Now I absolutely detest musicals.One Bank Holiday Monday in Guildford I had the misfortune of seeing 5 minutes of the Sound of Music,and I felt a compulsion to run at an oncoming bus.The thing about Mamma Mia though,is that you know what all the songs are,and you know that- because it's Abba- there's not going to be one bad song in the film.And even though the story isn't the greatest or most believable story in the world,it doesn't matter,because it's 2 hours of bloody good fun- even the bits where Pierce Brosnan sings.The characters are all really likeable,although I must say,I found Rosie quite annoying at the beginning,but I particularly loved Harry (I'm quite liking Colin Firth these days- his appeal in Pride and Prejudice was kind of lost on me) and Donna (I've never seen anything Meryl Streep has been in before,maybe I should have a look...).Musical highlights for me were Lay All Your Love On Me,Mamma Mia and The Winner Takes It All (my favourite Abba song ever).SOS was good too- another of my favourites.That song reminds me of two things- one that shall remain unmentioned,and the other being the brilliant Swedish film Tilsammans,where the song is used many times.In Mamma Mia terms,it might have been a bit better if Brosnan hadn't have sung it,but,well,he had to really.
Another thing I noticed that's not really anything to do with the film,was the abundance of fabulous textiles laying around Donna's hotel.Just thought I'd mention it :)
After scouring Amazon for good foreign films that preferably cost next to nothing,I found some old Soviet films that weren't available (why put them on Amazon then?!) but that I really wanted to see.Thankfully there's some nice people out there who put them on youtube and the likes,complete with subtitles and everything.
"Comedy" probably isn't the first word you'd associate with Soviet films,but it does exist :) Kin Dza Dza is billed as a sci-fi comedy.I hate sci-fi probably more than I hate musicals,but there was something about this that made me want to watch.Made in 1986,it's the most recent Soviet film I've seen.It is actually quite funny too,if you have a really silly sense of humour (which I do).It's about a Russian and a Georgian (how topical) who end up on an alien planet (Pluke),inhabited by two hierarchical classes of alien,who are obsessed with matches.Vova and Gedevan get into all sorts of bizarre situations,but eventually end up back on Earth,their time on Pluke still affecting them in some ways.There are some parallels between society on Pluke and the Soviet regime,but the whole point of the film I think is less a political message and more just silly,childish fun.The low-budget nature of Kin Dza Dza adds to its charm,but what I found most amusing was the Plukanian language.Over here,some people take their sci-fi love a bit too far by speaking Klingon et cetera- none of that rubbish in Kin Dza Dza though,their aliens have one word for practically everything,which leads to some comical situations!
Something I've noticed about Soviet films,is that they tend to be in 2 parts (good for me as I have a short attention span).I like that idea,so I'm going to stop writing now,and talk about the other 2 films I've seen later.So,in Soviet style...
Kanyets Pervoiy Seriy...
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