Screening: 'Amphibian Man' (1962)

Purportedly among Quentin Tarantino’s favorite Russian films, "Amphibian Man" tells the story of Ichthyander, who spends the majority of his time living underwater thanks to the shark gill implants he has received from his doctor-scientist adoptive father. Although he prefers to spend his time under the sea, he falls in love with a young woman who he saves from a shark attack, and enters the society of a nearby town, where the greedy capitalist Zurita plans to exploit Ichthyander’s abilities to harvest pearls from the ocean floor.

One of the most popular films of the Soviet Union, "Amphibian Man" was originally attacked for “spoiling the high tastes of the Soviet viewership with the genre of the adventure film.” However, the film has achieved cultural longevity, with the recent Guillermo del Toro film "Shape of Water" notably taking influence. Chebotaryov’s film, taking influence from Alexander Belyaev’s eponymous novel, attempts to give image to the new Soviet (post)human.

Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies | View More Events
Co-hosted with: Princeton Institute for International & Regional Studies, Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (OWNER), Slavic Languages & Literatures

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