12 stulev

For someone who knows about Sovjet Union history and a lit bit about Russian culture then this film will be understandable. Actually everyone who wants to know about russian culture then I'll recommend to see this film. And not to forget in this film you can see the best actors of russian/Sovjet Union history.

This my first time writing a review on IMDb, but I could not resist 'cause this movie is a brilliant, exceptional masterpiece. It is larger-than-life (or at least as close to it as only possible)! It is extremely funny, sad and philosophically loaded at the same time. About how many things could one say that!? The tandem Mironov-Papanov here is one of the best in the history of cinema.

Many years ago I saw an American movie (do not remember which one) where the character was explaining that if there was a fire and he could save either the last copy of a Shakespeare play or a human life he would save the Shakespeare copy. Although I completely disagree with this attitude, one of the things I would ALMOST choose to save in such a situation instead of a human life would be the '12 chairs' with Mironov-Papanov...

The supporting cast and locations are good, the music delightful, but I was disappointed by Mironov and Papanov. Mironov is surprisingly wooden and humorless, without the sparkle that characterizes Ostap Bender. The film suffers for it. Papanov takes his cue from Mironov's performance, plodding through the film without contributing much. They were capable of far better things. Lenoid Gaidai's version is not perfect, but on the whole, it conveys the feel of the book better. On the plus side, this version retained many of the minor characters dropped from the earlier film, but if you haven't read the book, they won't be missed one way or another.

I am not wondering that this movie has such a low rating in imdb. As you can see from the current valuation of this movie, it has a very high average mark, more then movies from top 10 of imdb. It is understandable, because this is the best comedy ever made. I have seen almost all movies from top 250 of imdb and I don't hesitate to admit that this movie is the best. The reason why this movie is so underestimated is a poor marketing of this movie. I am even convinced that it is not translated to any language. Although, if someone can't enjoy this movie in original, a lot would be lost. So, it is even worth to learn Russian to watch this masterpiece. This movie has the best script, the best actors and the best director. The previous make of Soviet Union movie industry was not so brilliant as this one. The reasons of failure of previous product are a not enough elaborated script and the choice of not appropriate actors. I am forced to acknowledge that some Russian actors and one director are better then anyone in Hollywood or Western Europe. I am not a Russian and I even don't like Russians' mentality and traits and features of character of "an average Russian". I hope the Russian movie industry will redeem this error by a far better marketing of this Zakharov's masterwork. However, I doubt about it. This movie should be in top 10 of imdb!

This is pure genius - every word, every movement, and yet it doesn`t seem like they are orchestrated. There`s a feeling of improvisation through the movie. Mironov is like a flying comet, you almost see the sparks.The humor is so powerful that gets tears rolling, but I`m afraid only for those who are acquainted with Russian history and can understand the situations. I`m not at all sure that any translation could bring this across cultural boundaries. It should be watched in Russian and with good prior knowledge. Ten out of ten and it flows over that ! P.S. Previous, older version of "12 chairs" is not even comparable with this masterpiece.