''Last Year's Snow Was Falling'' (;
translit. ''Padal proshlogodniy sneg'') is a 1983
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
clay-animated film directed by
Alexander Tatarsky (
T/O Ekran studio).
The film reached a cult status after its first appearance on Central TV. The aphoristic remarks of the characters, full of
absurd humor
Surreal humour (also called surreal comedy, absurdist humour, or absurdist comedy) is a form of humour predicated on deliberate violations of causal reasoning, thus producing events and behaviors that are obviously illogical. Portrayals of su ...
, turned into colloquial proverbs.
For this work Tatarsky received the
Silver Cooker award at the 1983
Varna International Film Festival.
Loosely based on some folk fairy tales.
Plot
The protagonist is a lazy, ignorant but tricky man. He also suffers from
dyslalia (speech disorder). He likes beer and always gets into ridiculous situations. Fortunately he has a strict and authoritative wife. The story begins when his wife sends him to bring a
New Year tree
New Year's trees are decorated trees similar to Christmas trees that are displayed to specifically celebrate the New Year. They should not be confused with the practice of leaving up a Christmas tree until after New Year's Day (traditionally unt ...
from the forest. But the forest in the winter is a magic place full of surprising events and transformations. Entangled in the miracles, having lost and found his own image more than once, the man goes back home with empty hands.
The plot includes two interrelated stories – about the man's dreams and about incredible transformations inside the magic
cabin on chicken legs. The first story is based on the fairy tale about a greedy man who saw a rabbit in the forest, daydreamed about growing rich on it, and frightened it away with a shout.
The narrator closes the story by saying that the man eventually got the tree, but it was already spring by that time, so he had to bring it back.
Censorship
The absurd style of narration raised censors' suspicions that the film contains encoded messages to foreign intelligence. Tatarsky was also told the main character of his animation was disrespectful to the image of the common Russian man (''you have just one character in the film and he is an idiot'').
Some phrases that later became colloquial (''Who is here, for example, the last in line for the Tsar position? Nobody?! Then I'll be the First!'') were defended by Tatarsky and Ivanov with scandals. Despite their attempts the film was sent "for revision". It was cut anew and redubbed.
Other facts
* Sadalsky did not appear in the credits. Shortly before the final cut, the actor was arrested inside the
Cosmos Hotel with a foreign citizen. The information against Sadalsky was reported to
Gosteleradio
The State Committee of Television and Radio Broadcasting of the Soviet Union ( Russian: Государственный комитет СССР по телевидению и радиовещанию) commonly known as Gosteleradio of the USSR (Г ...
director
Sergei Lapin who ordered the removal of Sadalsky's name from the credits as a penalty for forbidden relations with foreigners.
References
External links
*
Last Year's Snow Was Fallingat
Animator.ru
{{Aleksandr Tatarskiy
1983 animated short films
1983 films
1983 in the Soviet Union
Soviet animated short films
Soviet fantasy comedy films
Soviet fantasy drama films
Claymation films
Studio Ekran films
Soviet Christmas films
1980s stop-motion animated films