A bar as the quintessence of old sincerity—and a metaphor of life in its entirety. The film will be presented by curator and film critic Alexey Medvedev. After the screening, directors Bill and Turner Ross will answer questions during a video Q&A session.
A battered bar on the outskirts of Las Vegas throws a party to celebrate the last day before closure. Regulars of all kinds—boozers, street philosophers, failed taxi drivers, saucy divorcees—come to say goodbye to it. The viewers will spend this day in their company from dawn till dusk, although certain heroes will leave long before the end of the movie, unable to stay on their feet. Catching their somewhat messy but incredibly vivid conversations, the camera also follows the barman who treats regular customers as members of some large, extravagant family, and captures memorable details, such as the switched on TV set which, amazingly enough, at some point starts broadcasting the Soviet classic The Cranes are Flying.
Out of a picture with such entry data, one could make a tough social drama-chronicle of disturbing reality revealed through the portraits of people who are unable to control themselves in front of the camera. But instead of pity, the authors look at their heroes with sympathy and love, making their dignity, intelligence, sincerity, and sadness over life passing by visible through the booze steam. In fact, this farewell documented on film is an improvisation, as the bar is not actually closing and not even located in Las Vegas—it is a bar in New Orleans whose visitors were invited to play themselves. Which they did with rare brilliance. With their heads held high (and sometimes, to be honest, resting on the bar).
After the screening, film critic Aleksey Medvedev will discuss with brothers Bill and Turner Ross—the directors of the film—the line between feature and documentary cinema, the dramaturgy of the everyday, and the specificity of tackling realms that differ from our habitual ones.
The film will be screened in English with Russian subtitles.
The Q&A will be in English with simultaneous interpretation to Russian.
Dir. Bill Ross, Turner Ross
USA, 2020. 98 min. 16+