You I Love (2004) User Reviews

Charismatic Leads, Contemporary, Thoroughly Enjoyable

[ekeby · 7/10 · 19 August 2006]

I really liked this little Russian movie . . . It's about a love triangle: ad exec, anchorwoman, zoo keeper. We get to see an upscale Moscow couple at work and play, and that in itself is interesting, particularly when an attractive and unsophisticated rural guy is thrown into the mix.

I particularly liked watching the triangle develop. The simple honesty of the young zoo keeper--an Asian-Russian--as he confronts the big city and the object of his desire, is unlike anything I can recall seeing anywhere else. The schism between urban and rural Russia is apparent when the zoo keeper attempts to grasp the concept of an ATM, and when he is enchanted by the ease of turning an electric lamp on and off. While the gay relationship is not shown in an explicit way, the playfully obtuse suggestions of it are fully erotic and believable. The anchorwoman's struggle to keep her man to herself is clever, and again, believable.

There's some melodrama toward the end that is the weakest aspect of the movie. As a plot device, it could have been replaced with something a little more in keeping with the basic concept of the main characters' relationship. Still, it's a plausible story line, and isn't really the main thrust of the movie.

This movie put me in mind of Threesome, a seriously neglected American movie that covers similar ground in a similarly honest and refreshing way. They share an authentic depiction of contemporary love with humor and pathos as equal partners.

This movie deserves a wider audience, and not just a gay audience.

Lightweight Russian charm

[grahamclarke · 7/10 · 16 June 2005]

Foreign films have an intrinsic advantage in that their milieu in itself tends to have great charm for audiences unfamiliar with that particular country and its people. What we know of foreign countries is largely based on superficial television coverage so when we seemingly are afforded a supposedly more realistic glimpse into foreign cultures, the result has a certain refreshing quality to it. "You I Love" owes it success primarily to this factor. It's something of a novelty to watch a Russian light comedy concerning a bisexual Muscovite yuppie.

While the end result is not more than an amusing 85 minutes the three protagonists have very engaging screen presences, especially the two males in their debut appearances, (according to IMDb).

Very lightweight but not without charm.

Still Refreshingly Young Post-Perestroika Russian Film with Gay Romance

[jazzest · 6/10 · 8 May 2005]

Innocently playing with modern Moscow's racial diversity (e.g., an African-American executive in an advertisement agency), capitalism (e.g., an overly clichéd CM: "What is Love?" "Love is Cola!"), and, of course, gay romance, You, I Love proves that the Post-Perestroika Russian cinema still remains refreshingly young. MTV-influenced editing and post-pro techniques boast their variety: the fast-paced-slideshow on the first date of Vera (Lyubov Tolkalina) and Tim (Evgeny Koryakovsky), the mixing-reality-and-dream montage on Vera's reflection during her bathing, and the flashback sequence with fast-paced editing and over-exposure on Vera's hallucination during her physical therapy. The appearance of Uloomji (Damir Badmaev) is annoyingly unsophisticated; this casting choice may be due to producing a sense of reality considering his character, but, hey, this is a slick flick whose other two leads are good-looking as if they were movie stars.

A Refreshing Peek Inside Post-Perestroika Moscow Social Life

[gradyharp · 22 July 2005]

YA LYUBLU TEBYA (You I Love) is a fast paced bonbon of a movie from Russia being hailed in some circles as the 'hottest gay film of the year'. Hot it is not: fun it is. The message from director/writers Olga Stolpovskaja and Dmitry Troitsky seems more a PR statement about how Westernized and modern in social behavior Russia has become since Perestroika than creating a significant gay film. Yet somehow the result is a rapid sequence entertainment that should appeal to a very wide audience.

Timofei (Evgeny Koryakovsky) is a young, successful ad executive in Moscow, able to afford all of the luxuries of his Western counterparts. He is in a relationship with Vera (Lyubov Tolkalina) who is a popular TV personality. They have a fresh and vital lifestyle, emphasizing the manifestations of capitalism. Simultaneously we meet Uloomji (Damir Badmaev) who comes from the poorer provinces, the son of a strict and struggling worker family. Uloomji strikes out for Moscow to find a job and a life. He 'accidentally' encounters Timofei who feels sorry for the homeless youth and takes him to his apartment for care...and cavorting! The socially naive Uloomji and the sexually naive Timofei collide (the metaphor is readily apparent) and are discovered in embrace when Vera returns home. The remainder of the story is how the two men and one woman grow into a ménage a trois of sorts and how the friends and families of the three respond.

While the story is really one of bisexuality it is played as a drawing room comedy (? TV sitcom Moscow style?) and while the film takes a lot of visual and technical chances - some of which work well, others spoil - the final result is a light entertainment that doesn't really push the edge purported by the trailers and the PR media glut. The three main actors are excellent and show promise of becoming stars in their own right. This is a fun film that asks the audience to just step on for the ride for an inside look at the now-open Moscow life! Grady Harp

Premise not new. This presentation outstanding.

[[e-mail] · 9/10 · 6 April 2005]

The premise of three people trying to figure out who loves whom, get past jealousy, open to the possibility of love not limited and find joy and fulfillment in sharing their love and making a good life together is not a new one. But in "You I Love" the familiar story is engaging, the humor fun. Even the anger parts and the resolution of those is believable. I never found myself thinking "Right. Spare me!" I never found myself wishing it had come out another way. I don't know the correct word for the way the camera flashed about in between-scenes clips, but it was done so well I enjoyed it, was never distracted by it. Titles were quite readable and in perfectly good English. They moved at a good pace for me. I have already recommended this film to many friends who I know will come out of it thanking me for telling them about it.

Amateurish film, by any measure.

[paul-1058 · 1/10 · 12 February 2005]

Really, a dismal piece of work. I would rate it as unwatchable, if only for the acting. But let's not give short shrift to the other poor aspects of this film: it was also poorly written, edited, scored, and directed. Everything about this film just says, "Film school, first attempt."

Be assured, this move is not significant as a "gay Russian film." Gay relationships in film are hardly groundbreaking events, and unless you can put a reasonable story around it, it deserves only to be significant as a "a bad Russian film."

The positive reviews I've read strike me as overwhelming patronizing to Russian film-making.

Note: I can only really comment on the first hour of this movie, since that's all we stayed for. If you've become curious about this movie and just must see it, I strongly recommend you stay out of the theater and make this one a rental.

Sex in (the city) Moscow

[HoMordomo · 8/10 · 3 November 2004]

This film reminds us of "Sex and the City", but with the city being Russia's capital.

Showing us a very stylized Moscow (as "SEX" does with New York), the movie spotlights the private lives of 3 main characters in a modern take of now "liberal" Russia. Two of them have glamorous lives and careers, affording us viewers locations (luxury apartments, offices, bars, and so on) to match; a global, thoroughly Westernized side of Moscow we rarely see on film.

The third character is from the Asian part of Russia, throwing in some gritty reminders about how others, especially racial minorities, live in Russia. This character's family, predictably, is more conservative and closed minded than the other more "European" characters. This character and his family also remind the audience of Russia's multi cultural nature.

Minor characters inter related to the main three complete the mosaic of modern day Moscow the film paints. Each is a composite of stereotypes -a foreign multi national executive, two senators (the three living similar hedonistic lifestyles), young people with aspiring consumer driven dreams; all but the "Asian Russians" quite capitalistic.

While not revealing any particularly novelty, the film is interesting to Westerners as a glossy display of Moscow life, with the stereotypes we read about in the press, and hear about in World News, brought to life on screen.

The basic plot however confirms (at least to me) that Moscow is not yet that up to date and permissive. The main relationship formed is a compromise with the conservative reality of Russian morals, and I think not very realistic in any society.

One may infer from this film that progressive trendy Muscovites can accept bisexuality, but not real homosexuality. This film makes it clear that it's OK to be gay if you're really bisexual. At least, that's a start for this conservative society. But it is not what (I believe) most of the film's target audiences are expecting to see. In the end, the message the film sends is a cop out.

Very Russian!

[A Verdade · 9/10 · 7 October 2004]

This film, mostly shown outside Russia in gay film festivals, is not mainly a gay film, but rather a statement on diversity in Russia today. Having said that, it is also very stereotypically Russian in its length, cinematography, and in relying on subtleties to tell the truth. The exception to this is sex and nudity. These are not subtle, not very explicit either, but enough to say to the audience "look, how modern we are" while "hotter" issues (homosexuality, inequality between racial groups, economic and political crisis) are self censored.

Still, this is a step forward in free expression for Russian cinema. They still have to masquerade homosexuality as bisexuality (though foreign executives, corrupt politicians, and young hustlers can be gay - this shows where Russian society, at its most liberal level, accepts sexual diversity). It's OK as long as the "normal people" in society aren't gay - bisexual at most. Likewise, the huge socio economic gap existing between "ethnic Russians" and the eastern, more Asian looking ones, is glossed over with cute prejudice and cultural clichés.

We see a very stylized "Sex and the City" -like Moscow: one where, for the most part, people live in luxury apartments, drive expensive cars, and are sexually liberal, even between races and sexes, and threesomes. But hey, it's a movie. Enjoy!

A film about love rather than just a gay film.

[wally-46 · 8/10 · 15 September 2005]

I believe reviewer Paul should watch the director and producer's comments. Sure, a poorly filmed piece by Hollywood standards but this is in Russia and it is groundbreaking for them. It's not just a film about homosexuals but rather love and everyone's right to seek it, find it and have it the way they want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. Uloomji has a chance meeting with Tim and you know that something unsaid has transpired between them. Along comes Vera to stir up the pot and the charisma of Uloomji affects her too. Three different people who manage to be oblivious to what others may think as they begin to work out their differences. Adding the other family conflicts added to the humor and suspense of how it will end and where the title comes from. I liked the film. It made me work some to watch subtitles and hear the Russian but the message came across.

Its quite Russian

[rfpaixao · 9/10 · 3 January 2009]

This movie has a real Russian feeling in it. The way Russians behave towards each other, the way they treat people and their warmth is something that is not well known for people who has never been there. Definitely the movie is stylized, but if it reminds anything that would be Nine and a Half Weeks. The previous post misses the "invasion" of the "peasant" into the lives of sophisticated urbanites as an attempt to show "how multiracial" Russia has become. It reminds me Bunuel, instead. In L'Age D'or, a movie from the 1920's, there is a scene in which a bunch a peasants pass through an opulent party where the burgeosie is feasting, in a surreal way. It's as like the peasants breath life in that artificial environment. Life, love is all there is.

The unconventional love is everywhere, in an absurd way

[anderzzz-1 · 9/10 · 31 October 2009]

This is a film that easily can be given a long existentialistic interpretation a la Sartre or some similar French philosopher. The depraved and superficial meet the natural and authentic, and in some weird theatrical way the events lead to an unconventional relation. I do not think this film should be viewed as a realistic drama. It is slightly absurd, and even the "bad characters" of the film are more absurd than nasty.

I liked the film for its crazy and indirect and dreamlike approach to unconventional love and relations. No preaching, not that much reality, and a healthy portion of strangeness. If there is a message, then I believe that is best described as "the path to joyful unconventional life is everywhere, just look!"

A cheap proclaim that's not even worth the rental

[Pitumisio · 4 May 2007]

I have read on a previous post something like director-writers Olga Stolpovskaja and Dmitry Troitsky seemed more to be issuing a statement about a westbound, tolerant, more modern Russia than committing to a significant, if not merely credible storytelling. And that's just the tip of the iceberg; I saw it all in order to review it.

To make a long story short: the movie's unskilled actor direction, the ludicrous resolution of its plot, and clamorous potholes in screen writing, editing, photography, etc make this an excellent choice for undemanding audiences who, yes, believe its statement and pay for theatre tickets. Which in the end is, probably, what matters to some.