Sredi serykh kamney

Ten-year-old Vasya must deal with the death of his mother and the shortcomings of his grieving father. In the underground ruins at an overgrown cemetery, he comes across a strange community of outsiders who are the very antithesis of his own affluent home – even if death and hopelessness dominate in both worlds. The inhabitants of the cellar also include two children, with whom he becomes friends. Vasya steals a porcelain doll from his sister to cheer up the small, sick Marusya, which end up creating a small crisis at home. With her adaptation of a 1885 short story by Vladimir Korolenko, Muratova sets out in a new cinematographic direction. Narrative conventions and expectations are subverted; a sense of artificiality in both speech and actions create alienation and distance. AMONG GREY STONES was strongly censored, whereupon Muratova removed her name from the finished film and credited it to Ivan Sidorov. (al)