A teen girl arrives in a small village. It's a village constructed far away from everything to produce lumber somewhere in Siberia. So a bunch of male groups produce lumber as the women do smaller jobs there. The teen girl is a proud cook. She's overly silly, but I like how much this all reminds me of Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush (1925). It's basically a reboot of that movie in a way. She's constantly dancing, singing, doing silly faces. It's all a bit over the top, but all-in-all actually cute enough to keep you engaged. Anyhow, this 30 year old successful worker bets with another group that he can win her over. He's supposed to be this handsome successful worker and she supposedly a silly plain looking girl. Of course the casting is quite off. The guy is painfully average in every way. Not tall, not that fit, not handsome - I assume? Not sure if he is handsome or not as I'm a dude, he just has that plain looking face I think. While she's actually quite attractive and cute. But in this village/USSR success matter a lot more for men so maybe he's just handsome to these women because he's successful? Besides this the actress and actor are the same age. It's not that noticeable though.
The whole relationship to me doesn't quite work. Today you practically cannot make such a movie. A teen girl being seduced by a man? So to me it always felt off, creepy in some ways. She's acting like a proper spoiled girl which is quite amazing acting, but also makes it into some weird love story that just never feels proper according to modern moral values. He's a guy with ex-girlfriends and a steady job. She's a teen girl getting her first job. I'm just perplexed. We even see him teach her how to kiss. Weird.
Besides this the setting and town is all amazing. I was fully absorbed watching the trains, huts, small old things, snow, trees, tractors. The quality of the camera and the set was great. This is way above the typical 1960's Hollywood movie. Everything here looks real and is filmed in high quality. They really abused their resources in this socialist hellscape. They could take any amount of money for their patriotic wars and propaganda. The movie itself is quite cute of course, but you constantly think of Stalin's Gulags and the endless wars and torture this country produced as this very movie is produced by the same regime. Whole ethnic groups were actually send to places like this in Siberia to die off. It was a giant genocide campaign wiping out whole European groups. Not that any socialist movie would ever dare to even mention it. The village here is just normal and you don't feel this communist setting as much. I did enjoy the village life. They even replaced the cafeteria with a new one as part of the plot. Not a single ruble was spared in this movie.
I did enjoy watching it. And several scenes were cool. I also think it's a good cultural look at that part of Russia. Though extremely prettyfied in a comedic setting. The Wild West for example was never made this silly and calm in any American movie. But then again this is a comedy. I do feel like it's a bit too simple for a modern audience. It's good, but it's just a love story nothing else. We never explore deep moral values, never see any big meaningful conflict, never get anywhere significant. Just a silly romance where one part is very plain looking. It's a competent movie, but at the same time it doesn't have enough depth to it compared to movies made outside totalitarian regimes. Only topics of loneliness and love are explored. You want to go live in the village for sure, but you also know it never existed.
It's practically a less stellar version of The Apartment (1960). But everything is just a bit worse. Especially the script is way deeper in The Apartment. It's an adult woman seeking love. She's split between a rich handsome married man and a silly dependable character. You really feel her pain and conflict as you understand such situations. Here it's frankly made just as well in some ways, but it's a teenage romance so of course there is less to it. When the man wants to show love he gifts her an expensive watch. As she hands it back he stomps on it. I mean, yeah that happens in such silly cases. But it's just silly teenage love that will last a few months and then both will move on. The Apartment is deeper. It's about how to live your life. How to handle yourself in this crude world. Soviet tried to make their own version and very much succeeded in their own way. But they tried to entertain not to educate about humanity. The education was about how glorious the state is and how hard you must work. Frankly if you send me to such an impossible movie set paradise I promise I'll work hard.
The whole relationship to me doesn't quite work. Today you practically cannot make such a movie. A teen girl being seduced by a man? So to me it always felt off, creepy in some ways. She's acting like a proper spoiled girl which is quite amazing acting, but also makes it into some weird love story that just never feels proper according to modern moral values. He's a guy with ex-girlfriends and a steady job. She's a teen girl getting her first job. I'm just perplexed. We even see him teach her how to kiss. Weird.
Besides this the setting and town is all amazing. I was fully absorbed watching the trains, huts, small old things, snow, trees, tractors. The quality of the camera and the set was great. This is way above the typical 1960's Hollywood movie. Everything here looks real and is filmed in high quality. They really abused their resources in this socialist hellscape. They could take any amount of money for their patriotic wars and propaganda. The movie itself is quite cute of course, but you constantly think of Stalin's Gulags and the endless wars and torture this country produced as this very movie is produced by the same regime. Whole ethnic groups were actually send to places like this in Siberia to die off. It was a giant genocide campaign wiping out whole European groups. Not that any socialist movie would ever dare to even mention it. The village here is just normal and you don't feel this communist setting as much. I did enjoy the village life. They even replaced the cafeteria with a new one as part of the plot. Not a single ruble was spared in this movie.
I did enjoy watching it. And several scenes were cool. I also think it's a good cultural look at that part of Russia. Though extremely prettyfied in a comedic setting. The Wild West for example was never made this silly and calm in any American movie. But then again this is a comedy. I do feel like it's a bit too simple for a modern audience. It's good, but it's just a love story nothing else. We never explore deep moral values, never see any big meaningful conflict, never get anywhere significant. Just a silly romance where one part is very plain looking. It's a competent movie, but at the same time it doesn't have enough depth to it compared to movies made outside totalitarian regimes. Only topics of loneliness and love are explored. You want to go live in the village for sure, but you also know it never existed.
It's practically a less stellar version of The Apartment (1960). But everything is just a bit worse. Especially the script is way deeper in The Apartment. It's an adult woman seeking love. She's split between a rich handsome married man and a silly dependable character. You really feel her pain and conflict as you understand such situations. Here it's frankly made just as well in some ways, but it's a teenage romance so of course there is less to it. When the man wants to show love he gifts her an expensive watch. As she hands it back he stomps on it. I mean, yeah that happens in such silly cases. But it's just silly teenage love that will last a few months and then both will move on. The Apartment is deeper. It's about how to live your life. How to handle yourself in this crude world. Soviet tried to make their own version and very much succeeded in their own way. But they tried to entertain not to educate about humanity. The education was about how glorious the state is and how hard you must work. Frankly if you send me to such an impossible movie set paradise I promise I'll work hard.