ThiefHott Too much of everything

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Olya Ivanova Assa is considered one of the greatest films of the post Soviet generation. The soundtrack is not very far from what we call hipster nowadays - divergence from the mainstream. There are many underground musicians that either contributed musically or artistically. Also, it focuses on a major issue that existed among the "perestroika youth". How to choose a life of honesty and civility, when corruption promises "white mountains". Who can we trust if not our government? What will be the future, what is important in a life? These are all the questions that this movie focuses on.Assa is a film for and by the youth and by the counter culture of its time. Aside from relevant problems being raised in the movie (a rare thing of its time), the film has notable music (that is still remembered and loved today by the grown up counterculture) and hipster style that existed and lived in Soviet Union before it became popular in US.If pre-perestroika and the mindset of different people during that time interests you, as well as learning about non-mainstream music and counterculture, this is the movie for you.

Andrei Pavlov One can find many redeeming qualities inside this movie, I am sure. But to me it is a very peculiar film to be enjoyed.My point is: certain things are destroying this movie. Here I mean unpleasant and filthy atmosphere. It creeps onto you gradually and makes viewing of the whole thing kind of repellent. Yes, it's got nice pieces of music (including the last song performed by a cult Soviet/Russian musician), it's got some inventive touches: weird vocabulary (too detailed though), a strange Bananan's "dream" sequence (too short and cheap); strange theatrical "freak-show" (too depressive and awkward to my taste), juxtaposition of different time periods in the history of our country (too dark and gloomy), and so on. It has wacky characters (schizophrenics, dwarfs, boozers, punks, maniacal killers, and Soviet squares) as well. But if the movie is aesthetically repellent, it gets into a ditch no matter how much potential it has. First time I saw it, it seemed fresh and innovative, but in the course of time it gets … plain (meaning "ugly") and sick, sorry.By the way, in our country a gramophone record "Assa" was once released that contained all the songs from the movie (as I remember, "VVS, Voienno-Vozdushniye Sily" was our favourite at school).Can give it 4 out of 10 only (the points are mostly for its freaking pieces of music compositions - alas, this movie is an example of "frustrated gifts", like "A Clockwork Orange"). Thank you for attention.

blckswan The face of Russia as it was in the 80's. The image of the young generation through the face of gloomy regime. Love story of 2 young people is stuck between the old norms of Soviet union and the new rising power of organized mafia, two ingredients which will affect the collapse of the 70 years socialist power. The young generation demand changes, and immediately but it's being suffocated by both sides of the old order, and the movie ends with legendary Viktor Tsoi's song "Changes" which became an anthem after Tsoi's tragic death in a car accident. A Parallel story in the movie is the murder of Russia's emperor on 12th March of 1801 which is probably a metaphor of constant corruption in Russia.

grob248 "Assa" gained a cult following in Russia upon its initial release, and I suppose that it still can be considered so. The movie is not very easy to get into. It's long, very slow-paced, and quite dark in terms of actual colors as well as atmosphere. Artistically, it has some good things going for it including the soundtrack, the actors' performances and some arty injections. I still don't think that the movie is as great as some people paint it out to be, although, one could probably argue that it, in a way, strided to fill a gap, one way or the other, for the young, subculture-oriented Russian 80's generation. Using the Soloviev connection, I'll say that if "Chernaya roza - emblema pechali..." was an, inverted, absurdistic take on later-period Soviet life, then "Assa" portrays a tragic clash between idealistic innocence and harsh Soviet reality.