#you know like everybody knows Goncharov

[chaoskiro]

Someone mentioned that the movie they were talking about was directed by Martin Scorsese and my immediate thought was "oh, like Goncharov" and... I literally couldn't think of any "other" movies he'd directed. I did not say that aloud. Thankfully.

[theropoda]

actually maybe i DO understand this fucking phenomenon cause i just remembered how often tumblr loves to take a piece of media, be it a tv show or movie or book, and make headcanons and AUs and fanfiction SO far removed from it that it becomes its own thing. the threads tying them to their original work is thin, it's just names and character design-- everything else can be different. and i see this happen in both a (Derogatory) way, when people headcanon and interpret a character in a way that is just NOT them and make someone else entirely, someone that is more fan content than original work, and an (Affectionate) way where people make such intricate AU's and redesigns and fanfiction, it's so detached from the original work, again it's more fan content than canon, but the fan contents fucking good and better than the original. it's genuine creativity

so of course everyone's nuts over goncharov. because all we have is a setting, a synopsis, faces and names. everything else is for us to play with.

[pentagramstars]

Stop hating and have fun

[absoluteabsolem]

okay guys i'm having a brainrot on my way to work about goncharov bc of all your sexy meta posts but i haven't seen a single one talking about the flowers in this film so indulge me

so i'm a florist right ? my n°1 passion when i watch a movie or a show is to trashtalk the flowers bc 99,9% of the time they look like shit. like. i made better arrangements during my first year of training. it makes me sad. yes goncharov is a brilliant film in itself but it gets a whole star just for the fucking flowers (i can't find the florist in the end credits if anyone knows pls tell me ??)

like we're talking thierry boutemy in marie-antoinette (2006) levels of artistry. all the arrangements are so BEAUTIFUL and i'm gonna talk about them. it will ofc mostly be about katya lmao bc men yet have to express themselves through delicate floral jewellery (i wish they did though. i am waiting). katya doesn't have that many lines for a main character but her presence and the colours speak for themselves. sorry i'm on mobile i don't have any pictures

alright so of course you have the wedding. everything is so fucking opulent it's a cascade of wealth you have almost no foliage at all except eucalyptus and that shit is expensive. there are more peonies than you could ever count and the roses are soooo beautiful (i think most of them are juliet peach roses but i can't be 100% sure) like. i could smell it from my couch it was as if i was there aaaa the fucking wax flowers and scabiosas i love scabiosas so much !! and the perfect balance between flowers of different sizes !!! it was wonderful i mean you've seen them

but what i love about these arrangements is that they're all in white and yellow. it's an unusual combo for a wedding even if white is a classic wedding colour in western cultures and yellow isn't so weird at the heart of summer. yellow is however also the colour of jealousy and betrayal and idk if you ever noticed but andrey's boutonniere is the ONLY ONE that is just yellow. you don't have the white carnation (associated with love. screaming) on it like everybody else. also note that katya's bouquet is only white which is all about purity elegance etc. i do think however that the colours of andrey and katya's flowers on that day are more about the way goncharov feels about them at that point in the story, rather than their own feelings.

we also see katya wear several decorated combs in her hair throughout the film (idk enough about hair stylism to comment of the haircuts themselves so i'll stick to the flowers). the first we see are pretty simple and not rly noticeable, white and pastel pink, typical discreet but feminine stuff. p much like the rest of her wardrobe up until the boat scene where things get interesting.

this is where katya meets sofia who is wearing that rly fucking gorgeous burgundy (ambition, power and wealth) dress and look i know monica bellucci can wear anything and be beautiful but fucking hell. i mean i'm gay but i briefly questioned myself for a second there. anyway. the boat shenanigans happen and once katya goes back home and pretends she didn't almost get fucking killed, the flowers in her hair are burgundy. i mean i know we have the fruit market a bit later but the comb is what sold me on that ship. i see you katya

when she almost shoots goncharov (if we were rly in love you wouldn't have missed AAAAAAA i'm normal) she has a super pretty mix of blue hydrangea/eucalyptus in her hair. blue is the colour of control and tranquility and i thought it was very sexy of her. she still has them when sofia leaves her and i love how you can see the tears about to fall down her cheeks but she doesn't allow it. things got out of hand but she's not willing to lose control of herself in front of sofia and i think ultimately it's what fucked things up between them but i try not to think about it too hard

what DOES however keep me awake at night is that martin scorsese rly thought it was okay to have red bouquets everywhere made in the exact style of goncharov and katya's wedding in goncharov's home when andrey shows up to kill him. i mean the subtext isn't even subtext at this point it's like saying point break isn't gay but the flowers are the fucking cherry on top. andrey shoots him and he doesn't miss because he loves him and in case you're too dense to understand that here is a decadent display of red and burgundy. it is the colour of love it is the colour of violence and in their case one simply does not go without the other and i am so fucking normal about this

[zorlok-if]

Hi everybody,

It's been a while. Sorry that I've been gone so long without explanation or communication, I've been in a bad place. For more info check under the cut. Otherwise, hello! I'm alive and so is this project. Progress has been stalled and will continue to be stalled because this is a hobby and I have to focus on priorities. That doesn't mean that it's dead. I still intend to release everything when I can. I appreciate your support and interest.

Hope you're all well! 😊

Albie

(cw: discussion of bad mental health, anxiety, and depression; school shooting mention)

Okay, hello! Welcome to the rest of this post.

Basically, I've been in a bad mental place for a long time and have a lot of issues that I've left unaddressed or festering—most of which tie back to depression, anxiety, fear, and self-loathing.

To start, I wasn't able to graduate this past winter because I fell one class short of my requirements. That really sent me into a spiral and put a strain on my interpersonal relationships.

Then I tried to take that last class this spring but fear related to recent school shootings exacerbated and activated some bad ND habits and I won't be able to complete this course. That means I still won't be able to graduate until I find some online equivalent or professor who will allow me to remain fully remote.

Around the time I found out I wouldn't be graduating, I also got some really cruel anon hate which added onto how I was already feeling and made me hesitant to put anything else out online.

Other things have happened: family stuff, work stuff, health stuff, sociopolitical stuff, etc. (I don't want to go into details with some and won't burden you with the rest). But, essentially, I found myself at a darker place than normal. I withdrew into myself and have been stewing in crippling self-loathing while wearing a convincing smile in my everyday life. (being really honest with this stuff so that if anyone else is going through/experienced something like this they can know they're not alone)

Fortunately, I was able to get away for a bit and spent some time with loved ones I rarely get to see. I've also made a few irl friends recently and feel like I'm coming back out of my shell and starting to heal after traumatic events and relationships. For the first time in a long time, I feel invigorated. I mean, I still feel like stinking trash, but garbage with a will to live and better itself.

As of right now, I'm moving out and finding more work so I can better support myself financially.

If you've read all this going, where's the Zorlok/(other game) update? Here you go: I've been working on Zorlok somewhat, but in the situation/place where I was at, found myself unable to justify dedicating a lot of time to writing and struggling to feel confident about what I was creating when I actually did sit down to do so. This project is in no way dead and I want to work on it and release games more than anything, but I owe it to myself and other people in my life to keep my priorities in check.

This is a hobby and in the past I dedicated time to it when I should've been doing other things. As long as this is a hobby, I can no longer take time away from my priorities to do something I just want to do (no matter how badly I want to do it). So, that's where we're at. I'm continuing to focus on critical things and stop feeling like a jerk for doing that. I know that this might disappoint some people, but that's how things are right now.

If you want to know more about where things are literally at: I'm close to finishing a heavily updated and expanded prologue but episode one has been undergoing changes. I feel pretty shit about myself and that's seeped into my view on what I create which is in turn stalling my ability to make meaningful progress that I don't immediately want to destroy. I've worked on potential Patreon content (including an exclusive game and a Creating Goncharov director's cut), made a Twine template and tutorial, and made progress on updates for Mousetrap and System Processing. I've avoided making changes to the Zorlok page (and my other itch.io pages) these past few months since I don't want people getting their hopes up seeing some sort of "update" from itch.io—only for that update to be "there's no game update yet." That's why those are still out of date, but I'll be fixing them as soon as I can.

So, that's where we are. I wish that I had way more to talk about and release, but that's not been a possibility and I'm just going to be upfront and honest—even if I am disappointed and somewhat afraid and ashamed to admit it. (that's it for the game updates, the rest just gets back to personal)

In general, I've always struggled with shame and fear and those are the main culprits for why I've been radio silent until now. I couldn't find a way to address these topics or talk about them without my odious inner critic getting triggered and shutting me down. However, I'm trying my best to not listen to that asshole because this (*gestures at everything*) must stop.

To be honest, I'm not content with prolonged existence anymore. I want to live—and that's more than I've been able to say for a long time. To be perfectly honest, for the past decade or so I've lived simply because others wanted me around, not because I wanted to be here. I'm tired of being tired. I'm tired of indifference being my best hope for how I feel about myself. I'm tired of forcing an apathetic soul to drag my flesh through the muck of living. I don't expect what I experience to improve, in fact things will definitely be getting tougher, but I want to change how I experience it. I want to actively live rather than passively slip by. I want to answer questions like "what do you want to do with your life?" and "what are your plans?" with more than vague shrugs and dead-hearted replies meant to brush people off the topic of the future. I want to stop passing through life as a ghost.

I'm still trying to find the motivation, purpose, or courage to genuinely live for myself instead of existing for other people. I still haven't found my "spark"—that properly and blissfully selfish reason to live—but I think wanting to search is a good start.

Anyways, I'll be around more and I'll be more honest with where I am and what's going on. It's my personal mission to deny fear's control over my life and actions. Part of that means allowing myself to be more open with people even if I'm afraid of judgment or negativity.

Excluding a few outliers, you've all been exceptionally kind and encouraging. I'm always overwhelmed and astonished with the support that's been shown to me and my creative projects and I appreciate you all. Thank you so much. Thank you for reading through this. Thank you for caring. You're part of why I'm around.

I hope that you're having a lovely day/night/et cetera and if you aren't, you're not alone ❤️.

I'll see you around. 😊 Thanks again,

Albie

[markcoughman]

Hey Goncharov (1973) crowd, if you’re looking for a film with similar vibes to something that doesn’t actually exist, boy have I got the film for you! Mad Dog Time (1996) it is the worst thing I have ever seen. It’s like a boring nightmare. Everybody gets shot, sometimes the transition to a new scene is randomly a bright color, and Jeff Goldblum is hot. I mean, what more could you possibly want from something? It’s a movie that will leave you thinking “What? Why? How was this made? Was this made? Did I actually just watch something?” The answer to all of those questions is I don’t know.

[taahko]

everybody knows some classic film bro who thinks hes goncharov and like walks around with a pocketwatch doing the goncharov walk. like dude you will never be him and why would you want to be 🙄

[hussyknee]

For my next trick, I will make a timeline of the Goncharov Tumblr wank. Not the fake discourse LARPing, the real classic Tumblr Bullshit ft. self-inflicted queerbaiting, Soviet stanning, self-congratulatory posts about how good and inclusive we are unlike Twitter or pre-Porn Ban Tumblr, neurodivergent people being like we're what now???, mixed messages about what to tag, people giving up and tagging everything "#unreality", psychotic people even more confused now, people who didn't need the tags in the first place yelling about being condescended to, "Trust Me I Have A Psychology Degree", people who logged in on Day 2 being like Donald Glover if the pizza box also blew up in his face and tried to eat him, people fleeing to Twitter because their dashes had become unusuable, Gonchposters getting way to many notes and freaking out after being contacted by BuzzFeed, "are y'all seriously going to romanticise Russia in the middle of the Ukraine War?" "Fuck you, Goncharov is Estonian!" "Wtf is an Estonian?", indignant new Tumblr users wanting to know why people can't just blacklist "Goncharov" and curate their own online experience like they've been told to do, Tumblr users trying to explain that a functional filtering system was a myth this whole time and also people can't blacklist when they don't know wtf it is, "Hey, have we always had this many Tankies?", Where Have All The Patronymics Gone, Neil Gaiman memes, everybody's parasocial relationship with Lynda Carter getting worse, Teen Vogue Thinkpiece: Did People Of Colour Not Exist In 1973?, Wikipedia editors asking Tumblr to please stop trying to vandalize legitimate information sites, covid truthers and Tankies getting riled up about Wikipedia being called a legit information site, "WHY AREN'T YOU TAGGING THIS SHIT UNREALITY??" "Stfu that's not even what the unreality tag is for!", Calling Goncharov Gaslighting Is Ableist Actually, covid truthers maintaining that Goncharov isn't disinformation because that's what the govt does, Tankies agreeing, SCORCESE ADMITTED IT! IT'S NOT DISINFORMATION NOW!, "No wait it's not real!" "It's not??" "Well, Francesca Scorcese is real–" "–someone hallucinated Francesca Scorcese–??", #meme-is-real-movie-is-fake "oh okay see? That works", #factual-information-about-a-fake-movie-we're-doing-for-a-joke "oh god no", "I see your psychotic person who needs tags and raise you my psychotic person who's triggered by them!", "SEE? IT'S ALL PERFORMATIVE BULLSHIT!" "OMG JUST SAY YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT DISABLED PEOPLE AND GO!", "Hold up there's more than 30k notes on this post now. Where's our movie, bitch?" "It's been TWO DAYS" "Yeah and? Ya wanna sleep with the fishes?", "STOP HARRASSING NEIL GAIMAN!", #factual-information-about-a-fake-movie-we're-doing-for-a-joke, "JUST TAG IT UNREALITY!" I hate this hellsiteasdfghjkhjhhjjjjj

[asteroidtroglodyte]

[exert of a conversation between Martin Scorsese, Paul Shrader, and Roger Ebert from 1976 regarding Scorsese’s 1973 film Goncharov]

…

Scorsese: Because there's a lot of violence to this picture, some of the New York reviews are calling it an exploitation film. Jesus! I went flat broke making this film! My films haven't made a lot of money, you know? Right now, I'm living off my next film.

Schrader: If it's an exploitation film, I wish we had a dollar for every time you were told it would never be a success at all. That screenplay got turned down by everybody.

Scorsese: We showed it to some New York media educators, and I thought we'd get lynched! We showed it to some student editors...there was this wise guy there I recognized from a screening we had of "Alice." He asks whether, after all my success, I'm about ready to fall on my ass. I've hardly gotten started!

Schrader: You got zero valid reactions immediately after the screenings. The immediate response is usually very visceral and angry, but I remember, this one, silence. The anger came later. But, if this film weren't controversial, there'd be something wrong with the country.

Ebert: What you give us in this guy, Goncharov, who comes from nowhere - we get hardly any background - eventually we realize he's seething inside, he's got all this violence bottled up....

Scorsese: And he goes back again and again to where the violence is. One of the reviewers, I think it was Andrew Sarris, said how many times can you use [The Clocks] as a metaphor for hell? But that's the thing about hell - it goes on and on. And he couldn't get out of it. But you're right that we don't tell you where he comes from, or what his story is. Obviously, he comes from somewhere and he picked up these problems along the way.

Schrader: You told me you wrote it that way after thinking about the way they handled "In Cold Blood." They tell you all about Perry Smith's background, how he developed his problems, and immediately it becomes less interesting because his problems aren't your problems, but his symptoms are your symptoms.

Ebert: Pauline Kael has said that Scorsese, Robert Altman and Francis Ford Coppola are the three most interesting directors in the country right now - and that it might be due to their Catholicism, that after Watergate, the nation feels a sort of guilt and needs to make a form of reparation, and that Catholics understand guilt in a way that others don't, that they were brought up on it.

Scorsese: Guilt. There's nothing you can tell me about guilt.

Schrader: I've got a lot of Protestant guilt.

Scorsese: You can't make movies any more in which the whole country seems to make sense. After Vietnam, after Watergate, it's not just a temporary thing; it's a permanent thing the country's going through. All the things we held sacred - the whole Time-Life empire...whoosh! Well, Time's still left.

Ebert: In a lot of your movies, there's this… ambivalent attitude, toward women. The men are fascinated by women, but they don't quite know how to relate to them...

Scorsese: The goddess-whore complex. You're raised to worship women, but you don't know how to approach them on a human level, on a sexual level. That's the thing with Katya, with Sofia, he loves them but he doesn’t really see them as people. They go from garbage to goddess and back and forth.

Ebert: I’m reminded of Katya with the candles in her bedroom.

Scorsese: Exactly, she's like a saint to him! He can't imagine these people treating her the way they do. Before he goes to avenge her, it's almost like he cleanses himself, like in "The Virgin Spring" when Max von Sydow scourges himself with the branches before he goes out to avenge his daughter's death.

Schrader: We actually had that shot in the movie, and we took it out. Goncharov whips himself with a towel before he goes out with his guns. We took it out because it looked a little forced and unnatural.

Scorsese: But the Catholic thing? I suppose there are a lot of Catholic references in the film, even if they're only my own personal reference. Like the moment when he burns the flowers before he goes out to kill. And when he's buying the guns and the dealer lays them out one at a time on the velvet, like arranging the altar during Mass.

…

[musette22]

I really hope the rumours about a Goncharov remake are true, I think Sebastian would make an incredible Goncharov and Chris is literally perfect for Andrey (and return of the pornstache .. 😋) and if the original has homoerotic undertones … imagine what it would be like with those two playing them 😏

Oh my GOD nonnie, can you imagine?? Jesus, I need this in my life, how do we make this happen 😩 You're so right, they'd be PERFECT in those roles. I've only seen Goncharov (1973) once and that was a pretty long time ago (we all know I'm terrible at watching things) but if there's one thing I remember perfectly it's that it went hard on the homoerotic undertones (as it should). It was pretty hard to miss honestly lol, there's a reason we're still talking about it almost 50 years later 💁🏻‍♀️

Ok no but, the poker scene, with all that unresolved sexual tension laced with jealousy and rivalry like... can you imagine that with Chris and Seb's chemistry?? We would DIE. It would be like the bar scene all over again but like, in a smoky mafia casino setting 🥴 um, yes please. We deserve these two in a movie together again and what better than a fucking goncharov remake?? Man, that's the dream 🥺

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Sebastian was in talks for it already? I know it's not certain yet that the remake is actually happening, but I feel like with the recent resurgence in its popularity it most likely will (come on Matteo JWHJ0715, make it happen you coward!!) And Sebastian's been quiet for a while so most likely he's got something up his sleeve, and this is exactly the type of role that would be perfect for Seb at this point in his career imo. We know he's on everybody's radar right now, plus he's got that Eastern European background which to Hollywood makes him practically Russian and Italian, so I mean... He's a perfect fit really.

Chris would probably be a slightly harder sell because of his all-American action hero reputation (although I completely agree about the pornstache!! he'd absolutely look the part as Andrey with that stache) but actually, maybe in this case his Marvel connection might work in his advantage? Because I mean, Chris and Seb have that Marvel background together, and everyone knows that Marvel was too cowardly to make Stucky happen, and everyone knows how Scorsese feels about Marvel. So assuming that he's producing the remake too, this is THE ultimate chance for Scorsese to show everyone how much better than Marvel he really is... C'mon Martin, buddy, you know you want to 👀

[unlikely-course]

The thing about goncharov (1973) that a lot of people don’t seem to get is like…Goncharov is clearly an Italian man working for the Russians but he’s not just some rando the rest of the characters know him—he speaks like a local, Joe knows how he takes his coffee, Mario puts that hand on his neck as he’s dying because he’s reaching out to someone who used to be a friend. Andrey talks about him as a “faithless man” but how does he know that unless he’s already been betrayed by him (or at least feels like he has)? Everybody calls him Lo Straniero not because he’s literally a stranger to them but because he has made himself a stranger to them.

This puts the conversation between Goncharov and Mario in the restaurant in a whole different light like…home is only home while you are dutiful. You are only a man while you are loyal and obedient to “better men.” If the people who claim to be your family cast you aside then what does that mean for your very identity? You can cast that aside too and then you don’t owe anything to anybody. It’s about being pushed out of family and community until the self collapses and a new self must be born.

[spiribia]

the goncharov stuff is funny as someone who only recently figured out what was even going on here because you get to see people consciously reflect the sort of formats and speech patterns around how media is talked about. i genuinely thought it was a real thing that i wasnt familiar with personally but that others were passionate about because that really is what seeing posts about stuff you dont know about feels like. and then it turns out everybody must feel that way reading those posts because absolutely no one is fully in the loop here and everything is new for everyone

[feralshadowdemon]

HELLO

ivan, chuuya, fukuchi, tetchou, AAAAND

yosano

HELLO!!!!!!!!! THIS IS GOING TO BE LONG ivan goncharov first impression: oh how did fyodor fuck you up (did not know/realize he was lobotomized either) impression now: ohh he's my silly. his english dub voice gives me gender envy. i like his eyes. he is weirdly a well-written lobotomized guy. i looked into actual lobotomy for you favorite moment: his entire fight scene was good and more people should talk about it. signed yours truly me idea for a story: primarily? a general character study, however, - bubble bath. it is a character study with him and shibusawa. not set in canon - highschool au. he deserves to be a normal highschool student. he would swear a sweater vest. i will die on this hill unpopular opinion: his character is really fucking good and yes his ability's name is on the nose but i hope we see him again. i don't like shipping him in canon though bc he can't. Consent. Fyovan should not exist. also i think more people should be paying attention to the bsd side characters favorite relationship: shibuvan/shibusawa x ivan and you know it. my #1 comfort ship in my heart. they are so cute <3 favorite headcanon: he has tics and freckles. also sometimes i like making him trans the others are below v

chuuya nakahara first impression: oh he's cool impression now: I WANT TO BE YOU YOUR CHARACTER IS SO COOL GIVE ME YOUR GENDER YOUR CHARACTER SCRATCHES MY BRAIN YOUR ABILITY IS SO COOL. I AM NOT NORMAL. favorite moment: THE HELICOPTER SCENE OH MY GODD idea for a story: i have many! - hirotsu visits him during a stormy night and he's suffering w chronic pains but hirotsu gets him his meds. they get to talk a little. they are silly to me - summer camp au w dazai they are at war constantly - i have too many, but to briefly summarize the rest: fan dancer and kitsune au, meiji era/period au, chuuya and kouyou fic/character study, there will be more after i read stormbringer unpopular opinion: he probably doesn't have anger issues. might just be agitated easily or because of dazai. also people need to stop getting his character soo wrong because the amount of mischaracterization that surrounds that man is NOT funny favorite relationship: people sleep on his and hirotsu's possible dynamic. next one is well. okay. it's obvious, but soukoku, i just like their dynamic whether it's romantic or not. absolute menaces. shoutout to kunichuuzai also, but i honestly cannot ship that man all the time. bonus platonic relationships i really like is the idea of tetchou and chuuya becoming good fucking friends. let chuuya have so many friends to make up for the ones he's lost favorite headcanon(s): freckles chuuya, lightning scars chuuya, nonbinary chuuya (i dont use they/them for them all the time but i am a believer in it), chronic pains, autistic, metal/rock (the song genre) lover, sanrio and ocean life special interest, also demisexual/demiromantic !! sorry they have the most. favoritism is showing fukuchi ochi

first impression: oh doesn't he kill everybody's faves. meh impression now: YOUR CHARACTER AND WRITING IS SO OVERLOOKED. YOU ARE DAD MATERIAL AND THAT SCARES ME BUT IM ALSO :D ABOUT IT favorite moment: the entire fucking fight he has with atsushi and akutagawa. you don't understand he was both terrifying and also that gave me an actual adrenaline rush once i watched it in the anime. the music was so good. also the scene w aya !! idea for a story: the main one is a fukufuku fic where it goes through how overtime, fukuzawa in fukuchi's eyes is more like a wolf than a human being. it's his way of making it hurt less when he has to hurt him. i cant remember any others, but i hope there will be more unpopular opinion: can the fandom not hate on him so much lmao i dont mind seeing people dislike him that's valid but like. give him a chance i swear. he also can be trusted with children favorite relationship: him and fukuzawa's (romantically or platonically idrc). holy shit. holy shit. holy shi- also bonus shoutout to him and ranpo's!! it is not shown a lot but augh. of course i love his relationship with the hunting dogs too but fukufuku sits at the top favorite headcanon: hm. i can't think of any rn tetchou suehiro

first impression: AUTISTIC impression now: AUTISTIC favorite moment: them and kenji's fight >>>>> idea for a story: they are a samurai and they meet jouno along the way. they stay with fukuchi after having a rough run-in with an innkeeper and some people who are after them. they smell like blossoms unpopular opinion: i wish people wrote them beating up people more they're literally one of the strongest characters (physically specifically) of bsd favorite relationship: them and jouno's is peak favorite headcanon: asexual and nonbinary tetchou for the win. my most favorite one of all time though is them being half-taiwanese :] akiko yosano (surprise???)

first impression: please be well written. impression now: she is so cool!! i wish she had more screentime but oh my god she is so cool <33333 she is fun in the manga and i love her so much favorite moment: her backstory i wanna say. we don't get too much content of her but damn her backstory hits hard. it adds so much to her character and i love her a lot idea for a story: she and fukuzawa go shopping together. i think she also deserves some fics w fukuzawa. they have a fun time !! unpopular opinion: not a fan of kousano favorite relationship: her and ranpo's. siblings your honor, absolute siblings, ALSO THAT ONE SCENE IN HER BACKSTORY WHERE HE KNEELS DOWN TO HER AND SHES CRYING AND SJJSDHHFBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA favorite headcanon: aro/ace yosano is cool. very cool. aro/ace yosano.? holds her out to you. Consider

[brianellabean]

with all this new attention on Goncharov (1973) and everybody giving their analyses, i’d like to take a moment to bring light to something that i haven’t seen a lot of people talking about: the costuming, specifically Katya’s “dinner party” dress (you know the one).

the silk/satin fabric with those cascading glass beads on the lower bodice/skirt is a genius choice… let me explain: when she first steps out of the car the scene is nearly pitch black, we see Katya as this radiant vision in white contrasting the darkness around her. the way they backlit her as she approaches the door, Goncharov just out of frame, adds to this angelic visual and the audience’s perception of her innocence. then, once the couple is inside, we see the dress in a brighter, deceptively warm light, and get the full impact of the beading; the dress was never white, but iridescent— the first hint that something is off, that things aren’t always as they seem in regards to Katya as a character. like the iridescent beads reflect and refract the light around it, Katya reflects the emotions of those around her, and “refracts” them to her own advantage.

and then at the end of the scene we get that gut wrenching shot of her standing alone in the doorway with a perfect splatter of crimson on her thigh, angelically lit yet again but we as an audience drown in the irony of it now. we’re left wondering whether it’s wine or blood on her dress. either way, the stain on the otherwise pure fabric represents Goncharov’s soon-too-be-found knowledge of what she’s done— their relationship forever stained red like her dress; red with anger and danger, yes, but with passion and a sense of repressed impulsions from the both of them from this point in the film onward. i think this sentiment is further underlined when we find out in the “boat scene” that the fox fur shawl she wears with this dress was Sofia’s all along.

maybe i’m reading too far into it, but a lot of what pans out in the remainder of the film is perfectly foreshadowed in this scene with this specific dress. truly a masterpiece of costuming!

[rebeccacohenart]

All this excitement about Goncharov is just wild to me, in that weird way where something you're into but nobody else knows about suddenly becomes massively popular, and it's cool but you're also kinda like, "Hey that's MY thing."

I first saw it years ago in grad school - Martin Scorsese had donated one of the few existing prints to the NYU film library. You couldn't really find it on video/DVD back then. It felt like this very "NYU Film insider" thing.

But nothing stays obscure in the internet & social media age, which is for the best, because it's too good a film to go so underappreciated for so long.

Everybody go watch Goncharov if you haven't seen it yet!

[open-road-air]

Goncharov (1973) cuts

So in the recent Gonchsplosion there’s been a lot of discussion and even dispute about the core facts of the film—who lives, who dies, which homoerotic cigarette lighting sequences appear, who shops for apples, etc. And I think most people don’t know that this is because of the truly bananas number of cuts of Goncharov that have been released at various times and places, often under unclear or conflicting names, with intersecting but nonidentical footage. Back in like, the mid-00s I saw a Geocities site about this—you know the type, it had everything all charted out in ASCII—that estimated that there were over fourteen hours of Goncharov that had been released in total, across I wanna say seven different cuts? That’s a lot of movie.  Of course I have no idea how to find that site, it’s probably gone forever now, and there’s no way my iPhone-rotted brain can compare with the pure archival relentlessness of a mid-aughties film studies grad student with a beige desktop computer, so this is just off the top of my head listing of cuts I’m familiar with and what things they do and don’t include. Hope it helps. The Cinematic Release You know it, you love it, somehow the most famous one of all despite the fact it never showed in theaters because the mafia (*cough*CIA/KGB*cough*) destroyed almost all of the prints? Idk man, everyone is obsessed with the idea that this one is the “real” Goncharov which is like a nice change of pace from the common canard that the director’s cut is the “real” cut, but also, bizarre. They’re all real cuts! Get with the postmodern times!  Runtime: 3:02. The studio insisted that Scorsese bring it down under three hours and he said he had but he lied. It’s probably apocryphal that Scorsese actually set the clock back 7 minutes during the second screener with the studio to fool them about the runtime—probably he just trimmed some of the opening sequences for this print—but you can see why the story spread, given how aligned it is with the themes/events of the film. Everybody loves a metatextual folktale.  Scenes In/Out: Yes bridge scene, no boat scene. Yes Goncharov/Andrey at the fruit market, no Katya/Sofia at the market. No cigarette lighting at all. (I’m sorry but it’s true!) Goncharov dies, Katya dies, Ice Pick Joe lives (or dies offscreen, this is kinda unclear). Heavy clock imagery.  Verdict: honestly this is a mid-tier Goncharov at best.  The Director’s Cut (Pseudo-Scorsese) This one started to circulate in the 80s and 90s in the US film buff circuit. Some fly by night outfit put out a bootleg VHS which is considered the authoritative version even though you can get a way better digital rip straight from the film. The VHS box set says that this was the version Scorsese first screened for the studio but that’s probably not true. Not clear who actually cut this or why or how. Most of the Netflix footage is from this one but not all of it.  Runtime: 4:12. If you’re thinking “damn, that’s a long movie,” then, uh, buddy, hold on to your fuckin hat. Scenes In/Out: Yes bridge scene, yes boat scene. Goncharov dies. Katya lives (doesn’t even fake her death, that’s just gone all together). Icepick Joe dies laughing. Both G/A and K/S at the fruit market but the scenes are played intercut to suggest that they’re there at the same time? Insane choice. Yes G/A cigarette scene. No K/S cigarettes but Sofia does go into the bedroom when Goncharov leaves. Camera doesn’t follow her, though, it just spends a minute and a half staring at the grandfather clock in the hall? Yes exterior Moscow scenes! This is the only cut I’m aware of that has them. Of course they weren’t actually shot on location, it’s all Red Square B-roll plus exterior shots still in Naples. Verdict: gayest Goncharov available in America before the turn of the millennium, probably the one the gay club reenactors had seen. Greater variety of thematic references.  The Director’s Cut (Actual Scorsese)

This one came out straight to DVD in like 2003. It was, actually, authorized by Scorsese—although he’s subsequently denied it. But it was definitely stapled together over like a weekend from whatever bits of Goncharov he could get his hands on. This does mean it has an unusually high percentage of non-overlapping Goncharov content; it also means it’s a bit of a mess.  Runtime: 3:34. Scenes In/Out: No bridge scene(!), no boat scene. Goncharov dies. (This is shot from like eight angles??) Katya fakes death, lives, gets extended in-credits epilogue in Argentina(!!) No cigarette, no fruit market. Way, way more footage of money, drugs, and guns being shipped into and out of Naples. Clock symbolism almost entirely absent. Icepick Joe gets a three minute death soliloquy for some reason. Palace ball gets like three different scenes? Andrey’s call from the phone booth goes to Valery instead of Goncharov for some reason?? A lot of frankly indulgent long shots and urban b-roll. Verdict: the worst Goncharov you might have actually watched. Only worth it for completionists, and because the DVD had a surprisingly thorough and high-quality soundtrack extra. (Don’t @ me, sapphics who are convinced it’s Sofia coming out of the cabin in Patagonia at the end of the credits and looking down the hillside at Katya—you’re right and it’s perfect but just watch the credits on DailyMotion like a human being, there’s no need to subject yourself to an hour and a half of basically arms trafficking surveillance footage.) The Director’s Cut (JWHJ0715) The version of the film that Matteo JWHJ0715 sent in for consideration at Cannes. (Scorsese did not want to send it in, didn’t feel like it was ready.) Never screened at the festival and it’s not clear how the print leaked.  Runtime: 2:38. Yes, the shortest film cut (not counting abridged TV versions) is a “directors cut”. It just. It’s Goncharov, buddy. Scenes In/Out: Yes bridge, yes boat. Goncharov dies, Andrey dies, Katya lives. Icepick Joe dies in a shootout. K/S cigarette but it’s trimmed like crazy. G/A in the fruit market but it rolls straight into the car chase (the cutting is crazy but they mostly make it work.)  Verdict: the most action-packed and claustrophobic Goncharov. The shots are mostly interior and the plot has no time to breathe. Kinda weird that that’s what JWHJ0715 thought would play in Cannes but it was a different time.  The Director’s Cut (Pseudo-JWHJ0715) Okay, we’re through the looking glass here. This is real film-buff shit. This cut was primarily available in Yugoslavia, of all places. (This is why there are non-optional subtitles in Serbo-Croatian. It claims to be from Matteo JWHJ0715 but it’s almost certainly actually finally put out by his son, Luca. Whether "his son” means “his nephew whom he raised from toddlerhood”, “his long-lost natural child”, or “his younger lover, legally adopted to create some mutual rights for their unrecognized relationship” is as you’d might expect pretty controversial in the Gonchhead community and is unlikely to be resolved soon. Runtime: 6:48 (not a typo) Scenes In/Out: Yes bridge, yes boat. Goncharov, Katya, and Andrey all die. Icepick Joe plunges silently into the Tyrrhenian. Both cigarette scenes, both fruit market scenes (separated by over two hours of film to create a parallel rather than a frantic mishmash (good call imo). Yes palace ball, very early in the film, but only using footage that doesn’t appear in any other Goncharov cut. (The partner-swapping dance sequence.) When Andrey calls Goncharov from the phone booth, it’s Sofia who answers. There’s a flashback scene with B-roll of St. Petersburg but the subtitles insist that it’s happening in Belgrade? Very bizarre, may have contributed to the suppression of the film by the Yugoslav government. Great clock footage, mirror footage, fruit footage, the works.  Verdict: the motherlode. the best Goncharov. Everyone who’s seen it says so. Block 9 hours to watch it and another 3 hours afterwards to have a psychological breakdown.  More editions: There are maybe half a dozen other prints, but we mostly know them through backward extrapolations from the viciously abridged TV-versions, so who knows. It also seems likely that the whole world of Japanese/Hong Kong/Thai remakes was inspired by another cut totally unknown in the West (given the recurrent flower imagery, among other subtler points), but it’s impossible to say if we’re talking about another cut of the Goncharov footage or some sort of ur-remake.  The point is you can keep going, but honestly, the Luca Cut is the one. If you’ve watched that, any other Goncharov just starts to seem like a blooper reel.