The photograph depicts an instance during the shooting of Happy Go Lucky, i.e. the scene of Ivan Rastorguyev’s send-off to the south. The film tells the story of the Rastorguyev couple that got a voucher for a trip to the sea. Their entire village helped them pack, while feasting and singing in the process. Most of the scenes were shot at Shulgin Log village on the left bank of Katun river.
Shukshin is depicted with the film crew and the residents of Srostki and Shulgin Log — they took part in minor scenes. Alexander Kantsedalov, Maria Ryabchikova, salesman Anastasia Danshina, director of the Srostinsky House of Culture Sergei Lyovushkin, and Praskovya Yurkina were present among the Srostki residents.
Shukshin considered gathering extras his primary challenge — the bus from Srostki always arrived with a considerable delay. Director of photography for the film Anatoly Zabolotsky described the shooting process as follows: ‘We set our sights on the village of Shulgin Log, there was a ferry line across Katun nearby, which served as the film set without additional decoration. When the scene was set, we found it incredibly hard to gather extras from the crowded Srostki since bus brought them in with great delay. And we needed a crowd, especially for the sanatorium send-off scene’.
Yuri Tyurin wrote the following about the send-off scene in his book The Cinematography of Vasily Shukshin: ‘… the scene of the party has grown, it has become a somewhat independent “ethnographic” story. It has a special rhythm, its own accents and enlargements, free air of the Altai foothills and real rural life burst into it. The episode seems to have been taken from real life, this is a kind of documentary sketch, life taken by surprise. Much happened in this scene without the director’s orders. Shukshin tended to show rural life unvarnished. Mixing authentic villagers with professional actors was fully justified from the stylistic perspective. These amateur performers felt Shukshin’s special treatment and responded in kind’.
Happy Go Lucky was released in 1972 and was praised by critics.
Shukshin is depicted with the film crew and the residents of Srostki and Shulgin Log — they took part in minor scenes. Alexander Kantsedalov, Maria Ryabchikova, salesman Anastasia Danshina, director of the Srostinsky House of Culture Sergei Lyovushkin, and Praskovya Yurkina were present among the Srostki residents.
Shukshin considered gathering extras his primary challenge — the bus from Srostki always arrived with a considerable delay. Director of photography for the film Anatoly Zabolotsky described the shooting process as follows: ‘We set our sights on the village of Shulgin Log, there was a ferry line across Katun nearby, which served as the film set without additional decoration. When the scene was set, we found it incredibly hard to gather extras from the crowded Srostki since bus brought them in with great delay. And we needed a crowd, especially for the sanatorium send-off scene’.
Yuri Tyurin wrote the following about the send-off scene in his book The Cinematography of Vasily Shukshin: ‘… the scene of the party has grown, it has become a somewhat independent “ethnographic” story. It has a special rhythm, its own accents and enlargements, free air of the Altai foothills and real rural life burst into it. The episode seems to have been taken from real life, this is a kind of documentary sketch, life taken by surprise. Much happened in this scene without the director’s orders. Shukshin tended to show rural life unvarnished. Mixing authentic villagers with professional actors was fully justified from the stylistic perspective. These amateur performers felt Shukshin’s special treatment and responded in kind’.
Happy Go Lucky was released in 1972 and was praised by critics.
