Plots(1)
A melodramatic film with lots of ironic allusions, and Jewish melodies, shifting between comedy and tragedy. The story is borne entirely by the cheerful, nonchalant opportunism of the hero, Ljowa, played by the star of the day, Nikolay Batalov, who, with character and charm, wanders through an extremely varied illustrated broadsheet: from Tsarist Russia to New York, and back to the young Soviet Union. He feels safe and secure with his Jewish friends, although he does not practise religion himself. Despite all his efforts, and being constantly motivated by a creative and pristine sense of justice, he never succeeds in pursuing a social career. In the end, after many years, he is glad that he has at least become an engine driver.
Entertaining sound material with sensitive genre paintings from New York, as people imagined them at the time, from the perspective of Moscow: public authorities and bosses, expressively staged scenes of violence and looting. An unconventional film by Lev Kuleshov. The title can be seen as a symbol.
(Berlinale)
Cast
Nikolai Batalov
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Mother (1926)
Bed and Sofa (1927)
Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924)
Dmitriy Kara-Dmitriev
Russian Empire
Porfiriy Podobed
Best movies:
Иван Бобров
Best movies:
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Mother (1926)
Pyatnadtsatiletniy kapitan (1946)
Nikolay Kryuchkov
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Ballad of a Soldier (1959)
Autumn Marathon (1979)
Sorok pervyj (1956)
Mikhail Doronin
Russian Empire
Sergey Komarov
Russian Empire
Best movies:
By the Law (1926)
The End of St. Petersburg (1927)
The Deserter (1933)
Nikolay Gladkov
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Dersu Uzala (1961)
Tri topolya na Plyushchikhe (1967)
Without Dowry (1937)
Yelena Kuzmina
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Odna (1931)
By the Bluest of Seas (1936)
The New Babylon (1929)
Konstantin Khokhlov
Russian Empire