Khroustaliov, mein Wagen!

Aleksey German invites you on a journey through the madness of Stalinist Moscow. Not only is the story a journey with unexpected turns, also the cinematography evokes this sense of adventure; long shots, the camera following the footsteps of the protagonist, people wandering through the line of sight. With its incredible detailedness, a true living world emerges. A delight to watch with its rich visual languge, albeit intensive to stay focussed for 2h27m.

German chose a similar style for his equally masterful Hard to be a God (2013), which enters the realm of sci-fi and historical pictures, or Gaspar Noe's virtuoso Enter the Void (2009).

With its critical approach to the Stalinist period, German realised this film exactly at the right moment (1998): in the Soviet age, the film would have been censored, and in the Putin age Stalin was placed back on his pedestal, banning the hilarious British comedy Death of Stalin (2017), a film which through a different strategy aims to similarly show the remarkable climate of the last days of Stalin. What these two films have in common is the wish to reconstruct the absurdity and arbitrariness which governed human lives at that point, served with a dose of irony and black humour.

clearly, this is a film for which either one votes 10 or votes 3. Those artsy folks will hail it a great feat, and those folks that wish to be entertained will walk out of the theather. A black and white film, the titles appear only after about 10 minutes of pivoting plots, kind of reminded me how the titles suddenly appeared in Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time the West". The random appearence of people's faces from left and right, some emerging from sauna tubs, others from foggy and steamy rooms, reminds Fellini's Otto e Mezzo. And much of the interiors, people's musings on everyday life, and the "life goes on" quality of city life, reminds the graphic novel by Ben Katchor, "Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer". On the absurbist twists and plots, "The Nose" by Gogol comes to mind, and the slight fantastic world (look out for those umbrellas suddenly popping open) brings Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita". Rich (but senseless) plot, lots of takes, lots of baroquely enriched interiors, outdoor scenes of streets in snowy winter and the muffled sound of cars rolling on snow. Even the title is random: a sentence one hears being yelled by one of the many many characters. Now, if Francesco Rosi's "La Tregua" had a bit of this randomness and absurbist quality to give more of the feel of directionless of war's end, it would have been great.

It's hard to explain or comment on this film. It's cinematography was beautiful, but even as a Russian I found the plot/story/events almost impossible to understand. That, however, did not make me enjoy the movie much less. Granted I would have loved to have understood what i watched, but i honestly think that is what the director wanted, as another poster said, to have you be lost and confused. Why? To make the film better I guess. We watch things we don't understand, or rather we understand what we are seeing but can't put together why it's happening or how it fits into the story. I would have loved to watch this film with subtitles; my Russian is now rusty and this film had a lot of dialogue and people talking over each other.

German's genius masterpiece is of course "My Friend Ivan Lapshin", made in 1984. A movie so perfect and genius that it hurts. Both films are similar, they have the same "voice" narrating - even German's son who became a director would keep using this somber narrator's voice.

Why did I give this film a 10 even though i had no idea what the story was?? A couple of reasons. I already said genius cinematography, not as perfect as "..Lapshin" but somewhat similar and even more busy, even more free and creative. The work and though that went into this film is staggering. It's a film filled with action. A true piece of art I'd say, even though almost impossible to understand. We are given no context, no historical data, no explanations about who the characters are except a couple of words on their work. This movie proves ultimately that you can like a movie without understanding it. They should have sent a poem, I have nothing else to say about this film. A very strange and different film, see it one. But if you see this film definitely see German's masterpiece "My Friend Ivan Lapshin", it's a hundred times better, the story is perfectly clear and geniously artistically told, see it before you watch "Khrustalyov mashinu", because if you watch "Khrustalyov" first you might not want to watch the other if you don't like it, which would be the biggest shame, "Ivan Lapshin" is at the top of best Russian Soviet films.

Absolutely astonishing visuals that draw one in and totally captivate for the considerable length of this film, despite the narrative being very difficult to grasp and follow properly. We are in the grip of Alexsei German's vision and find ourselves staring in disbelief at the wondrous and surreal visuals. Astonishingly crowded interiors are contrasted with snowy streets with slow moving cars and trams. Set in late 1953 as Stalin dies this impressionistic vision is totally original, amusing and horrible by turns. There is much face slapping and crazy antics reminiscent of a Marx Brothers film but also dark horrors and hinted at atrocities. A dark and involving piece that is convincing if not always particularly comprehensible. Unique.

an absolute masterpiece that becomes quite an experience for the audience.

from the first sight, it might be interesting for those who were born in soviet regime only, since the story itself is about the darkest period of soviet regime - Stalin's era - but if you look closer you will discover a Kafka-like parable of a man trying to survive in a doomed circle of fatal circumstances.

dark, atmospheric, accurate in every single character and detail, this film requires your involvement to be understood and appreciated -

and once this happens, you will achieve a cinematic treasure, one of a kind.

10/10