It's quite possible you've never heard of Boris Ryzhy, a young Russian poet who committed suicide in 2001 aged just 26. It's equally possible that, having watched this beautifully made documentary eulogy to Ryzhy and his work, you may well feel you still know very little about him as a person.
This is a film which seems more to be in search of Ryzhy, attempting to locate any signs remaining of him within the crumbling Soviet tower blocks which formed the physical backdrop of his poetry. Ultimately, director Aliona Van Der Horst finds only an implacable absence.
Van Der Horst interviews Ryzhy's widow and son and also follows his sister back to the urban wasteland where he was raised and ran in gangs during the dawning era of Perestroika. Few people seem to have any memories of him. Even his now teenage son seems disinterested in discussing him beyond stating a blunt dislike of his father's poems.
But Van Der Horst's elegant direction interweaves these interview set-ups with woozy, slow-paced excursions into Ryzhy's world, perfectly counter-pointing the narrations of his poetry. No explanation is forthcoming regarding his ultimate suicide and Ryzhy appears only fleetingly in old interview footage. Most poignantly, he is last seen towards the end of the film, wandering through a ruined landscape as if ready to disappear back into the milieu which formed him.
This is a delicately crafted documentary, expertly portraying a theme of never-ending loss and how little anything changes after the aftermath of trauma.
Thu 25 June 16:30 Cineworld
Fri 26 June 13:45 Filmhouse 2