A Casa da Rússia

My first comment for this site....exciting stuff.

Prompted to write this by seeing this again on video - the third time for me, and it's rare that I want to see anything three times. And I realized that it's fascination still holds....this is one of my top 10, definitely.

The reasons I would rate this a "9", while somebody else would give it a "5.9" are largely personal....i think it always comes down to the personal. Talk all we want, when we watch a movie - as when we eat a meal, or kiss someone - the pleasure center in the brain either lights up or doesn't. For me it's all about the love of a place...for Scott Barley Blair it's early Glastnost Russia, for me it's 90's Germany - Hamburg, Berlin...the strangeness, the trueness of people who surround you in such a place and your love for them because of this. The fact that a film can light up specific sense memories like these means that it is true - at least in that respect. This is a remarkably honest film - terrifically unsensational for a spy film and one of the rare "love stories" that delivers the satisfactions expected of a "love story" without getting mawkish. Everything rings true here except for the ending (a fabricated "happy ending" which is the only thing that kept me from rating this a 10).

To ask for Manchurian Candidate type excitement from this low key film is wrong. The suspense, which is remarkably sustained (those rich long tracking shots of people walking through public places to uncertain destinations to meet with, or maybe not meet with shadow characters who may be allies or enemies) is the truer suspense of the uncertainty of living in a gray, gray world...where nothing much happens, but peril is part of the fabric of mundane life.

(Those sequences are gorgeous....the colors of autumn in a Leningrad park, the closeups of the stone gargoyles....the moody circular stepping pace of the soundtrack....Branford Marsalis' saxophone.) Someone has said here that it is talky. Yes, it is talky...but the talk is brilliant...it is the perfect reflection of a world where everyone - book publishers and bureaucrats and spies alike speaks in mannered, ritualized streams of code. This is not disinformation - it is perfectly understood by all, a language that has supplanted the language of an earlier age in which sincerity was an option.

Besides that ending, the piece is perfectly faithful to LeCarre's novel. LeCarre's books have had good luck when being translated into movies. Of the eight or so that have been adapted, four have made great films: The Spy Who Came into the Cold, The Russia House, and the two George Smiley BBC miniseries. LeCarre is a great writer and more specifically great at plotting and dialogue, and these films all succeed pretty much by filming what is written unadorned and pouring on the atmosphere. And they are blessed with lead performances by three great actors at the top of the form - Richard Burton, Sean Connery and Alec Guiness (Guiness especially...to watch him for six hours in Smiley's People is one of the great pleasures).

A beautifully efficient and elegant translation by Tom Stoppard of a great novel, wonderfully dignified and touching performances by Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer (never seen her better), a beautiful soundtrack by a second tier composer graced by the presence of a real jazz master, a terrific evocation of a place and time....a very moving film.

Films that require you to pay close attention to every little detail and have a complex plot from the outset can generally be thrust into one of two categories: Stimulating and intellectual, or potential insomnia cures. The Russia House is the former... so keep taking the Nytol. There's much languid talk about politics, international trade, the Cold War, espionage... and for those expecting Sean Connery to slap on a tux and start blowing people away, and going to be sorely disappointed. If on the other hand, you LISTEN to what is being said and are open to the idea of getting small rewards along the way rather than shallow exhibitionism, than this may be right up your street.

Make sure all the windows are closed, the children are in bed, your bladder is empty... because you don't want any meaningless distractions while the story is being told. Not that it moves at a fast pace, but inconsequential moments have repercussions for later on, and simple snatches of dialogue could hold invaluable clues. Russia's never looked better, and the chief photographer captures Moscow in all it's architectural splendour. The much missed Connery (He's retired from acting now, believe it or not) does a sterling job as the amateur spy who doesn't know what side he's on, and sex-on-legs Pfeiffer has a dead-on Russian accent. At least to this untrained ear.

Maybe not for action junkies, but anyone else who appreciates much subtler qualities in film... Please step this way. 7/10

Based on John le Carré's novel of the same name, 'The Russia House' offers Fine Performances, but as a film, its plain ordinary. It does have some captivating moments, but overall, the slow pace & a half-baked Adapted Screenplay, act as a disadvantage.

'The Russia House' Synopsis: An expatriate British publisher unexpectedly finds himself working for British intelligence to investigate people in Russia.

'The Russia House' begins nicely, but loses momentum after 45-minutes into the film. Sure, the second-hour has some interesting moments, but the Writing isn't striking. The Climax, however, works. Tom Stoppard's Adapted Screenplay isn't without merit, but is flawed as well. Also, the slow-pace left me restless at times. Fred Schepisi's Direction is skilled & well-done. Cinematography is excellent. Editing is fair.

Performance-Wise: Sir Sean Connery, with a flawless Russian accent, is in good form. Michelle Pfeiffer, also with a superbly picked-up Russian accent, is natural to the core. Roy Scheider is flawless. He stands out. James Fox is effective. Klaus Maria Brandauer is terrific in a small, but significant role.

On the whole, 'The Russia House' could've been so much more.

I have read a few John Le Carre books (although not The Russia House) and was not as impressed as most other people seemed to be. People say that the movie is slow and cerebral (and it is) but really that is how Le Carre's books read. Sean Connery never puts in a bad performance, and neither does Michelle Pfeiffer. And it never hurts that she is sooooo beautiful. Klaus Maria Brandauer is also always good and still is here. The problem is the script, which relates back to the source material. It is a little bit of a bore. Not badly, just a bit. It looks like the filmmakers were so proud to be filming in the USSR, that they went a little overboard. Not every place in Russia is St. Basil's and the Winter Palace. Overall the film is OK.

Maybe I was just in the right mood, but I found this an effective romance. Michelle Pfieffer was even better than her usual terrific self, and the rest of the excellent cast was, well, excellent. It is pretty slow, but I think that this is essential to the conclusion, which I found quite moving. You have to give this movie a chance to grow on you, but if you are patient it is quite accessible. Not bleak at all, as you'd expect from Le Carre.