Scanialara
You won't be disappointed!
CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
Matrixiole
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Brainsbell
The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.
grogguy grogs
The documentary centers on 5 characters who were classmates for many years and belong to the last generation of Russians having spent their entire education in the soviet system. Through the sometimes very different outlooks of our 5 characters and inter weaved propaganda archive documents the viewer can see the contradictions of the life in USSR, but also the hardships of the brutal transition to a capitalist society. This film is truly objective in this sense that it narrates several divergent points of view, without imposing an editorial line, and we can see these points of view meet on many subjects. The Russians I know who watched the film (including my wife) all agree that it portrays accurately their society and their parents. I think anyone even remotely interested in Russia should watch this.
slopez-media
My Perestroika successfully portraits personal impressions about the Soviet Union offering a refreshing counterpoint of ideas between characters. Perestroika can be understood for many as a Russian word connected with an important moment in Russian history. I can say that after following the stories of these 5 friends in Moscow I have a deep sense of human connection and respect for people who was dramatically affected in the process that Russia held around the 90s. I have an understanding of what Perestroika meant for them.Parallels between how these characters grew up and how their children are growing up nowadays allow audiences to perceive the contrast between communism and capitalism. This humanist film is a refined documentary full of cinematographic details and relevant opinions about an important historic issue.
Sin Young Kim
It's a unique story related with a particular period of political upheaval, and at the same time it's a general story about a nostalgia that all of us sympathize with. It's a Nostalgia for the days that we didn't have to worry about severe competitions, untrustworthy policies, unfair present and ambiguous future. It was the time we could find a peace of mind from the passivity and obedience. We were not ready enough to deal well with an unexpected freedom. We're also not ready to accept numerous choices and the results that we're responsible for. We don't even know how to explain clearly, if someone asked us why that time was better to us. We just know it was better. We're still not sure about the present. However, sometimes we found ourselves surprisingly living well in the present without any distinct understanding about it.
MilladoN8
I was lucky enough to see "My Perestroika" at NYC's IFC Center, where director Robin Hessman answered questions following a screening of her film. She stressed that her documentary isn't so much representative of all Russians, but rather a cross-section of "ordinary Russians living in extra-ordinary times." Hessman focused her lens on five childhood classmates who entered school in communist Moscow but came of age during the fall of the Iron Curtain. She had incredible access to her five subjects: punk rocker Ruslan, single mom Olga, successful businessman Andrei, and married history teachers Borya and Lubya. By shooting solo (instead of relying on a cameraman), Hessman was able to develop a rapport with her subjects, prompting them to open up. Although they seemed nostalgic about their idyllic childhood, they also appeared to wish to leave it in the past. By the end, they all seemed nonchalant about the current government. The film's strength lies in its use of the subjects' own 8mm home movies (juxtaposed alongside vintage propaganda films). This film could easily have been constructed with talking heads waxing poetic about the fall of the USSR, but it wouldn't have been as compelling. By focusing on (relatable) characters, Hessman puts a face on the (last generation of the) Cold War, which until now had been a nebulous concept for me.By the end, I wanted to down vodka shots with Ruslan and Borya! My only gripe is that I wanted to see more interaction among the five childhood classmates. Olga lived around the corner from Borya and Lubya, but we never see them interact. We know Borya and Lubya still keep contact with Ruslan, but do any of them still keep in touch with Andrei and Olga? I suppose that is another strength of Hessman's storytelling...that she painted these protagonists in such a way that I wanted to know more about them. May I suggest a follow-up documentary?
