Favorite films
Don’t forget to select your favorite films!
Recent activity
All
Recent reviews
More-
Yahha 1986
Kazakh New Wave #2
A loosely connected montage of various young Russian musicians hanging out, playing concerts, and getting married. Valuable as a look into that place, time, and generation, and as a spiritual precursor to Игла. The dubbing is frankly terrible and you can hardly understand a word anyone says (possibly just an issue with the bootleg French-subbed version I found), but nothing matters except the music and cinematography.
This made everyone look extremely cool, especially Mike Naumenko and Victor Tsoi. Very glad that Tsoi got to be a кочегар like he always wanted. The nearly 2-minute closeup of Grebenshchikov’s face was another highlight.
Translated from by -
The Needle 1988
Kazakh New Wave #1
This is an awesome film, especially enjoyable for fans of Victor Tsoi. What can you say: he’s just really cool. Plot and narrative cohesion are absolutely secondary to vibes, and I mean that in a positive way. It does touch on societal issues that were not typically depicted on-screen at the time (i.e., drug use and environmental devastation), and Nugmanov et al. should be held in high regard for being so bold. Still, its (at times) whacky aesthetics, bizarre editing, and unique tragicomic style make this an interesting and largely compelling watch. (Bonus points for starting an entire film movement.)
Translated from by
Popular reviews
More-
-
Red Runs the River 1963
I saw this film for the first time maybe twelve years ago, somewhere between 2010 and 2014. There was a free showing at my great grandmother's old age home, which was arranged because her son (and my grandfather) Stephen Green acted in this film as a teenager. That branch of my family had deep connections to Bob Jones University, which I suppose is how he landed the role of Charlie.
I was surprised to learn that this film is still…
Translated from by
