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Film Reviews

Spy (Shpion). Directed by Alexei Andrianov A Soviet Polish

Reviewed by Elena Zhuk and Halina Zhuk

Special to Russia Profile

04/25/2012

This April, fans of the popular mystery writer Boris Akunin will be able to enjoy the long-awaited screen version of his “Spy Novel.” “Spy” took almost three years to make, but its style, which is new for Russia, will certainly please anyone with at least a little knowledge of history and a sense of humor. A historical film in a futuristic setting with elements of comedy to boot, “Spy’s” debut brings a popular genre to the big screen in Russia.

Suicides (Samoubiytsi). Directed by Yegor Baranov Kill Me and I’ll Kill You

Reviewed by Elena Zhuk and Halina Zhuk

Special to Russia Profile

04/17/2012

The release of the black humor comedy “Suicides” coincided with a frightening hike in the number of attempted suicides among young people in Russia. According to statistics from the World Health Organization, in 2010 Russia was first in the world in the number of teenage suicides. Against this background, the film attempts to offer a solution that extends far beyond schools and families, painting a very reassuring picture for the viewer.

Chapiteau-Show. Directed by Sergei Loban

Reviewed by Elena Zhuk and Halina Zhuk

Special to Russia Profile

04/11/2012

After the release of his movie “Dust” in 2005, Sergei Loban became popular in Moscow’s underground. His latest film, “Chapiteau-Show,” had already been entered in film festivals throughout 2011 and received several awards before being shown to a wide audience in 2012. Compared to the gloomy “Dust,” the musical comedy “Chapiteau-Show” is much more universal. And although this “mainstream art” film is unusually long – more than three hours – it nevertheless leaves the viewers in good spirits and stands a good chance at drawing a wider audience. The distributors broke the film up into two parts, allowing the audience to choose whether to come back for more of the story.

Avgust. Vosmogo (August, 08). Directed by Janik Faiziev One Boy’s War

Reviewed by Elena Zhuk and Halina Zhuk

Special to Russia Profile

03/16/2012

“August, 08,” directed by Janik Faiziev, employs both Hollywood and Russian cinematography to produce a high quality film with strong Russian undertones. The script was written by Michael Lerner, a member of the Writers Guild of America and a former Newsweek and Los Angeles Times correspondent, who covered the war in Afghanistan and the South African apartheid.

Faust. Directed by Alexander Sokurov Interpreting Goethe

Reviewed by Elena Zhuk and Halina Zhuk

Special to Russia Profile

02/29/2012

When 68th Venice International Film Festival Jury President Darren Aronofsky presented the Golden Lion Prize to Russian film director Alexander Sokurov for his motion picture “Faust” last year, Aronofsky called it one of the films “that change you forever after you see them.” One may disagree with this statement, but the award indeed marks a breakthrough for Russian cinematography, which has lately been in a state of crisis.

Vysotsky. Spasibo, Chto Zhivoi (Vysotsky. Thank You for Being Alive). Directed by Pyotr Buslov A Second Lease on Life

Reviewed by Elena Zhuk and Halina Zhuk

Special to Russia Profile

01/27/2012

The film “Vysotsky. Thank You for Being Alive,” directed by Pyotr Buslov, is a reaffirmation that the iconic Soviet musician and poet Vladimir Vysotsky is still loved and admired by millions of Russians. According to the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), the movie was chosen as the film of the year by nine percent of the poll’s respondents. Vysotsky has also been ranked second to Yuri Gagarin as the idol of the 20th century, the poll, which was conducted in 2010 showed. The success of the movie was virtually guaranteed by the scores of immensely different age groups who have taken an interest in the cult figure of the 1970s.

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Book Reviews

Deception: Spies, Lies and How Russia Dupes the West. By Edward Lucas Suburban Agent Has Landed

Reviewed by Anna Aslanyan

Special to Russia Profile

03/28/2012

One day in the summer of 2010, a journalist friend called me to suggest a meeting in a dubious Russian restaurant in Central London. He was making a video for The Sunday Times, the occasion being the scandal in which ten Russians – including Anna Chapman, at the time a British subject – were arrested in the United States on the charges of espionage. He brought a copy of Izvestiya with him and instructed me to hide behind it and then, slowly lowering it, say something along the lines of “the eagle has landed.” I obliged, but only when he assured me I wouldn't be mistaken for Chapman's sidekick.

Mafia State: How One Reporter Became an Enemy of the Brutal New Russia. By Luke Harding À La Guerre Comme à La Guerre

Reviewed by Anna Aslanyan

Special to Russia Profile

11/14/2011

When Luke Harding was sent to Moscow in early 2007 as The Guardian's bureau chief, he hardly expected to find a thriving democracy there, a human rights heaven ruled by a just, clean-fingered government. Nor did he expect to become a persona non grata shortly after his arrival in Russia. However, that is what happened: the FSB harassed him under the pretext of an interview with Boris Berezovsky that appeared in his newspaper; his flat was repeatedly broken into, clearly with intimidating purposes; his e-mail account was compromised and the pressure kept mounting until finally, in February this year, he was expelled from the country.

Let Our Fame Be Great: Journeys among the Defiant People of the Caucasus. By Oliver Bullough Infinite Violence

Reviewed by Anna Aslanyan

Special to Russia Profile

08/02/2011

The other day, when a friend from Moscow asked me what I was reading, I mentioned “Let Our Fame Be Great,” adding that it is a tribute to the nations of the North Caucasus that became victims of deportation. In fact, that area that is now famous as one of the best Black Sea coast resorts, and will host the Olympic Games. “Ah yes,” she interrupted, “Stalin accused them of collaboration with the Germans, so they were all made to leave.”

Red Plenty. By Francis Spufford No Laughing Matter

Reviewed by Anna Aslanyan

Special to Russia Profile

07/12/2011

“Their economy is plan-less, suffers from crises; ours is crisis-less, suffers from plans!” This Soviet joke could serve as an epigraph for Francis Spufford's Red Plenty, an original account of the dream of abundance that once seemed on the verge of coming true in the Soviet Union. The economic landscape of the post-Stalin period may not sound like a particularly fascinating subject, but the author uses a special trick to make it so – boldly mixing fact and fiction. Vignettes of everyday Soviet life interspersed with factual notes amount to something far less dry and more human than the average work of non-fiction.

A History of the Baltic States. By Andres Kasekamp The Parts That Make a Whole

Reviewed by Rosemary Griffin

Russia Profile

04/05/2011

Andres Kasekamp’s graceful history of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia is an excellent guide to the history of the three Baltic States. One of the major challenges to writing a history of this region is unraveling each country’s individual experiences and identity while acknowledging a broader shared history.

The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them. By Elif Batuman Reading Batuman in Moscow

Reviewed by Andrew Roth

Russia Profile

03/31/2011

By my count I own four copies of Elif Batuman’s The Possessed and all of them were gifts. Two I left at home in Brooklyn after an awkward, idle five-month period between completing graduate school and coming to Moscow. One I gave away and fear was probably never read. The last, with a faithful inscription from a friend, is here with me in Moscow. The cover is illustrated by the New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast, who creates colorful and, to my eye, fairly ugly, illustrations. For the longest time, that was all I knew about the book because I refused to open it.

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