Strana glukhikh

not in common rules limits. but interesting metaphor about escape, friendship, need of certitude and illusion and search to discover yourself in the other. far to be perfect, with too large slice of contemporary Russian reality, it remains beautiful first for two virtues - the performance of Dina Korzun and Chiulpan Kamatova and the end. a film about two women and their choices. that is all. a kind of parable. or only a film about importance of small things. many unrealistic scenes. but the science of actresses to give inspired solutions really works. a movie who can be good occasion to reflection. about the tools to create a decent drama with influences of Russian theater, to discover image from East in a cruel manner, to remember the fascination of great Soviet movies.

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.

This is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Acting, particularly by Dina Korzun, is incredibly strong and vivid. Also,Chulpan Hamatova was an excellent pick for the Rita part. She's natural, yet at times IMO, fails to match Korzun. The scene, where Rita tries to comfort Yaya after the dreadful experience and Yaya first mentions the Strana Gluhih and describes it to her, was the best IMO. Overall, plot is not quite thorough yet catchy. It provides an interesting perspective to lives of Muscovites during the transition from USSR to Russia. I strongly recommend this movie to anyone who's fed up with the crap that keeps coming out of Hollywood persistently for quite some years now. I just wish I'd seen this movie earlier. Two thumbs up.

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.

A film for the people who can take their time to think about it. All the problems revealed in it are typical not for the "external" life of the country, but for the people's minds. That's why it seems to be a bit "grotesque" and "uninteresting".