Actuakers
One of my all time favorites.
ChanFamous
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
BeSummers
Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.
jdancing_queen2004
I first saw "Skazka Stranstviy" in my early teens. Loved it but waited almost ten years to see it again. The film is brilliant, and invokes a lot of emotions and thoughts. Until I was adult it was too dark and too deep to comprehend and deal with. I definitely wouldn't recommend showing it to children. But for adults it's a must see. Every time I've seen it I've ended up crying through most of the film. Especially touching are the part where Orlando dies, and the end when Mai draws the diagram in the ruins. While dark and disturbing, the film provokes thoughts and emotions that modern films fail to touch. Like one reviewer mentioned it's a true classic fairytale. Not a Utopian fairytale we're used to in United states, but a true dark fantasy. The score is wonderful and adds on to the overall mood of the film. While the whole film is dark and gloomy, the end is very beautiful and hopeful.At the time I first saw it, I just became a sister. So for me, at the time the plot and the story were particularly real and threatening. I wouldn't let my baby brother out of my sight after seeing the film. I could understand what Martha was feeling when she lost her brother, and the end of the film provoked thoughts on what I would feel if my brother grew up to be an individual I wouldn't be proud of. Even with all the fantasy involved, the film is really easy to connect to.
avichi
I have not much more to add to the reviews - this movie gets a 10 from me. This flight episode, together with Tarkovsky's flight episodes from "Andrei Rublev" (opening) and "Solaris" (closing) is IMHO the most moving and inspiring moment in film history.A small remark for the former Soviet citizens among you;-)Has anyone also felt some well-concealed allusions to the life behind the Iron Certain as much as I did in the episode with Don Quixote and the knights on top of the dragon? Just like in a "communist" system, for many it was actually quite warm and sweet while for some it was not quite as easy to get out as it was to get in (most likely the same could be said about a "capitalist" system too though). I think such allegories were quite common in Soviet movies and it is often a sport to find and interpret them.
Galina
I have not seen this wonderful movie for almost twenty years but my dear friend sent me last night the links to some scenes that feature the soaring score by incomparable Alfred Schnitke and watching them for over and over took me back in time to the world that has gone but always stays with me - the world of memory. I was surprised how well I remember "Skazka Stranstviy". I even remember how I watched it for the first time in the Moscow Theater, and how unusual, dark, scary, philosophical yet uplifting it was. Its look reminds the paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Hieronymus Bosch at their gloomiest and grimmest. Its spirit is not always optimistic or suited for young children but Tale of the Voyages is dramatic, intense, even tragic but always poetic, moving, and spiritual - not unlike Hans Christian Andersen's tale of the voyages, "The Snow Queen". "Skazka Stranstviy" is the story of a young brave girl Martha and her search for the lost little brother Mai who possessed a gift (or a curse) of finding the buried treasures and who was kidnapped by the villains many years ago. On her long search, Martha becomes friends with a poet, visionary, and genius inventor Orlando, and together they would visit many dangerous places and encounter disasters and miracles including plague, betrayal, fears, loyalty, courage, flying, and death... It's been said a lot about Alfred Schnitke's truly breathtaking score which makes you want to fly so high that not even the "highest-flying birds of memory" and regrets could reach you. I read from the other reviews that that this skazka is not a regular fairy tale - it depends on what we call a fairy tale. If you think of them, fairy tales, the unabridged versions of them are often scary, graphic, disturbing, violent, bloody, gory, and fascinating. Brothers Grimm's, Hans Christian Anderson's, Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, myths and legends of ancient Greece - there are elements of pure horror and tragedy in these fairly tales. "Skazka Stranstviy" reminds more of these classics rather than their Disney's adaptations, and that makes it unforgettable watching (and sound) experience that the viewers remember many years after they saw it and want to compare their impressions as adults with those from their childhood. Andrei Mironov (Orlando) proved once again what huge talent he possessed and how much he could've done had he not died untimely at the age of 46 in 1987.
Fredegonde
This is the story of a girl, Martha, whose brother, Mai, possesses a unique gift, he can find buried treasures. But it makes him very ill, and Martha prefers to live in poverty rather than make her little brother suffer. However, not everybody is just as concerned about Mai's wellbeing, and one Christmas, Mai is kidnapped. Martha decides to search for her brother, and her story begins. On the way, she meets a genius inventor, Orlando, and they travel together meeting various people, and most of these encounters threaten disaster to Martha and Orlando. This is, indeed, a dark fantasy. Yet it is extremely, breath-takingly poignant and poetic. It has a great score by Alfred Shnitke, and the music heightens the emotional impact of the film. I was a child when the film came out, and I was utterly captivated. Yes, it is scary, but the poignancy of the film far outweighed the scary bits for me. Even though it is essentially a fantasy film, the characters are more complex than in most "real life" dramas. They are sometimes likable, sometimes exasperating, and always human (that does not include the Plague who does make an unforgettable impression, not for the faint of heart for sure). An excellent film overall.
