Directed by Valery Todorovsky
Generally Russian films are fairly serious. Even though the beginning of Hipsters deals with a smoker having his lungs x-rayed and a group of Young Communists raiding a group of ‘decadent youth’ in flashy clothes listening to Western music, it quickly becomes a romantic musical with some comedy thrown in amongst the political allusions. The film is set in Moscow in the 1950s when the Cold War was raging and everything American was declared contraband – kowtowing to Western ideology was a crime punishable by up to 10 years. Although not a problem today, Todorovsky notes that there were times when walking around in coloured socks was a heroic deed.
The hero of the story, Mels (Anton Shagin), is a member of the youth wing of the Communist Party, but is curious to find out more about the group of young people who dress in fancy colourful clothes and call themselves Hipsters. More particularly, he wants to get to know the beautiful Polly (Lilya 4-Ever’s Oksana Akinshina), and the purchase of fancy new clothes on the black market and teaching himself the saxophone helps him in this task. There are echoes of Pink Floyd as the young people rebel against the confines imposed on them and the characters sing and dance towards a not so predictable ending. The only difficulty was enjoying the singing and dancing while trying to read the subtitles.
Hipsters is Russia’s ‘Grease’ and a highly entertaining fun film, with just an undertone of political comment (I don’t think these’s much chance of entirely escaping this with a Russian film). It is the opening night film for the sixth Russian Resurrection Film Festival which runs 10 – 16 September at Cinema Paradiso. See www.lunapalace.com.au for details of the opening night party, other films in the festival and booking arrangements.
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