Almost everybody likes a teenage rom-com with reminiscences of My Fair Lady, in which the unattractive and unpopular girl turns out to be beautiful and self-confident, just to discover that it is not what really matters, but (surprise!) love is... But usually you do not expect these flicks to be directed and manned by A-grade director and actors, or convey a memorable image of a country and way of life falling apart!
This is the case with Daneliya's Nastya that powerfully depicts the Yeltsin-era Russian moral and economic decadence as its background, without ever loosing a mood of optimism, cheerfulness and openness. No hysterical laughters here, but a constant smile; and this is family-friendly entertainment, without dirty jokes. (Although too young viewers might find this dull.)
The otherwise good-looking Kutepova is very convincing as the clumsy-moving and frightfully too-friendly "ugly Nastya" and despite being an amateur actress, the breathtakingly beautiful Markova plays "transformed Nastya" very adequately. (You could say that her acting is wooden but "transformed Nastya" is in a shock-like state for days.) Valery Nikolaev is an annoying ne'er-do-well in the beginning but suddenly shows a lot of dignity and loveliness in the metro station scene -- similarly to Heath Ledger's stadium performance in "10 Things I Hate About You". (He moves very gracefully, too.) You might think that the great comical actor Leonov is wasted in a few-words supporting role as Nastya's boss but he excels in that, too and at last he does not steal the show from the young ones -- Nastya's mother does that sometimes.
