to be entertained.

Pre-pandemic, Hollywood was flourishing. The box office was awash with blockbusters which were making oodles of cash even though they were mainly composed of sequels, remakes, or franchise add-ons.

Flash forward to the present - what happened?  It seems as though the rug was pulled from under the box office. For one thing, during Covid, streaming became a major player in how people consumed entertainment making it now the main source of viewing all forms of entertainment - from sports to movies. But, more importantly, the new, so-called, blockbusters are not at the level of quality that they once were, therefore, moviegoers now wait and stream these 'lesser quality' films at home.

Empty cinemas are a reflection of poor-quality content, and not movie attendance or price. Franchise films were the bread-and-butter for Hollywood but now the majority of franchise films have been on a decline in quality or are too long in release between episodes, i.e. the Avatar movies. 

There currently exists a disconnect between Hollywood executives and audiences. Films keep getting made that audiences do not want. For example, Disney's 'Haunted Mansion' - a remake of a not too great film that had a price tag of $150 million plus marketing and grossed only $59 million. 

Hollywood is plagued by what is called, 'upward failure'. The past is not an indicator for the future in films. What once worked will not work now! Today, audiences are a much harder sell. There has been a shift in audience preferences and Hollywood hasn't reacted or recognize this moviegoer sea-change. For example, A-list actors can't carry a poorly made and constructed movie - audiences won't have it.

The Political Factor

                                 Hollywood has started to get the message from moviegoers.

Like it or not politics has invaded Hollywood. There is an obsession that major films be progressive socially to the point of absurdism. Moviegoers don't want to be preached at or given messages that have no place in the movie being viewed. And these films garner poorer and poorer box office returns.

Gender and race swapping characters for no apparent reason other than trying to push a social agenda is something the film industry is embracing, and it needs to recognize that this doesn't work.

Hollywood has forgotten that escapism is the driving force for most movies that people want to view at a cinema. Audiences want to be taken to another place for 2-3 hours. They want to leave the real world behind and be mesmerized by a great story with great characters and great visuals and sound. 

Now, films are heavily and senselessly politicized, and audiences aren't stupid - they know when political messages and social dictates are infused into a film, and they don't like or condone it.

However, according to Hollywood insiders, it appears that audiences are to blame when a woke product flops - and not the studio, the cast, or filmmakers. Hollywood has reached a point where they don't see film making as an art but view it as a business. That's a mistake. 

By: Jim Lavorato, Entertainment Equipment, Corp.