Elem Klimov

 Elem Klimov




Welcome, No Trespassing (1964)

Adventures of a Dentist (1965)



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2. Adventures of a Dentist (1965)


Although it was a rather strange film, Elem Klimov's 1965 film "Adventures of a Dentist" was actually labelled as a "category three" film by the nation's censors, meaning it was only designated to play in 25-78 movie theaters. The reason for the censorship was not due to nudity, violence, or political pointedness. Rather, it was because the film centers on a young dentist who is ostracized because he is so gifted. The notion that society inevitably shuns and blackballs people skilled at their craft was enough of a shocking notion to have the film banned. 



1. Welcome, No Trespassing (1964)


Elem Klimov's 1964 Soviet film "Welcome, No Trespassing" follows the same spirit of childlike playfulness against restrictive authority as Jean Vigo's "Zero for Conduct." It centers on a group of children at a Soviet Young Pioneers camp attempting to hide the expelled Kostya from the tyrannical administrator, Dynin. Like with "Zero for Conduct" and even the more recent "Zazie dans the Metro" by Louis Malle, Klimov's film take liberties with subjective viewpoints of the children - creating scenarios of playfully animated and expressionist scenes. "Welcome, No Trespassing" follows the same thematic point as the films just mentioned: challenge the status quo, break some rules, and reject the conventionality of oppressive restrictions.

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