This is How Movies Should Be Made

Perfectly adorable

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Contrary to popular belief, it's not hip to be square...but it's hip to be a hipster in Red Square! The year is 1955, the setting Moscow. It's ten years after the end of the Second World War and eight years after the start of the Cold War. A city washed over in a damp, grey gloom. Our initial impressions of this Communist hub is downright Orwellian. Even without a precise knowledge, it's not far from what we imagine Russia to have been like at the time. But then before you can even say borscht, the clammy streets are flooded with a Chuck Berry-esque number. Skirts are flying, heels are clacking, boys in plaid suits and pompadours are feeling up dolls as they rock out on the dance floor. These are the stilyagi, or as we might better understand them, the hipsters. This isn't Portland though, and these aren't your typical twee teens. If you're expecting doe eyes and horn-rimmed glasses, half blinded by a block of fringe à la Zooey Deschanel, you're going to be disappointed.The hipsters of Moscow are actually a direct contradiction to the statutes of Communism as set up by the great leaders of the past. Where uniformity is praised and uniqueness, punished, the hipsters are veritable outlaws. In a rebellious frenzy, we first meet our main characters at an illegal dance with banned American tunes recorded on X-Ray sheets. In a typical Capulets vs Montagues fashion, worlds collide and the rockabilly Polly runs into the straight-edge Mels. Named for the rock stars of Communism; Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, our main man Mels is really just a conflicted kid who wants to be a part of the hipster world. With some prompting from Polly and a gradual easing-into of the waters of anarchy, Mels bids 'do svidaniya' to the Commie crowd and joins the ranks of the cool kids. Pretty soon, Polly (who's basically the Russian Michelle Williams) and Mels (who I'm pretty sure is just Haley Joel Osment) become the Queen and King of the Hipsters. For all it's 'hipsterness', Stilyagi's most engaging moments actually come from the Communist youth and their dedication to taking down the hipsters. Going through the daily paces of perfectly executed hatred and prejudice, it's the brainwashed grey-clad kids with whom I sympathize most. That's not to say that being a hipster in Russia is a casual thing because unfortunately, being one in 1955 Moscow can lead to criminal charges. Whether it's for listening to non-approved music or for obscene dancing or for any number of other vulgar offences, just like the tiny town in Footloose, you can get busted for boppin'. However, since Stilyagi concerns itself so much with the fancy threads and coifs and tunes, we tend to forget to care about our titular hipsters and instead transfer concerns to the "enemy".The stark contrast set up between the Hipsters and the gung-ho Communism groupies applies well to the screen, with the vivd polychromatic world of the former in a perpetual stand off with the sepia-glazed uniformity of the latter. However, everything that follows in Stilyagi is grossly misbalanced. There are some seriously fun and catchy songs and dance numbers, but they're stinted by the dreary, uninspired stretches in between. When a musical number jumps in, it's a total surprise because we've almost forgotten that what we're watching is a musical. Stilyagi's greatest downfall though actually isn't completely obvious on an aesthetic level. It's what's holding the film together, or really what's not holding it together that holds the film back. The editing is just as slow and bumpy as the polka beats that lumber along with the action. With a musical like this, Stilyagi should either be dotted with snappy, kinetic cuts, or it should be in the vein of Rodger's and Hammerstein - more likened to a stage play. Instead, the combination of medium-length shots in the musical numbers paired with long, dragged out ones, just sucks the energy right out of what should be an easily exciting film. Funnily enough, the standard of hipsterdom in 1950s Russia is set by what is believed to be the rebellious styles and tastes of North American youth, though it couldn't be farther from the truth. The lingo the stilyagi use are absolutely straight out of 1950s America, but it's not the language of a rebelling youth culture - it's just the norm. In fact, going beyond the norm, the styles and dialogue of the stilyagi are kind of akin to the goody-two-shoes variety. It's difficult to relate to the stilyagi who are according to a North American audience, actually pretty square. Stilyagi is a bit lost in translation and so loses its appeal somewhat. I can tell you who this film will appeal to though, and that's modern hipsters. I can hear the bored, withdrawn, cooler-than- thou remarks already, "I'm really into this cult Russian musical right now - you probably haven't heard of it", "It's like John Waters meets Moscow...by the way have you seen Pink Flamingos?" Newsflash! Just because it's counter-culture, doesn't necessarily mean it's any good. Stilyagi is a decent film, memorable to a North American audiences because of its exotic appeal, but in the greater scheme of things, it's neither amazing enough to recommend nor terrible enough to slander. What is worthwhile about the film though is a peek inside a Russia you never knew. A hipster subset isn't an element that's instantly associable with Cold War Russia but here you have it - a whole film dedicated to the hipster youth subculture. If anything, Stilyagi is worth a watch for this reason.

OK Russian Musical (!!!) has a lot going for it in well done musical numbers and dance sequences, what it doesn't quite have is a story that's especially satisfying. There's some good ideas for a story--a college age guy chafing under late 50's era Russian rule (these would be the post Stalin pre Cuban Missile Crisis Kruchev days??? yes not exactly carefree days but maybe as carefree as life under communist dictatorship got for those folks living there.) He starts out with a job and a potential love interest spying and of course then chasing after (the better to attempt to arrest them of course) rebellious American Culture Loving Jazz Worshiping Beatniks, and of course thanks to his attraction to a swell lookin blond dame decides to join em much to everyone's concern (with the exception of his dad who just doesn't seem all that concerned with his son being rounded up and being tossed into a secret prison--oh wait those days are behind them now--or are they i honestly don't know--because without spoiling anything--something happens to one of the characters at the end that never gets resolved and leaves me wondering--wait what?) Back to the movie! Will the jilted former love interest be jealous of this new blond dame? Will she do something to try and win the now pompadour spouting hunk back? I'll never tell, but you can probably guess. All that aside, this movie is really about the music and how the rebelliousness of the youths there mirrored the rebelliousness of ours here in the USA--blah, blah, blah, enough with the youth culture lesson, let's dance! (and they do!) Movie very, very much resembles 1993's "Swing Kids" with Christian Bale--only instead of German youths and swing--its Russian teens and Jazz--but you know that shouldn't really matter since i think the effort is there--you'll have a pretty good time watching the brightly colored kidz sing and dance, and some of the retro set design mimicking 50's American nightclub culture is nicely flashy. However its just as easy to forget as soon as you leave the theater--or as soon as you finish watching the DVD, which is just something one should never have to say about a Russian Musical heralding American pop culture, however i'm betting the DVD'll be good for a rewatch or 2 if you really dig the movie, or at least the closing number--Shine On You Crazy Kidz With Your Renegade Youth Culture Ways.

I saw this last month at the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival and of the 23 films I saw there this year I would put this at the top. The time is post Stalinist era Moscow 1955 and Mels (Anton Shagin) is a typical 20 year old member of the local youth Communist party where his girlfriend Katya (Eugeniya Brik) is one of the youth leaders. Co-existing in the gray cold war world of the USSR are the Stilyagi, an underground youth movement of no-conformists who wear outrageous bright colored black market western fashions and wear high pompadours and listen to underground subversive jazz and rockabilly music. Mels is attracted to the Hipsters and in particular the lovely Polza (Oksana Akinshina) who has westernized her name to Polly. Mels adopts their lifestyle and westernizes his name to Mel. He is eventually accepted as a Hipster by Polly and her friends Betsi (Ekterina Vilkova), Bob (Igor Voynarovsky) and their leader Fred (Maksim Matveev) a dashing young son of a wealthy diplomat. The scene for all the Hipster action is out in the open in an uptown district called 'Broadway' where the Pompadour Club is located and where underground records, clothing and musical instruments can be bought in dark alleys and safe houses. Directed by Valery Todorovsky and adapted for the screen by Yuri Korotkov, the author of the novel 'Boogie Bones' about the hipsters and bootleg western recordings this film blends drama with sly comedy and wraps them around a bright colorful musical that is indeed a cinematic event. Fantastic music score from Konstantin Meladze that is reminiscent of the music of the group Manhattan Transfer with wonderful clothing costumed by Aleksandr Osipov that are reminiscent of the Stray Cats and West Side Story this is a lavish production with a beautiful production design by Vladimir Gudilin and richly photographed by Roman Vasyanov. Lots of veteran Russian actors in supporting roles like Sergey Garmash, Oleg Yankovskiy, Alexsey Gorbunov, Irina Rosanova and Leonid Yarmolnik. A very original film chronicling a movement that would lead the way to the acceptance of jazz and rock and roll and future movements like hippies, punks and hip hop rappers. These counter-culture Hipsters of yesterday are the ultimate round pegs in a square world. I would hope this gets distribution in American art house theaters. The story itself isn't all that compelling but I don't think it's meant to be. It's more of a visual and auditory experience and it's a cinematic event. I would highly recommend it and give it a 10 out of 10.

The picture is stylish and colorful. Nevertheless, it will be better understood and perceived by Russian people, by those who grew in the Soviet Union as an adolescence and who knows what's it's like to constantly be under the pressure of the system. By wearing bright clothes and make-up, by dancing to the forbidden music, these guys resist "greyness" and boredom of the time. They try to change not only themselves , but also the milieu which surrounds them and every day and every night controls their private lives. Music is great, but again mostly it's Russian, and only those who knows it, will get this "nostalgic" feeling while watching the movie.