Some Russian movies seem to get into my film watching periods no matter if I want them or not, it seems. Statski sovetnik” was one of this movies. Ididn’t particularly want to see it, but since I got my hands on a copy, I thought – why not…
Directed by: Filipp Yankovsky
Genres: Drama, Crime
Cast: Nikita Mikhalkov, Oleg Menshikov, Konstantin Khabensky, Vladimir Mashkov, Emiliya Spivak, Mikhail Yefremov, Oksana Fandera, Aleksei Gorbunov, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Oleg Tabakov, Mariya Mironova, Aleksandr Strizhenov
IMDB raintg: 7.3
My rating: 5.0 [rate 5.0]
This first thought I had after (and actually while) watching the film was that this fim is an excellent promotional material for Nikita Mikhalkov. He needed some good publicity before the Moscow International Film Festival, and he got it with this film. In fact, it has “Nikita Mikhalkov” stamped all over it – he the executive produce, he plays one of the main characters, and he has most of the screen time and dialogue in the film.
The computer graphics that I was so much complaining about in the prequel – Turetskii Gambit – are gone. Camera work is much better, as well as background sounds had some work.
The weak points are as usual – acting and dialogues. Most of the people in the film act and talk like they were sent to our planet from Mars just about 4 hours ago. They passed the adaptation stage, rested a bit from the long flight, and learned a few words and expressions on TV. It was terrible. Sometimes there were not mentioning important things. At others they were explaining and repeating the obvious. Several times. And on and on.
Also, I’d prefer if there were more suspense. It is a crime and detective fim with some revolutionary units and government mafia mentioned along the way. There were even a few killings. But nothing in this film was keeping me on the edge of the chair.
I’d give it a 9/10. I loved the camera work and the way the film flowed. The humor, the music, the sorrow, and the amazing characters of Akunin was a wonderful combination. I loved every single book that author wrote, and this movie met the mark of being worthy to represent a great book.
I don’t know how much of an expert you are giving it a 5/10. If that movie got such a rating, what did some other idiotic movies get? 9/10?
Hello Maria,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
I’m glad that you liked the film. Maybe that is because you actually read the books, which I didn’t, or maybe because of some other reasons.
I am not a movie expert, and I never said that I am. I never had any film education. I never worked anywhere close to the film industry. I just enjoy watching movies and posting about them in this blog.
If you don’t like what I do, I have good news for you – there are plenty of websites out there on the Web. You can most definetely find something that matches your tastes and interests.
I try to rate movies individually. If I watch two bad movies, both of them get a bad rating. I don’t increase or decrease the rating I give a move based on some other film.
This means that, indeed, there are some films that you would consider “idiotic” that I’d rate as 9/10, as well as there is a theoretical possibility of a movie which you’d love and I’d rate as 1/10.
But one of the beauties of this world is that there are so many different people with so many different opinions. I think this and you think that. Imagine how boring the world would have been if everyone would think the same. ;)
Cheers.