The Barber of Siberia (1998)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Fresh and Exciting

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The Barber of Siberia is a very strong example of a polarising film that will induce divisive opinions. It is very easy to see why people will find merit with The Barber of Siberia, at the same time though it is equally easy to see why others will dislike it. There is enough to like and appreciate but on the whole the general feeling this viewing of The Barber of Siberia had was indifference. Visually, it is an absolute stunner and one of the most beautiful films there is. The photography is just glorious, the scenery and costumes are evocative and the colours are the very meaning of sumptuous. The music is hauntingly beautiful, wasn't sure of the relevance of using Mozart, Verdi and Strauss was, but their music are suitable choices and are used well. Julia Ormond is radiant and very believable in her role, and of the Russian actors Marina Neyolova really stood out, she was fabulous. Anna Mikhalkova is fine too. Not all the actors succeeded though, Oleg Menshikov disappoints in a performance that seems out of his comfort zone, rather too quirky for a more serious role than he is accustomed to, he and Ormond have a lack of spark too. Nikita Mikhalkov is physically commanding but too overly-theatrical(quite a lot of the supporting roles are over-played actually) as the Tsar, comes across as a vanity project somewhat, he also directs and in a way that is rather self-indulgent. The script mixes comedy and drama, and the mix doesn't gel together or on its own. The comedy is taken far too broadly and the drama is too overwrought, when they're together it's like two completely different films. Too many characters are sidelined too, especially those of Richard Harris and Alexei Petrenko, Petrenko is still quite good but Harris is wasted. The story also doesn't engage and one that will move people or leave them cold(the latter unfortunately applies with me), a lot of the time it glosses over the important bits, making the depiction of 1880s Russia superficial and almost too idealistic, and spends too much time on the less-important ones(like scenes of almost nothing that go on too long). The pace drags far too much, there are even some scenes that don't even move, and the length is excessively bloated, if the film was trying to disguise that the story wasn't enough for the 3 hours it did a poor job in that respect. All in all, visually and musically The Barber of Siberia enchants but in terms of writing and storytelling it is a test for endurance. 5/10 Bethany Cox

The thing that I REALLY like about this film is the story and the poetic way in which it wants to develop. But I can't get past the bad thing, which is that it fails at making it convincing.. and both the comedy and the drama are extremely cheesy.I'm Russian and I don't like Mihalkov because of his vanity, it all seems like some sort of local thing between him and himself. For example, in this movie, there are several scenes that have nothing to do with the story and do not serve for comedic purpose (because were not in the least funny), and could have easily been left out. It is obvious he for some reason liked them and felt it was right to put them in the final cut. The comedy is BAD. The way comedy develops in a Mihalkov film, is usually by trying to have this sort of crazy mess at the beginning, lot of characters, goofy scenes that don't really have much to do with the main plot, etc. This has worked amazingly cool in many films because the trick is when it's done in an uninterested matter. But this film fails miserably at it, because it all seems SO extremely obvious and forced. The scenes last so long they become a desperate attempt at basically forcing you to laugh and have a good time. In the tragic aspect the film fails as well, not because of the story itself, but because it basically comes from nothing. Mostly because the 2 main characters, apart from having no chemistry between them, are both quite unlikable. I could not see anything appealing about Jane, she seemed totally ordinary and there was nothing beautiful or mysterious in her for which some young guy would fall. The scene where she meets Radlov is painful to watch, the script in that scene is idiotic. Andrei was simply too stupid. I love Menshikov but I kept feeling bad for him in this film, him playing a cadet at 38 it's ridiculous, all he did was constantly acting like a guy with some mental issues in order to appear younger. And his character becoming a mad man for Jane and feeling the most brutal adoration towards her makes no sense, not because he doesn't know her but because she isn't in the least interesting, and later she randomly jumps in his bed, right after telling him she was no good for him, managing to become even less interesting, plus skanky. On top of that, they both mess up with a character that was clearly there to make this sort of "villan" for the story. But actually, the Radlov character never did any harm to anyone and had no intentions of it, through the movie, Jane continued to make an idiot of him in order to use him for her business purposes, and Andrei egoistically puts him in an awkward position when he goes to propose to Jane. Then, Andrei publicly hits him with a stick and of course that ends badly for Andrei and Jane. Well, what did they expect?Bottomline, bad film, although it does have a romantic story even if it's not convincing.

I'm not a great fan of Nikita Mikhalkov and Russian cinematography, but I must confess that this is a masterpiece. It shows the things that Russians can be proud of - old bright traditions and customs, their devotion to their country, the trades of character that are typical to the Russians and the power of their country that has been growing more and more with the time. I think it's a great chance for the strangers to get acquainted with the epoch of tsarism - both majestic and contradictory.As for the main love line of the story I must say it's gorgeous. Affection between a young shy guy and an experienced woman who was making her business through lies and flirtation - astonishes from the first sight. If it was a soap opera, we would be disappointed with the happy end. But the final of this story - even more tragic than anyone could imagine - strikes you most. Frankly speaking, I kept a hope that everything could somehow be all right. Unfortunately, it didn't. But that story was haunting me for days after watching. It proves that incredible impressions that one can have after this movie.I liked the peculiar comparison of Russians and Americans. It was interesting to watch how Jane was trying to know the secret of Russian stubbornness and obsession with principles. She could hardly make a step to the total comprehension of such things. Well, I doubt whether anyone succeeded.Also I revealed that Julia Ormond is a perfect actress, cause she did a wonderful job in this movie. As for Oleg Menshikov and the other Russian actors, they were great as well. Nikita Mikhalkov proved once more that he is a skillful and talented director.So take pleasure while watching. It is certainly a worthy picture.

I stumbled on this film one night on TV. I hadn't heard of it, but I got intrigued immediately. It was the long version, so it got quite late.I didn't regret that one bit. It has a nice story thats seems to fit if you're willing to go along with it (one can always find a stick to beat the dog). It has witty, funny dialogs. Although it is a romantic story, it does not have the crappy all's well that ends well feel.The 2 main characters are very well developed (in the version I saw), they are not clear cut, one dimensional. It is true that some other characters are bordering on the slapstick, but I feel this is not overdone. Somehow it balances really well.Need I say more? Excellent entertainment (in my humble opinion).