Russian Film 2015: "What is my name?"

Russian Soul:  Strong, Wild, and Out-of-Control

The relationship between two urban Muscovite girls is intense and becomes more so when they go to a Crimean resort town to meet the father Olya has never seen before.  

Sergey's daughter gets cold feet at the last moment but Sasha pushes the plot and offers to stand-in for the real daughter.  The acting is convincing, the plot a bit chilling when the wheels come off and the girls  (and Olya's father too)  are faced with the sad reality of their lives.

  Both women are attractive but Sasha is far more adventurous than she should be.  There's an added element of sexy, even to the tease of incest.  You knew Sasha was going to be trouble for the male species when she appears in the first frames in her denim Daisy Duke jeans cut even higher than the ones in "Dukes of Hazzard." 

There's more to the film than the suggestion of free-wheeling teenagers facing the full bloom of their sexuality.  Both girls grow up without fathers (though Olya gets a step-father) and this creates a deficit in their lives which has much to do with the unresolved issues they have in finding themselves. 

 It's a good film with only a few stumbles, and different from how its themes would be addressed in an American film. You know that Russian soul - strong, wild, and out of control.

Directed by Nigina Sayfullaeva. With Konstantin Lavronenko, Aleksandra Bortich, Marina Vasileva, Kirill Kaganovich.

Netflix Series "Sirens" Not Enough to Lure Me Onto the Rocks

 

Sirens:

In spite of the fact that it provides work for actors, I would avoid this one. Maybe avoid my review too, because I quit after about three quarters into the first episode.  Perhaps it morphs into something beautiful, riotous, or mysterious but I haven’t got that far. 

 Seemed like every trope and cliché of modern film was there. The chasm between rich and poor was there from the opening scenes, hyper-colorized in the style of La La Land.  Another too obvious cliché is that of a young girl in bed with an older rich guy in a scene that is neither cute, clever, nor meaningful.   

So there are two sisters from Buffalo on different paths. Devon works at a fast-food restaurant while Simone is a sort of Devil-Wears-Prada assistant to an Anna Wintour type on some super-rich planet like Nantucket Island (it’s not really that – it’s much richer) .

Their old man has senile dementia and appears to be dying back in Buffalo.  I think every film family must have a head of family with Alzheimer’s, or some form of body paralysis, or cancer, or. ..   Well you can make your own list. 

So of course Devon is going to go to her sister seeking help with her dad.  She’s everything princess Simone is not. She smokes, curses, dresses Goth-like.  Of course she’s going to embarrass her sister in front of her high-society employers. 

But the dialogue is mostly terrible throughout and doesn’t give the actors much to work with.  While on a ferry boat out to the island, for example, the boat captain berates her for trying to smoke a cigarette (which is not allowed on board). 

Devon pouts and says ‘but I need something in my mouth’.  Jump cut to someone’s bright idea and a long shot where she’s fellating the captain.  Ha-ha, how funny!   Low humor, like Shakespeare!  Except that Shakespeare was talented and knew the difference between talent and degradation.

Okay so why am I giving it three stars?  Well, because it’s tough being and actor and they’re often unemployed. The people who produced this film did a public service by lowing the ranks of the unemployed.  Besides, there are plenty of desperate people out there with nothing better to do.  I indict myself there for spending almost a whole hour watching this.