Reviewer123
Joined Sep 2004
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Reviewer123's rating
What is this movie really about? How bad it was to live in USSR? Or how American music was supposedly better than Russian? And what does all of that have to do with space travel? My take on this: even though made in Russia, this movie was made for the West. Why? Well, first, the story line is primitive and characters are not developed (anticipating viewers ADD and taste). A Western viewer, if he ever goes to see a foreign, or, even worse, Russian movie, expects simple things: grotesque scenes from Russian life, plump Russian girls, drunk Russian guys, "superior" American music and lifestyle, and, of course, something peculiar to Russia - in this case, Yuri Gagarin. It's too bad Mironov has degraded to movies such as this one or "Pobeg". Evgenii Tsyganov's role is too simple: there's almost no acting and he is far from his best (as in "Deti Arbata"). It would be really nice if Russian DVDs had labels such as: "this movie was made for Westerners" or "for Moscovites only" :), so I would know what to avoid...
This movies is based on Anatolii Rybakov's Trilogy "Deti Arbata". The script-writer has done an excellent job selecting the right scenes from the book. However, I would suggest reading the book first, as it might be hard to follow some story lines otherwise. The movie should probably be treated more like an illustration to the book, even though it is a bit different (and better in some respects). The actors, the director, and the cameramen are excellent. The roles of Sasha, Varya, Soph'ya Alexandrovna, Yura Sharok, Lena Budyagina, - were played exactly the way I imagined from reading the book. Maksim Kostin seems a bit 2-dimensional, but his role is a very secondary one. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by seeing a new Russian movie of such a high quality and lots of new actors who can play so well. Especially after seeing crap such as "Nochnoi Dozor" (Night Watch) and "Pobeg" (Escape (?)) or relatively good (but nothing special) movies like "Shtrafbat" (Penal Battalion). Very highly recommended. 10/10
