Assa

I can hardly believe that this incredible film, directed by Sergey Solovyov, was produced by the Soviet state film agency MosFilm! Set against the backdrop of the decaying seaside town of Yalta...

This film is truly a cult classic... a countercultural anthem that reflects significant sociopolitical shifts in a country undergoing profound change. Back in 1987, writer-director Sergei Solovyov and co-writer Sergei Livnev's bold and experimental rock-crime film "Chernukha" Assa or ACCA played a pivotal role in bringing the Soviet underground rock scene and the Perestroika film movement into the public eye. It's also notable for being one of the few films featuring the legendary Russian rock artist Viktor Tsoi, and it quickly became a symbol of protest, with its emotional resonance still felt by film and music enthusiasts today.

The film opens with an underground Russian rock concert in Yalta, where we meet the curious and open-minded Bananan (Sergei "Afrika" Bugaev), who plays one of the drummers. The acting is phenomenal - the chemistry between Bananan and Alika (Tatyana Drubich) is palpable. Her "boyfriend" Krymov (Stanislav Govorukhin), an intellectual who secretly leads a criminal organization under the watchful eyes of clueless KGB agents, is oblivious to their growing bond. As Alika and Bananan develop a close friendship that flirts with romance, introducing her to the world of Soviet counterculture, the tension builds!

Enough said... just watch it! No words can do this film a favour... it is above the description.

The film is just fine to shoot. Conveys the spirit of those years and immerses in the atmosphere of the late 80s. The emphasis was placed on the contact of two different worlds, two different generations. On one side is a criminal authority, a person who is well versed in this world, with a firm hand. And on the other side, a young informal guy who sings on stage, lives in his own world. And in the middle is a beautiful girl, Alika.

The Acca film Festival legalized Russian rock and roll - not so much sound as "all this": men's earrings, communication tubes, lighters dancing in the dark, the maxim "the main thing is to feel sighted" and the whole countercultural show-off, without which rock becomes just highly paid music.

When I think of this now, 12 years after I saw this movie for the first time, I can probably compare it somehow with "Fargo". The same gloomy colors, the same snow everywhere, the same slow motion of people dozing in winter like bears. The same sad realism in all the scenes, including the car chases, the same end. And also -- and this is the most amazing of it all, in my opinion -- the same feeling of light you experience at the end, despite the end which can hardly be called happy.

This film also has a winning mixture of criminal plot and love triangle. (Remember "Heat"?). A young girl is waiting for her lover in the snowy Yalta, and he comes one night too late because of the storm -- and in this one night she meets a young musician who offers her to spend the night in his apartment. (Mind you, this is a Soviet film -- there are no sex scenes at all in the movie, but the simplest gestures become erotic as they are real, as we all have been in those situations of late teens who just discover each other). Her lover is an underworld tycoon who manages to plan some more of his dark affairs, to mislead the KGB trail and to entertain the girl -- he saw for everything but the musician. Clever, rich, attractive, charming when needed (although extremely cruel when needed as well), brilliantly educated erudite -- he can do nothing against a young boy who has nothing but a pure heart and a love this heart can generate. And as usual in the love triangles, it does not end well for the involved sides -- for some lethally, for some with awful soul scars...

The movie is slow and viscous -- but this is its charm. The music of Grebenschikov (and the XVII-century piece of "Gorod Zolotoi", of course) became a real Russian classic; the historical jumps to the times of Paul I look like an original move of Sergei Solovyov and not like a ridiculous trial to look educated. The guest appearance of Victor Tsoi seems well-timed as well. And finally, Sergei Bugayev (the musician) has a winning role in itself, a martyr against his will -- but to play the parts of Alika and Krymov, it took all the talent of Tatyana Drubich and Stanislav Govorukhin, and they deliver the performances which will never be forgotten.

A good test of movies' quality is watching it again, 10-12 years after its release. I watched it recently, and it became worse -- the colors of the Soviet film faded, and the voices became muter. Technicalities. But as for the movie itself, I dreamt of it at night. This was an epochal movie for the 80-ies, but one that remains as a monument even in the XXI century.

Assa is considered one of the greatest films of the post Soviet generation. The soundtrack is not very far from what we call hipster nowadays - divergence from the mainstream. There are many underground musicians that either contributed musically or artistically. Also, it focuses on a major issue that existed among the "perestroika youth". How to choose a life of honesty and civility, when corruption promises "white mountains". Who can we trust if not our government? What will be the future, what is important in a life? These are all the questions that this movie focuses on.

Assa is a film for and by the youth and by the counter culture of its time. Aside from relevant problems being raised in the movie (a rare thing of its time), the film has notable music (that is still remembered and loved today by the grown up counterculture) and hipster style that existed and lived in Soviet Union before it became popular in US.

If pre-perestroika and the mindset of different people during that time interests you, as well as learning about non-mainstream music and counterculture, this is the movie for you.

"Assa" gained a cult following in Russia upon its initial release, and I suppose that it still can be considered so. The movie is not very easy to get into. It's long, very slow-paced, and quite dark in terms of actual colors as well as atmosphere. Artistically, it has some good things going for it including the soundtrack, the actors' performances and some arty injections. I still don't think that the movie is as great as some people paint it out to be, although, one could probably argue that it, in a way, strided to fill a gap, one way or the other, for the young, subculture-oriented Russian 80's generation. Using the Soloviev connection, I'll say that if "Chernaya roza - emblema pechali..." was an, inverted, absurdistic take on later-period Soviet life, then "Assa" portrays a tragic clash between idealistic innocence and harsh Soviet reality.