Les zazous

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!

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.

I saw this last month at the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival and of the 23 films I saw there this year I would put this at the top. The time is post Stalinist era Moscow 1955 and Mels (Anton Shagin) is a typical 20 year old member of the local youth Communist party where his girlfriend Katya (Eugeniya Brik) is one of the youth leaders. Co-existing in the gray cold war world of the USSR are the Stilyagi, an underground youth movement of no-conformists who wear outrageous bright colored black market western fashions and wear high pompadours and listen to underground subversive jazz and rockabilly music. Mels is attracted to the Hipsters and in particular the lovely Polza (Oksana Akinshina) who has westernized her name to Polly. Mels adopts their lifestyle and westernizes his name to Mel. He is eventually accepted as a Hipster by Polly and her friends Betsi (Ekterina Vilkova), Bob (Igor Voynarovsky) and their leader Fred (Maksim Matveev) a dashing young son of a wealthy diplomat. The scene for all the Hipster action is out in the open in an uptown district called 'Broadway' where the Pompadour Club is located and where underground records, clothing and musical instruments can be bought in dark alleys and safe houses. Directed by Valery Todorovsky and adapted for the screen by Yuri Korotkov, the author of the novel 'Boogie Bones' about the hipsters and bootleg western recordings this film blends drama with sly comedy and wraps them around a bright colorful musical that is indeed a cinematic event. Fantastic music score from Konstantin Meladze that is reminiscent of the music of the group Manhattan Transfer with wonderful clothing costumed by Aleksandr Osipov that are reminiscent of the Stray Cats and West Side Story this is a lavish production with a beautiful production design by Vladimir Gudilin and richly photographed by Roman Vasyanov. Lots of veteran Russian actors in supporting roles like Sergey Garmash, Oleg Yankovskiy, Alexsey Gorbunov, Irina Rosanova and Leonid Yarmolnik. A very original film chronicling a movement that would lead the way to the acceptance of jazz and rock and roll and future movements like hippies, punks and hip hop rappers. These counter-culture Hipsters of yesterday are the ultimate round pegs in a square world. I would hope this gets distribution in American art house theaters. The story itself isn't all that compelling but I don't think it's meant to be. It's more of a visual and auditory experience and it's a cinematic event. I would highly recommend it and give it a 10 out of 10.

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.

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.