Moscow on the Hudson

I first saw this film when the Iron Curtain was still firmly in place and of course it was intriguing and funny. Seeing it again, I found it quite prescient if less intriguing and funny. Robin Williams plays a Muscovite who visits the Big Apple as part of a cultural troupe. On a visit to Bloomingdales, he suddenly decides to defect (a very spin is made on this term!). The rest of the film deals with his attempts to settle in the US.

Obviously given the great political changes in the USSR and Eastern Europe since the film was released, it has aged noticeably. However, it is not entirely without merit. The big plus is obviously Robin Williams. He was and is a great actor and seems to have put in great effort on his Russian and spoken English accents. Notice the way he says "Mister". The hot, hot, hot Maria Conchita Gonzalez (Miss Venezuela 1971) plays an Italian immigrant and the love interest. The overall bent of the film is liberal - African-American families are especially realistically and positively portrayed. The central lesson of the film is that the transition from a Communist to a Capitalist mentality is not easy and the adjustment can bring great joy and sorrow. That is a very valid lesson in the largest context of the later collapse of the USSR and the painful transition ex-Soviet states are still going through.

Robin Williams truly shows his amazing acting skills in this film. This movie is more of a drama than a comedy which is to be expected when you hear the plot of the story. Williams's Russian is quite convincing and the over all acting from the cast must be a 10 out of 10. It is easy to feel for Vladimir and the journey brings you along. The accuracy is stunning for those who lived through those kinds of situations. Vladimir finds that life is not perfect anywhere but he is sure happy to live in the land of opportunity, the land that gave him `Freedom'.

My main reason for checking this movie out was because of Robin Williams. After seeing him in so many great films like "Insomnia" and "One Hour Photo" and watching his numerous hilarious talk show appearances, I've become even more curious about checking out the movies on his filmography that I have yet to see. Well, this is more than just a Robin Williams vehicle. Paul Mazursky cleverly combines comedy and drama, and expresses some good morals. He accurately portrays an immigrant's journey to America, and how he/she expects that America is a beautiful place where everyone can run free without any set limitations. It starts out as a fish-out-of-water comedy in which Russian immigrant Williams (who decides he wants to become an American citizen) explores the oddities of New York City and revels in its ambience, no matter how rough the neighborhoods are, no matter how many wackos are running around. Then he slowly learns that freedom has a price. America may be a free country, but that doesn't stop him from getting mugged and having his upstairs neighbors constantly complain about him playing his saxophone.

One thing that impressed me was rather than have a bunch of American actors don Russian accents, Mazursky actually has the actors speaking Russian to each other. Now, there are certain movies like "Schindler's List" and "K-19: The Widowmaker" in which we do see American actors speaking English and putting on foreign accents and still prove to be good movies, but it's always more engaging to see characters from a certain country speaking their native language. I mean, what if Russia were to make a movie set in America, where all the American characters were speaking Russian in American accents? How goofy would that look? I'm guessing that Williams was the only American actor in the cast, and the rest are actual Russians. I don't speak Russian, so I can't tell whether or not Williams was actually speaking Russian, but it looked convincing to me. But since mainstream American audiences have grown to hate reading subtitles, you probably won't see a movie like this released nationwide.

Robin Williams gives a terrific performance, totally disappearing into character. I was actually convinced he was a foreigner, as he speaks just like a Russian immigrant, in broken English, not articulating his words one bit. There was no sign of Robin Williams the Comedian in his character. Whenever he gets a laugh, he gets a laugh as Vladimir and not as Robin. Besides, this is one of his more serious roles and he never really plays it for laughs. Maria Conchita Alonso still sounds Cuban, as her Italian character, but she still gives a fine performance. Since I haven't seen her in any recent movies, it's nice to see her pretty face again. She was like the Salma Hayek of the 80's. Williams and Alonso have a good on-screen chemistry.

The friendship between Williams and his African-American friend, who goes as far as letting him move in with his family, is very touching. Working as a security guard at Bloomingdale's and seeing Williams wreaking havoc around the store, he starts out hating his guts. Before you know it, they're best buddies. The most touching scene is the one in which Williams leaves a jazz club, depressed after being told by a well-known jazz musician that he needs practice. He decides to throw his saxophone away and forget about being a musician altogether. His friend relates to his problem and gives him plenty of encouragement in pursuing his dream of playing the saxophone, as they get drunk and laugh their heads off. The movie stresses the outburst of immigrants in New York City, which is a melting pot society. Almost every character Williams comes in contact with is either a foreigner or a minority. Strange but undoubtedly true, if you were to examine the streets of New York. It's not unlikely to walk across a whole city block, where not one person speaks English.

The movie has no real plot structure, as it is mainly character-driven. The comedy is subtle, and arises naturally. My favorite quote from the film is when Williams says, "I bought my first pair of American shoes. They were made in Italy." That is a sample of the kind of humor in this film. I definitely suggest people check out this oldie-but-a-goodie.

My score: 7 (out of 10)

Robin Williams is excellent as a Russian circus performer in New York City with his troupe for the first time, deciding to defect and become a U.S. citizen. After an appropriately dark, though somewhat heavy-handed opening, this comedy-drama from director Paul Mazursky suddenly finds its niche and seldom wavers. It may appear from the early parts of the picture that Williams is giving yet another of his overly-colorful, cartoonish performances, but he too gets into the groove of this project and fleshes out this charming, confounding, complicated man. Maria Conchita Alonso is wonderful as the working girl who falls for Williams (they have terrific chemistry, and Alonso has never been better). A fuzzy, friendly, thoughtful film, a bit too long but occasionally sublime. *** from ****

The movie released in 1984 but I saw it only 2 years ago. I'm from former USSR and this film was prohibited in the Soviet Union.I think it's the best American film about America itself:sometimes fun,sometimes sad.It's useful especially for Russians who want to leave poor Russia for the US and release their 'Russian-American dream'.It's also the best film about the former USSR,its citizens' way of life,its lines to shops,surveillance of the KGB and many other bad things.I'm a history teacher in high school and I demonstrate this film to my young RUSSIAN students in Russian history class.Besides a very creditable performance of Robin Williams,Savely Kramarov.Very clever movie !