Strana glukhikh

I'm not a big fan of contemporary Russian cinema, but this time it surprised me a lot. This is a movie of totally different kind: smart, precise and artistic. It is not about contemporary Russian life (although the sense of `different life' is everywhere in this move). And it's not about criminals: like in `Hana-bi' and `Sonatine' of Takeshi Kitano, crime is only a symbol. The story is not realistic too. It is done as a deep parable, instead.

The feeling of a `deaf world' is totally believable. The directing is great. The performances are outstanding. Praise to the new Russian cinema, complex and sincere.

This film proved to me that the fashion for Iranian and Chinese movies will be replaced by growing interest towards Russian cinematography quite soon. Strana Glukhikh is such a pure and sincere description of a modern Russian life, that you do not even notice some slow-down's in the movie's plot in the middle. Dina Korzun is just fantastic. Watch her on the covers of magazines in couple years! Chulpan Khamatova is reserved but very exact in her acting. But the highlight of the movie is a soundtrack. I did not hear such a life-confirming music for quite a long time. Indeed, this is not a criminal drama as some can think. It is a touching story of people fighting for their happiness told in very warm and sincere words.

It's a good movie. As almost all the modern Russian movies it has a significant Hollywood feel to it, but all in all it's in the good old tradition. The acting is good (almost always), the plot is simple and effective. Quite a few scenes are done really good. In a sense it combines the depth of European (Russian) movies with power and speed of Hollywood. For example compare the scene of break up of Lesha and Rita with the drugs deal in the airport which is made in the best traditions of Tarantino. All in all good movie worth watching.

"Country of the Deaf" is one of the best Russian movies of 90's. Also it is a rare example of the movie dedicated to the discovery of the subculture of deaf people in modern Russian society.

Valery Todorovsky has created tense, fast, sometimes violent movie with deep characters. It is not only about loneliness, love and hate of deaf people. It is about all of us - about the post-soviet generation.

And of course, Chulpan Hamatova, Dina Korzun and Maksim Sukhanov are great (as usually) - Russian actor's school continues to be one of the major ones in the world.

This film is more than it appears at first glance. Various themes are weaved together to produce a beautiful picture of the relationship between the two leading female characters. The criminal sphere in Moscow is only fraction of the movie and anyone who enjoys a good intellectual drama will find Todorovsky's adaptation of Renata Litvinova's "To Have and To Belong" an absorbing find.