Happy Birthday, Lola! (2001)
The film's hero, Lola, is getting ready for the celebration of her birthday. Because she knows she is in for a surprise, she lets two strangers with flowers and a cake into her apartment. The guests names are Bim and Bom; they are killers. They've chosen the girl's apartment as a shooting place to assassinate the president whose motorcade is to proceed by her house. Lola becomes a hostage and the main obstacle foiling the assassination plan.
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Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Like many successful dark comedies, this movie has a plot that could be very serious and melodramatic, but the light touch of the acting and directing transforms potentially horrifying moments into humorous ones. I like the way that the film bounces back and forth between tones, and in some ways, it reminds me of Capra's take on Kesselring's Arsenic and Old Lace. The style of this movie is strong and unique, and it may rub some viewers the wrong way. I personally loved it, and think that the young writing/directing team has some interesting work ahead of them. Their style certainly reminds me of the films of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, although it is not as violently bombastic as the former, nor is it as comically subtle as the latter. The acting is fresh, the situation is compelling and the apartment is fabulous. The animation is also interesting, and it provides a nice cut-away from the apartment and into the characters' pasts. I enjoy contemporary Russian cinema, and while this film wouldn't even make my Top 10 list of Russian films since 2000, it is a fun little movie. Clocking in at a mere 81 minutes, this movie is definitely worth a look.
Get ready to meet the 2 nicest hired assassins in history as you get to know "Bim" and "Bom". It's Lola's birthday and she gets the most unexpected visitors. 2 hit men that want to use her flat as a shooting point, and that will have to keep poor Lola as hostage during their stay. The movie then becomes a black comedy with the misadventures of Lola and the most polite hit men you are ever to meet. It's quite difficult to define the movie genre as I've never seen anything quite like it. It seems very reductive to catalog is with just one genre, but it's also quite hard to find an expression that describes this movie. It was my first experience with contemporary Russian cinema, and I must say I just loved it. I've watched this movie several times already and it keeps adding something new each time I watch it. A living proof of how to make a great movie with few actors. Strongly Recommended!