Synopsis

The film is dedicated to the renowned film director Sergey Paradjanov; to the unfolding memory of a man who was refereed to as a genius, a gay, a mime, a tradesman, a saint. The film possesses no plain and logical plot line and altogether breaks away from the ordinary conception of any film genre.

It is a psychoanalysis of the nether-world essence of the great master, a search for other dimensions about which we dare not even sometimes speculate.

Bobo is also peculiar in that it uses the entire material of the master’s last unfinished film “Confession” accompanied by Paradjanov’s confession why he closed down the film, left it unfinished.

“Hell and Heaven” this is the problem that preoccupies us in the film BOBO.

Nariné Mkrtchyan, Arsen Azatyan

Bobo or The Bogeyman is a must for cinephiles, capturing Sergej Paradshanov confronting his fantasies and the realities thatsieged him until his death last year. Bobo is lovingly shot and relentless in its solidarity with the visionary Armenian filmmaker as he struggles to complete what would have been his swan song with a powerful, piercing cry. That film was to be called The Confession, and Narine Mkrtchian and Arsen Azatian manage to provide us with a respectful and tender glimpse of what it would have been like. But more than that, they strive, through Parashanov, to convey some lasting, poetic images of a great artist single­mindedly hanging on to a vision that comforted many through very troubled times.

The death of Paradshanov is an irrecoverable loss to the cinema, but this document at least brings us a final, vivid picture, lest we should even think of forgetting. It marks the first full-length outing of a couple hitherto appreciated for four promis­ingshorts. The discussion at the end of the film should be worthwile as well.        

Don Ranvaud