Voditel dlya Very

This movie is a mere imitation of another Oscar-winning movie Utomlyonnye Solntsem (1994) (aka "Burnt By The Sun"). In places Voditel Dlya Very was boring and you could guess what is going to happen next. The villain was so obvious that I simply don't understand why positive characters did not do anything about him. Even though the whole idea of the plot is not new, I would appreciate this movie if it portrayed the events taking place in late thirties or forties during the Stalin's era. But I do NOT believe that such events could possibly unfold in late sixties. Although I did not like the movie, I must admit that actors played well. And there are beautiful sceneries depicted.

"The Driver for Vera" is simply excellent cinematography. The pace and intensity of this two-hour film is such that you don't notice passage of time. It's like dozing off and waking up from an intense dream where for a few seconds you don't know who you are or where you are. If a regular Hollywood production is like leisurely afternoon tea with some sweets, this film is like taking shots of espresso every minute for two hours. In the first few seconds the movie grabs your attention, your emotions, your very soul, and holds that grip until the very finale (in my case, it's been about 24 hours since I watched the film and I am still under the grip). The background scenery (Moscow and Sevastopol of the early 1960's) is spectacular and the music is extremely powerful. In the geopolitical background there is the power struggle between the figures of the police, the army, and the special services, a struggle that ensued in the power void after Stalin's death. Career, ambition, love, sex, power, violence, birth and death are a devilish mix in the film's shockingly realistic story line.

The movie is somber, make no mistake, so be sure to have a hanky handy. Bright moments do sprout out on occasions--but they soon will be tangled and forgotten, as the movie further delves us into a place of a waning of era with disillusioned characters.

The players are all trap in their own roles with conflicts, decisions taken only within their power--never for convenience, never for whims. Maybe the telltale sign of the government, or some poetic semblance, whichever--the result is a masterpiece effusively tragic, and beautifully shot.

Communist era, as depicted in the movie--was just at its zenith before the regression.

The story declines in a way as to match at best of the country's stages of travails. We were able to delve into the politicking, and its deadly nature were scapegoats are wrought, and lives are paid.

The film evokes these panoramic moments, and tableau's. Longshots, marking out as those of stageplays, or out of Koreeda's Maborosi. Later these scenes, for instance the Cliffside--comes back, and reestablishes itself with a rendered darker atmosphere, as the film progress, or regress if you like.

I won't go much in debt with the characters--but I believe they're well fleshed out. And that purports well with performance--especially Vera...

Sigh, makes me sad just thinking about her.

Regardless. I'm much excited for the director/writer's next project. Thief was a narrative spectacle wrapped in a simple allegory--this on the other hand was well executed, and well fleshed out.

I hope it'll be available in the U.S. soon, for such a rare film as this deserves exposure to all, if not the world.

Might I add it's a memorable movie? Verily.

I don't agree with previous writers that this film is a masterpiece or that it's hokum or that's it's a rerun of Burnt by the Sun. As a non-Russian, I found its evocation of the period (1962) enthralling & its depiction of characters multifaceted. The title character is torn by ambition (partly grounded by his upbringing) & attraction; the general is both ruthless & a loving father; the KGB man spins a web of intrigue but has integrity. Some,who are cleverer than I am, may have figured out what would happen next, but I couldn't. The camera work is gorgeous & made me want to visit the Crimea. Main drawback is the script's over-use of our old friend Coincidence. Even so, the film's pluses outweigh this minus & make it well worth seeing.

One of the best Russian movies of the new era, it has nothing to envy to any American thriller. Good reconstruction of the times,early 60's, which is not an easy thing, viewing that in many American period movies there is a perfect reconstruction of the set, scenery, furniture, interiors,clothes, but the actors often fail to reproduce the speech, the gesture, the attitude of the times. Also a romantic story perfectly told, paced, credible, with to people you can figure out being together and falling in love, again differently from the Anglo-Saxon movies, where I find it difficult to understand the chemistry, physical and emotional , between two people romantically involved. Worth the money and time, not a masterpiece but a very close one to that name.