Moscow Never Sleeps (2017) User Reviews

Melancholic Russian Soap Opera

[larrys3 · 3/10 · 2 September 2019]

To me, this film played like a Russian soap opera. The lives of multiple characters are followed and interconnect on Moscow City Day.

However, the themes are so melancholic and many of the characters are so unlikable, that I didn't care much what happened to any of them by the time the movie was over.

Pleasant movie about Moscow, but has controversial aspects

[akhatman · 7/10 · 5 September 2015]

Just watched this movie in Moscow, on an open air event in Gorky Park. It's been a free screening on rainy Moscow anniversary, and yet the movie theater was full of people, and we heard the movie director presenting the movie in Russian.

I am rating the movie 7 on the merit of that lately fair enough movies about Moscow have become rare & exceptional. Actually I've seen better movies rated 7, but after hesitating for a while, I am rating this one 7 too.

The movie shows several stories of people who live in Moscow and share various social backgrounds, from a famous actor to a high profile businessman and up to a bunch of typical hooligans. All of them are connected like in the well known "Paris, I love you", but unlike the "Paris...", this movie is a bit more dramatic and a bit gloomy, generally following the harsh Russian reality. The movie in general is about 2 things: relations between people and simultaneously about human's place in life, as one of the results of those relations.

Pros for the movie are: 1. it actually combines a foreign vision with Russian experience, which is really nice because it helps to present common Russian things in a bit universal way. 2. it's pleasant to watch, nice camera work and even some amazing views of Moscow included (thanks to the lately advanced drones technology I guess) 3 it's quite complex in plot and many times it is close to being realistic

Cons I'd name the following: 1. in fact to me it does not represent Moscow; by that I mean that after watching the movie you will not in fact get the right vision of what Moscow is. Well, Moscow is rather huge and of course it is possible that somewhere something related happens, but to me Moscow is about hopes, opportunities, huge government machine, luxury and poverty, changes to human lives, aspirations and hardships, which later are normally rewarded. This movie concentrates on some individual stories, which follow in the general Moscow stream, but do not represent it sufficiently enough. 2. even though the movie is rather realistic, at times it is not realistic enough. 3. the movie is rather full of clichés. Actually, the movie suggests the image of Moscow as seen from provincial towns: Moscow is huge, corrupt, and a bit scary and always dangerous. This is a big cliché, and it is not fully true in my opinion. 4. actually the name of the movie does not correspond well to the movie itself. Moscow never sleeps? That makes me think that the movie will be devoted to either nightlife of Moscow or at least to some operations being held 24/7. Not in the movie. We see several episodes related to the nightlife, but not really enough to relate well to the movie name.

Despite the cons - sorry for those, - the movie is pleasant to see, and you still see some true things about Russian society in many aspects. I was left with positive impressions after watching it.

Excellent

[rego-26372 · 9/10 · 9 September 2015]

I saw this movie at its Moscow premier and thought it was excellent. The casting was very good, and I thought that the movie gave as accurate an impression as I've seen in a movie.

While of course any movie will rely on stereotypes to a certain extent, this film made all of the characters and scenes interesting and believable, and sketched out several Moscow stereotypes, including the big businessman, the popular celebrity, the good girls, the bad girls, the hoodlums, the Soviet babushka, and the people that interact with them in a satisfying way. In addition, the movie's portrayal of Moscow nightlife, traffic, and attitudes rings true.

I thought that the cinematography was excellent. While the film is generally not political, there are a few scenes with political overtones, including at least one which generated spontaneous applause at the premier.

I went into this movie not expecting any in particular but enjoyed it very much and highly recommend to anyone interested in a very good contemporary Russian film.

Good movie

[gabitova-alba · 10/10 · 6 September 2015]

Yesterday I saw this film and it was very nice to see such a realistic movie because I had an experience to move to this city and to see almost everything portrayed in the film. Old apartments with alcoholic people when I was looking to rent a room with little amount of money, and I understand that my good command of singing doesn't mean anything here, and so on. And at that moment this city went upside down in my eyes.

But what I really missed to see in the film was that Moscow on the other hand is an amazing city. You have a lot of opportunities to find a good job with fair salary there, and you don't need to find a rich man justifying it with your life being difficult, and neither shall you be thinking that you only can sell out your body to make a good living. I would really want to see this optimistic view of the city where I am living.

Not tradional russian film, but good

[westhillman · 8/10 · 20 November 2022]

This film give us some snapshots on modern Moscow life.

Movie characters includ city developers and his lover, brokenhearted young man, retaired comedian, divorced mother and her unhappy school girl, aged pianist suffered in alzheimer disease have to live in an old people's home alone , just like real people in any modern big city, struggling for business, money, love, or just for living.

Director Johnny, O'Relly unfolds several Corssed storyline , more like Guy Ritchie did in <Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels > but tradtional Rsssian film.

And to me, the movie get a high score in film editing and music.