Azazel (2002)

Wow! Such a good movie.

A different way of telling a story

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Investigating a trivial suicide, young detective runs into a worldwide conspiracy... The plot unfolds steadily during the whole movie, and you would never guess who pulls the strings. The cast is top notch. Non an Oscar class, but still a very entertaining and well directed movie. I would just like to invite visitors to see pictures from the movie and watch a detailed trailer at RussArt.com. Pictures: http://russart.com/?moviepictures&mid=38 Trailer: http://russart.com/?movietrailer&mid=38 Those who read Russian can find more materials useful: press articles, reviews, etc.

Based on Boris Akunin's novel 'Azazel' (English title 'The Winter Queen') set in Moscow in 1876. Boris Akunin is the pen name of Grigory Chkhartishvili, who was born in the republic of Georgia in 1956; he is a philologist, critic, essayist, and translator from Japanese. I recently read and enjoyed "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" by Yukio Mishima translated by Chkhartishvili.Chkhartishvili published his first detective stories (using the pen name Boris Akunin) in 1998 and in a very short time has become one of the most widely read authors in Russia. He has written nine Erast Fandorin novels to date, and is working on two other series as well. I am an avid fan of all three Akunin's series: about Erast Fandorin; about the Nun - PI Pelagiya (three books), and the newest one - about Nicolas Fandorin, the grandson of Erast.Akunin enjoys almost legendary popularity in Russia. He lives in Moscow. In 'Azazel', the first and IMO, the best in Erast Fandorin series, a young police officer - Erast Fandorin - works on his first case - an odd suicide of a rich young man which leads Fandorin to the global and very dangerous conspiracy.The film is an interesting and very enjoyable adaptation of an excellent book. The script was written by Akunin himself and adapts very well to the screen. The film was made in Nikita Mikhalkov's Studio by Mikhalkov's long time collaborator's Aleksandr Adabashyan. Visually, "Azazel" is absolute delight, literally letting the images of Old Moscow become one of the film's main characters and attractions. The acting was good (Marina Neelova as Lady Ester was excellent; and the rest of cast all seemed to enjoy working in this project).

this film is really fantastic! Firstfully I have to say that the novel is written by Georgian writer not Russian, so it is the main reason ,why this film is so fascinating. this is very good story about Masons, and it is really interesting. I like acting in this film, especially the actor Basilashvili, he acts professionally , and of course he is Georgian not Russian. I think it's a good drama combined with detective plot. the end of the film is amazing, maybe the film is a bit long to see it ,when i saw it , I was really excited.So I want to add that this is the best Russian film, I have ever seen, and advise all film fans to see it ,they will enjoy it very much, but when they will see, they must foresee that without Georgian writer and actors this film would'Nat exist.

The book is excellent, no question, but, unfortunately, the movie is not as good. Noskov's (Fandorin) acting is not convincing and his voice sounds really strange at times. Brilling is a typical Andrey Mironov type, and it looks like Bezrukov tries to imitate his acting. The best of all is Neelova (Lady Ester): her acting is way above everybody else's. Overall, the movie feels a little bit raw, as if made in a hurry: some parts are good, some are bad. So it's not like old-time classics, but still worth seeing.