Strana Oz

It is hard to explain how does it feels after watching this film (about 9th times). It starts something like that: I want to write to friends some catchy and funny line. Then I search exact moment of film to quote right. Then I just get carried away and continue watching this film until the end :D.

Whatch this movie if you don't know what Misanthropy is. The scriptwriter will tell you a thing or two about that )) It's funny though. Not even a black humor, it's much deeper in color.

The main character, Lena, represents a person who attracts problems like a magnet while drifting through her life. She is aware of that and she is ok with that. You'll also see a lot of freaks helping or confronting her, most of them are with jaw dropping habits.

Certainly, a major deviation from the kvas-patriotic drivel aiming at the unwashed masses. In fact, a quite plausible depiction of the said masses. Would be funny, if it weren't cutting too close to comfort. Bewildering snapshot of 'Russia today'. However, redemption is perhaps sometimes found even amidst this bleak landscape - one just has to stumble upon a yellow brick road, which is ultimately not yellow, not brick, and more of a maze than a road to anywhere. A fitting epitome of daily living in Russia, especially outside of Moscow or St. Pete. As grotesque as some characters may be - and some of the vignettes are oddly focused on corpophilia - they are still not too far from reality, which, on one hand adds to the credibility of the plot lines, but on the other throws in an additional dollop of gray and black to the already dark backdrop.

It reminded me of Burn After Reading by Cohen brothers. It seems boring at the beginning, but by the end you just can't stop laughing out loud.

"The Land of Oz" - a brilliant New Year's comedy by Vasiliy Sigarev. Previously, Soviet people had their favorite New Year comedy - "The Irony of Fate, or ..". Now Russian viewers have a decent alternative. Love and chance in this picture is not less, and the truths of life in modern Russia - more. An interesting fact: the leading role is played by the wonderful actress Yana Troyanova, the wife of the director of the film, both from Yekaterinburg, where this film was shot.