Hipsters

A Russian film like no other! This 50s-set hyper-jazz musical seems to owe more to Baz Luhrmann than Tarkovsky or Eisenstein. The look is wacky - colourful and popping with contrast from the excellent cinematography - and the characters are young, hip, simplistic and instantly likeable. Like the Soviets, I was unprepared for this onslaught of garish ties, saxophone, and socialist rapping. Implausible, but a breath of fresh air.

Strange film. It depicts a subculture that is very interesting historically but doesn't tackle it seriously. It's supposedly a comedy but it either hasn't aged well or wasn't particularly funny in the first place. The songs are mostly atrocious. And it's a bit of a "coming of age" story but it feels too unreal to hit that bittersweet experience. It tries to do too much but ends up feeling more like a music video. Lots of pretty young people in colourful clothes.

Score + 20 due to last scene, which plays homage to later subcultures.

Cheerfully flamboyant trifle suffers from overlength and plodding pacing; echoes of NEW YORK NEW YORK by way of Baz Luhrmann lacks the crackling editing required to make this work. As it is, it is consistently enjoyable, though self-serious political digressions are superficial at best, and don't really capture the flavour of 50s Russia. A mixed bag, but a colourful diversion, especially the old-school glossy cinematography.

Loved it!

Moronic film with some nice colors.

"The film makes a concession in the way its love affair progresses toward melodrama, but it never loses its fondness for the absurd, and the wicked." - Diego Costa

I enjoyed it a lot. If you like musicals, if you have an idea what life was like in the SSSR in the 50s... then I'm pretty sure you'll appreciate this movie.