Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Enter Here

The return—after two decades—of renowned conceptual artist Ilya Kabakov to his Russian homeland for the mounting of several of his “total installation” exhibits in 2008 is the centerpiece around which filmmaker Amei Wallach structures her documentary about Kabakov and his wife, Emilia. Wallach blends interviews with the couple, a biographical sketch of Kabakov drawn from conversations with scholars and fellow artists detailing his earlier years in Russia, and extended readings from the diary of his beloved mother to fashion a multifaceted portrait. Kabakov's varied work is examined—from illustrations for children's books and the more personal experimental drawings and paintings produced during the 1960s (including those centering on his signature “fly” motif), through the “albums” that profile fictional characters, to the room-sized installations designed to reflect Soviet history by recreating in exhaustive detail the living spaces of figures Kabakov invented (or, in one instance, a Soviet-style schoolhouse in Marfa, TX). The footage is flamboyantly edited (lots of overlaps and split images), and the chronology is scrambled, but Enter Here's kaleidoscopic approach seems like an appropriate mirror of a man who progressed from impoverished youth, to official artistic status, to underground revolutionary activity, and finally to international celebrity in exile. DVD extras include extended interviews with the Kavakovs, and outtakes. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)