Les zazous

While on a recent vacation to the Ukraine, I had a chance to see this movie. Though I speak very little Russian, I was able to follow the story quite easily. It is an excellent film about Jazz sub culture in former Soviet Russia. It was visually dynamic and very well filmed. The songs are fantastic and catchy!! I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to it being released on video in the United States. The characters are wonderfully played. The lady I saw the film with told me that it "shined a big smile on America." I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in Russian movies, musicals or the former Soviet Union.

The picture is stylish and colorful. Nevertheless, it will be better understood and perceived by Russian people, by those who grew in the Soviet Union as an adolescence and who knows what's it's like to constantly be under the pressure of the system. By wearing bright clothes and make-up, by dancing to the forbidden music, these guys resist "greyness" and boredom of the time. They try to change not only themselves , but also the milieu which surrounds them and every day and every night controls their private lives. Music is great, but again mostly it's Russian, and only those who knows it, will get this "nostalgic" feeling while watching the movie.

This film was such fun! In addition to being a most entertaining film it was so creatively filmed. The colors are wonderful, the locations believable, the music was hip and the dancing spectacular. The director was present at this Seattle Film Festival screening and took questions from the audience which made it even more interesting. I have never seen a Russian film so to hear the language and see the talented cast, it was amazing. I hope it is distributed widely and soon in the USA. I think it's time we as Americans see something other than ballet and classical music from Russia. I wouldn't be surprised to find young people in the USA emulating the "Hipsters" style of dress, Goth and Punk are so yesterday and I'm so tired of seeing everyone in jeans, t-shirts and sweat shirts!

"Stilyagi" is one of the best Russian movies I have seen in the past 10 years. The director and actors did wonderful job. The movie is both romantic and fun, and at the same time it gives insight about a curious historical phenomenon.

The World War II not only devastated Russia, but also exposed the otherwise isolated country to Western culture through captured movies, vinyl LPs, art, fashion clothes, and other spoils of war. This was particularly valuable for people who wanted to express their difference from others. They started to copy perceived "American" lifestyle, especially the clothes, using films like "Sun Valley Serenade" and the covers of jazz LPs as primary references. Not surprisingly, the result was an outlook more typical for Western show business entertainers than for mainstream design. Although the group believed that their attire was the true definition of style, the rest of Soviet population labeled them "stilyagi" to show their disapproval. In the totalitarian regime "admiration for the West" was a felony, however, after Stalin's death state security was reluctant to take action and stilyagi were facing relatively modest retaliation, mostly from local Komsomol (Communist Party youth wing) activists.

Since the movie is about liberty and has elements of a modern musical, I feel like comparing it with "Across the Universe" (2007). In this comparison, "Stilyagi" is more dynamic and psychological, while actors' voices are just as good. The main duo of Anton Shagin and Oksana Akinshina, who are playing a Komsomol activist Mels in love with a female stilyagi member Polza, are delivering excellent performance, which is especially striking given their young ages. (It is ironic that Mels is an acronym for "Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin," and "Polza" in translation from Russian means "use.") A scene of a Komsomol meeting is truly memorable and in my view is a masterpiece. The music is mostly modern Russian pop and alternative rock, with lyrics adapted to the plot. The ending, which makes a connection between liberty ideals of stilyagi and modern youth, sounds like a bold statement in the nation that is still re-thinking its past.

It was quite entertaining until the director decided to convince me that any husband should be happy about his cheating wife )) Especially if she brings home somebody else's baby )) Seriously.