Wednesday 20 August 2008

WYM goes all cinematic Part 2

Vtoraya Seriya...



I think the best way of describing Kidnapping Caucasian Style is Soviet slapstick.It's a pretty ridiculous story about a guy called Shurik who goes to an unnamed region in the Caucasus,falls in love with a girl who's meant to marry some politician type guy although she knows nothing about it,he then gets unwittingly involved in her kidnap before helping her to escape.A highly comedic 77 minutes :/ Actually,it's not that bad.It's not the worst film I've seen,and there are some funny bits in it.One of the kidnappers (who's a little bit simple) reminds me a bit of Sergey Lazarev too,which amused me.Apparantly it was very popular indeed in the USSR back in the 60s,and it's the sequel to another film featuring Shurik.Think I might give that one a miss though.



Aah now here's a good film.Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears was the one film out of the three that I really wanted to see,probably partly because it's the coolest film name ever :) I've seen it described as a chick-flick,which I guess it could be really,but of course not your typical one- there are many Soviet and old-fashioned elements to it.The ending in particular I found slightly odd because of a few scenes and dialogues that came before it.Trying to not to give too much away,MDNBIT is about three girls who come to Moscow for various reasons,and live together in a dormitory (the beginning is set in the 1950s by the way).The action jumps forward 20 years or so in the second part,and we see how fate has treated the girls and how they deal with their past.Although there are three main characters,the second part focusses more on Katya,who I think seemed to be the most mature of the trio.Moscow may not believe in tears,but she certainly cries a lot.Despite this though,she's very strong,and you can't help but feel proud of her,the way she deals with her ex- a mummy's boy who treated her pretty badly 20 years previously.I would definitely recommend this film- it's funny,sad and positive (in its own way) in equal measure.And I never realised Soviet fashion was so fabulous :)

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