Reviews
Utomlennye solntsem 2 (2010)
Cannes, don't!
It is difficult to imagine, but! If anyone of the Cannes-2010 Jury read this, please, do not give any prize to this trash with "great movie" label. Do not defame my country.
So, the "masterpiece"... Every film starts with its slogan nowadays. This time it was "The Great movie about the Great war". Let's even forget Mikhalkov is not overly modest. But, if you dare to touch such important subject before the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory and declare your product "Great", it must be great.
And what we see? All the movie is full of stupidity, Mikhalkov's fantasy and himself. Several separate novels (bad plots). About what? Who knows! There are good Nazi military men and bad soviet civil men and women. Stupid soviet people force Nazis to bomb Russian Red Cross ship, or, for variety's sake, burn 100 or 500 peasants. Nazies even cry when they are forced to do so! And only Mikhalkov's Kotov does the right things. He is everywhere. He - but not any sense. There is no need for the voluminous review to summarize, Utomlyonnye solntsem 2 are: nazi ass, trying to defecate down from 400 km/h plan, and "show me your tits". Great...
BTW, "burnt" may sound better for English-speakers, but the right translation is "Tired by the sun" - not "Burnt...". And you are really tired after watching this movie...
1612: Khroniki smutnogo vremeni (2007)
Not too bad, not too good
Title in English is "1612. Chronicles of the Time of Troubles"
Well, one should know post-Soviet cinema to rate this movie. As a whole, it is not so bad as it can seem, especially against a background of lots of new films (mostly very bad ones), which our TV shows everyday on every channel.
Some expressions about History. The plot is fantastic.
1. Poor Xenia Godunova! If she knew what she would "do" in the director's imagination 400 years later, she would die of shame :))) Her travel with some "hetman" is a nonsense - just see any source about Xenia, she was one of the unhappiest women of the Time of Troubles. Also she never betrayed her country or used to live with a Polish robber. Actually she was not able to, because she had been in a monastery for about 7 or 8 years by the time of the movie action.
2. Fedor II Godunov was killed by Russian supporters of the Impostor, not by Poles!
3. Strangely enough, but the leather cannon is not a fantasm of the movie creators. Such cannons did really exist even though it is unlikely that they were used by Russians during the Time of Troubles.
4. Another (at least) strange thing is Kuzma Minin's absence in the action. Probably, he was just cut off as not wanted :))
Actors. It's impossible to understand the reasons Porechenkov was set as Prince Pozharsky. Porechenkov is no actor. If no actor tries to play such a great person you can imagine the result. Almost the same about the girl who played Xenia. She really tried and really did not manage. Zolotuhin is no doubt the great actor, but his character looks and behaves like Gandalf, but not an Orthodox Elder at all. Guys, you live in traditionally Orthodox country, is it really too hard to take a little care of your work? The actor who is absolutely excellent is Michał Żebrowski. Brilliant! Maybe, he saves the whole movie.
Picture. Nice. Battle scenes, especially storm of the fortress, are quite good.
Action. Not bad, not too slowly.
The End. It is disappointing because it's a pure propaganda. They write "November 4th, 1612, Russians liberated Moscow". Ha-ha, they are as stupid as Duma of Russian Federation: both don't even know the difference between Julian and Gregorian calendars. Bad promotion for new "holiday".
And one more thing. Positive. The movie is kind, and that's fine for such kind of film, I think.
As a result my rate is 6, maybe 7. This movie is watchable but definitely not a masterpiece.
Brat 2 (2000)
A Milestone
This movie was a real milestone, it marked the end of Yeltsin's era. Like the part one is a snap-shot of 90s, this one is the reflection of, on the one hand, started changes of RF internal and external policy. Of course, partly they were (as usual) just proclaimed changes, but it doesn't matter in this case because, on the other hand, Brat-2 showed nation's feelings and hopes of those days. As far as I remember Balabanov himself said something like "The movie was just the answer to the state of public opinion". Also keep in mind it was time just after aggression of US against Yugoslavia and time of victories of federal forces in the second Chechen war - everyone still remembered the humiliation of the first war as well as all previous decade . Now you can imagine the eye we watched Brother-2 with. And you can understand what we felt
The main message of the movie is Danila's words: "So I think that the truth is the power: the one who has truth he is stronger". This phrase has become a byword. In fact, all the movie is about that: neither ascendancy and criminal (personified as "New Russians" and Ukrainian bandits), nor money and hypocrisy (American smooth operators) can defeat the truth. The idea is shown with use of violence. This point was subject of much criticism, but it's certainly not the main thing in the film, at most the decoration for its message. If you saw Brat-2 you would understand me. Another idea is that you can find good and sincere people in any country, any nation and any order. It doesn't matter what all damned governments and bigwigs do: good hearts will always find each other in this cruel world. In addition, Brat-2 is full of sentences, including humorous, which became famous: the above-mentioned "truth", "Russians never desert their own in the war", "You bitches will answer to me for Sevastopol!" and many others.
So. Despite some rude episodes I disliked, despite (I think) excessive violence shown, I give it 10 of 10. Brother-2 deserves.
Brat (1997)
Quite true
This film is a picture of 90s. Unlike latest post-Soviet never-ending dumb movies and serials about "brigades", "bratki" and the same garbage, "Brat" is more or less realistic. Of course, I mean the spirit of those times, not that everyone had gun and shot bad guys on the streets. The feeling of hopelessness and deadlock. Freaks, poverty, "new Russians", former intelligentsia who had to stand on the streets or markets and sell all kinds of things - all that really happened in 90s. And "Brother" reflects that quite true. Bodrov (R.I.P.) is right for his character. Also there is no romanticizing of criminals, no stupid "cop"-propaganda (we can see the both clichés in the above mentioned modern Russian potboilers) just a piece of a contemporary's life even though it is obvious grotesque. Weak point: some episodes are too long.
Sibirskiy tsiryulnik (1998)
5 of 10
This movie is a good work for export sale. Collection of some widespread (among foreigners) myths about Russia: the way Russians drink vodka, the way they "have rest", "bears in the street" and so on. In addition the movie has some slip-ups like Soviet lampposts near Kremlin, stars over Kremlin towers, 50 stars on American flag of early 20th century et al. On the other hand, perhaps, Mikhalkov tried to show Russians' good sides for the foreigners who only know those myths and he did it the way they could understand. Girls cried for the love story, they loved the movie. Funny thing: the movie was produced by Mikhalkov himself, but "supported" by State Committee of Cinema, then the movie was shown on TV hey, tax-payers! ;). Wow, "The Barber" became the really profitable commercial project.
So, summary. You can watch this movie one time or another but remember: you will see authentic scenes, dresses and surroundings as well as the usual "Russian myths" made for export, quite beautiful picture and quite predictable love story.
I na kamnyakh rastut derevya (1985)
One of the best historical movies
The movie is based on Yury Vronsky's novel "Miraculous Adventures of Kuksha of Domovichi". The movie (as well as the novel) is excellent, it's a pity Rostotsky is not alive now, he was one of the best Soviet directors
I liked this movie in my childhood, I like it now. The best viking movie I have ever seen and one of the best historical movies. One can see the plot in summary and I will just admit some of my expressions. Vikings' dresses, armor and weapons show the nice picture of their way of life. Rumbles are quite good, but alas! alas! - without too much blood (what a pity for guys who watch stupid cheap action films with brain sparks and disemboweling)! The movie is both for the children and adults. There is a nice and not sickly-sweet love story in the movie: beautiful Petronella Barker's Signu (no doubt the best character in the movie) and Alexandr Timoshkin's Kuksha. Two very interesting characters: Torir and Sigurd. Nobleness, friendship, self-sacrifice one can see all those in "Dragens fange". The quality of a film (22 years old suppose) is not a problem if you watch the digitized copy.
Hitman (2007)
Potboiler
The really great! ...potboiler. The director seems to consider the audience of this masterpiece ecstatic dummies. There are a lot of imbecility in the movie, I'll mention just some of. First, only an idiot can take Sofia for SPb - they are as much alike as, e.g., Paris and Athens. So called "Russian special service" guys have a magnificent writing on their cloths: "ФϽБ". LOL - there are no letter "Ͻ" (I don't even know how to call it) in Russian. ФСБ (Federal Sequrity Service) guys never wear such uniform as in the movie. The same about "Russian soldiers's" uniform - ravings of a madman. Maybe it was a nightmare when someone saw these cloths? But unconditionally and undoubtedly the King of Imbecility is the episode with Belikov, when the writing "Народен Театър Иван Вазов" on the pediment of the building is widely shown :0)))) The writing is in Bulgarian. OK, I can understand one hasn't money to make his movie in SPb. He even can show central square in Sofia-"SPb"(who cares?). But writing in Bulgarian (who cares - anyway dummies don't understand Cyrillic letters) is just the sign of the director's deep disrespect for his potboiler audience. By the way, an example for English speakers: imagine you saw "London" or "New York" in a movie, and, for instance, a building was in that "London", and a writing (in clear English) "Dem Deutschen Volke" was on that building.
PS. I saw the dubbed version, but those who saw the original say "Russians" in the movie speak Russian with awful accent and with gross spelling mistakes.
The only reason to see this movie is to LOL. That's why the vote is "2" :0))
That's it.