The Singers (2025)

This film is nominated for a 2026 Academy Award in the Live Action Short category, which is filled with interesting nominations this year. What is notable about this is that it is a modern and updated version of an Ivan Turgenev short story of the same name. It was published in a collection of short stories and dates to 1850. In the text, a group of gruff men at a bar finds connection by baring their souls in an impromptu singing competition. In an interesting twist, the filmmaker was inspired to adapt the old work when juxtaposing it with a modern medium. The only thing that I have read by Turgenev is Fathers and Sons, which is a reflection on that relationship and is very good--I read it a decade ago when I was headed to Russia as a tourist destination, something not to be repeated and not a good idea at this point--which is a shame on many levels, but Russia has a deep and interesting history and is home to many beautiful treasures. In any case, I digress. Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, translator and popularizer of Russian literature in the West. His first major publication, a short story collection titled A Sportsman's Sketches, was a milestone of Russian realism. He is now dwarfed by Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy--rightly so--but he was a master at what he did, especially when exploring male relationships. This modern take on that mid-nineteenth century story is one that is as moving as it is bizarre. Men who are into a world unto themselves come together with the group activity of a singing competition and become a little bit less alone as a result.