Charodei

This is a movie loosely based on the novel written by the Strugatsky brothers "Monday Begins on Saturday". It`s pretty far from the original text and that`s why all Russian SF fans are not happy with. But the script is also written by the Strugatskys, so I think it`s fair to write a new story rather than use the existed one. If one can "forget" about the book while watching this movie it is fairly witty, funny and kind love story. The songs became hits back in 1982. The cast is wonderful, basically every face you see in this movie is a famous actor or actress. Most of the cast are brilliant dramatic or character actor/actress. There are also lots of Soviet lifestyle in-jokes, which you understand only if you are a Russian over 15 years old (the younger ones don`t remember the Soviet reality). The movie is worthy a watch.

I love this movie for the fact that they treat all ancient Russian fairy tale elements in a modern context. A great pun is made in the last names of the characters---all are variations on terms and names of the magical and the mystical. Also it is a great romantic comedy. Many of the quotes from this film stay with you for a lifetime. I especially love the song in the film about the three white beautiful horses named December, January and February that carry your sled off into the beauty of Her Majesty Winter. You can put it on the shelf for the classic Soviet New Year's Eve romantic comedies, such as "Ironiya sud'by ili "s legkim parom!"" and "Karnaval'naya noch'". I was also pleasantly surprised when I found out that it was made by the Odessa Film Studios---my city of birth.

This movie is a modern fairy tale. The story happens in an institute of magic during Christmas time. the girl (Alena) is supposed to marry to Ivan. However, an envious person makes to think to her boss that Alena is in love with the boy friend of the boss in question, who decides to bewitch Alena. The only way to save her is to be kissed by Ivan. I liked this movie because of the humorous way of presenting the intrigue. It is amusing and refreshing. The dialogs and expressions are funny.

Soviet films are probably the best ones that were made in Russia. And today I'm talking about one of them.

Wizards (Charodei) is set in a magical institute called NUINU during last days of the year. Where everyone prepared for the celebration. Including Alena, who is in love with an average guy Ivan. But Kira Shamacganskya, the principal of the institute, is upset that Alena has a crush on him, because Kira assumes that she tries to steal her lover. So, since she's a witch, she casts a frozen heart spell. And afterwards, Alena turns into a cold hearted woman, who likes to insult colleagues. The only way to break the spell, is for Ivan to kiss her until the new year starts.

The plot seems to be like a romantic office movie, but with fairy tale stuff being added to the mix. One of the issues that the movie has is that it can be boring for the kids to watch. Yes, it does have some things like spells, wands, Skatert Samobranka (magic table carpet that makes food out of nowhere), and other fantasy elements. But they aren't as prominent as you expect to be. And if you take them out, then the movie would be slightly different, but mostly the same. Like I said, it's not really a kids film, but rather for teenagers and young adults. Luckily, it doesn't have any adult content, so it's still safe for young ones to watch it. The reason why it's for older ones is simply because of the plot more targeted to them. Now, out of the way, I'd like to stay that for the most part it's enjoyable, but can get boring a bit. The preparation of the new year and presentation of the magic wand introduces the audience to the world that they would spend time in. And after Alena's cursed, they would root for Ivan to get to the destination point as fast as possible.

Since this is a musical, it has a lot of songs obviously. Probably the best ones belong to Alena, in both nice and mean personalities. And my favorite has to the witch river. It has dumb lyrics, that tell about the crystal clear water that no one should drink, yet it's catchy. Another one by her is the Women's secret, which is about each woman having some kind of a secret that makes her special. It's a pretty lyrical song. I also liked the villains' song by Kira and the love song by Ivan. Both describe the mood of the characters and their desires. However, the ones performed by Ivan's young sister Nina are the most forgettable ones. The three white horses isn't really special, but still ok. I actually disliked the snowflake song, and it's my least favorite. Because I disliked the vocals, that were too high pitched and the lyrics were lame. It's just about a snowflake and the new year wish making. It's pretty cliche. Others like time to sleep, centaurs, don't believe and serenade were good and enjoyable.

The characters were mostly great. I especially liked Kira, who is a witch that wants to control the institute and make things her own way. She reminds me of Serafim Ogurcov from the Carnival night, she's kinda like his female witch counterpart. She's mostly calm, yet still evil in her way. Alena is a character that in the beginning was like a teenage girl, that would dream about love, but after a curse, she becomes more mean and annoyed. I like how the sudden contrast shows us how Alena was before and her new self. She seems to also be a cheater as well, where she flirts with a co-worker Sataneev, who had a crush on Alena. I liked both her sides to be honest. And I liked that there's still a nice version of her when she's asleep and dreaming. Ivan is the hero that has to save the day or in this case an entire year. All he needs to do is to kiss Alena. He has to go through different obstacles to do so, even if he doesn't believe in them in the beginning. He's a good character, because you actually root for him and sometimes even want to help him go through them. I also liked one running gag character that was a tourist who couldn't find the exit throughout the movie. Which was funny. But there's one character that I disliked a lot, and it's Nina. Like I mentioned before, she's Ivan's younger sister and she actually got on my nerves. Anyways, Nina was annoying, because she wanted to help Ivan, yet not knowing about the dangers. What's worse is that, she's mostly a pointless character, you can easily replace her with some other character like maybe an animal sidekick or nothing will change. I guess she was created only for the kids so they could associate themselves with, which is a pretty stupid reason, since it makes no sense. And like I said, her songs were the worst, but not terrible, which means mediocre. Other characters were ok, but not really memorable. Sateneev is a flirting type, there were two assistants that could teleport to various locations, and were the typical comedic duo. And that's it.

Finally, the movie itself was made well. Like the special effects and locations. The places include the institute, the winter forest and a isbushka. All of them look convincing and creative. And thanks to the new year atmosphere both the movie and the musical numbers look more fun and colourful to make the whole experience more enjoyable.

Wizards isn't exactly a must watch, since it's plot is not too enjoyable for young audience, it had an annoying side character that served little to no purpose, and some songs weren't great. It still has good elements like the main characters such as Ivan, Alena and Kira, some great songs too and an actually decent plot. This is for all the Soviet movie and musical fans out there. And make sure to turn the movie during new year, cause it's a perfect time to do so. As for myself, then I enjoyed the film enough, though I wish I could add and remove some elements to make it better.

Yes, the movie is not at all faithful to the book. Yes, it has a cheesy plot, low-budget cinematography and 19th century special effects. But none of these things can take away from the charm of this picture. The acting is simple and the actors are adorable (young Abdulov rocks!). Many of the lines from the movie have since become everyday phrases (eg: "Nu ktozh tak stroit!") and several of the songs immortal ("Pesenka pro kostyumchik," "Tri Belix Konya"). And the sentimental value of the good ol' Soviet rudeness and bureaucracy is immeasurable.

If you understand Russian, have spent any time in USSR, and love fairy tales for adults, you'll love this movie.