From September 25 to October 4, the «Illusion» cinema will host the 28th Moscow International Festival of Archival Films (28 MMFAF). The soloists of the contemporary music ensemble «kloto» were invited to provide live sound accompaniment for Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s dark drama.
«The Last Man» (released internationally as The Last Laugh) is a masterpiece of German silent cinema from 1924, directed by the iconic Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. The film is considered one of the pinnacles of German Expressionism.
Murnau virtually eliminated textual narration on screen. The entire film contains only one intertitle before the epilogue; the entire story is conveyed exclusively through the language of visual imagery, facial expression, and acting.
Cinematographer Carl Freund revolutionized the medium—the camera no longer remained static. It moved on dollies, flew through the air on wires, and was mounted on the cameraman’s chest on a fire escape to convey the subjective gaze and the character’s state of profound shock.
In 2017, Carol Biffa—a renowned French composer and virtuoso pianist, a master of contemporary improvisation—composed the soundscape for this silent film. His music for Murnau’s masterpiece moves away from the classical clichés of silent film accompaniment. Instead, he created a neo-romantic, at times unsettling, and minimalist canvas that is perfectly synchronized with Karl Freund’s revolutionary camera movements. The strings and organ forge a dense, enveloping atmosphere that underscores the tragedy of the «little man» without resorting to excessive melodrama.
