toddly6666

I don't normally review non-English subtitled DVDs, but this movie is so good, it should be seen even without subtitles. It would be a crime if this movie does not get released in other countries or on DVD with English subtitles.

Russia's STILYAGI is right up there as one of the best mainstream Russian films I've ever seen (right up there with Barber of Siberia and Night/Day Watch). And for movie musicals, it's a masterpiece. The best way I can describe this film is that it's like a 1950s version of HAIR directed by Milos Foreman, Alan Parker and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The story in this movie is 1950s Russia, in which there was a youth movement (as in any other country) that fought change with their style, behavior and music. The main actor, whose character is not only very similar to Claude from Foreman's HAIR, but he even looks and acts like a young John Savage. The other main actress is played by Michelle Williams-look-alike Oksana Akinshina who starred in LILYA-4-EVER and BOURNE SUPREMACY. She was very good in this film and it was nice seeing her in an uplifting non-depressing film.

I was sold and had to buy the dvd by just watching one of the musical numbers from this movie on youtube. All the songs are good in the movie, but this one is my favorite and it is very similar to Alan Parker's PINK FLOYD'S THE WALL. This is sung by the villainous babe in the movie, whom is very hot in a Baroness way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADTOm...eature=related

I have some knowledge of Russian, but I think anyone can follow this movie. I'm sure the dialogue would be great to understand, but this movie is so entertaining from the visuals and the music, and the story is more or less easy to follow. By just the visual story of the film, it was totally touching. This is one of those movies that needs to be released now with English subtitles though! Twitchfilm.com has been following this film: http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/russ...d-in-stilyagi/. I think it did play in some Western film festivals, but I'm not sure.

When people tell me, "oh, I love films like AMELIE, can you recommend any movies like AMELIE from other countries?" Well, this is what I would place in the category as Russia's AMELIE - a different type of film, but same style - with it's mixture of amazing creative cinematography, brightly lit romantic scenes, interesting characters, no censoring of the sex (there's a sex scene musical number!), great story, astounding art direction, and more.

The Russian DVD is pretty good quality. It's anamorphic, has DD 5.1/DTS Russian, and a decent amount of extras. NO ENGLISH SUBTITLES anywhere on this DVD!

I don't have any info about the Blu-Ray of this version other than the photo, but if I had a Blu-Ray player, this would be the first Russian film to buy on Blu-Ray.

Great film! Russian films are rarely uplifting and here is one of them! Not frustrating to watch without subtitles! Great music! And seriously hot Russian actresses!

MOVIE: 9
DVD VIDEO: 8
DVD AUDIO: 8 (the DTS background music overpowers the dialogue)
EXTRAS: 6 (an interesting 40-minute making of, a music video, filmography)

Here's the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1239426/
Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3chO...eature=related
You can buy the DVD here: http://www.russiandvd.com/store/prod...=1964&lang=eng


Lilya got hot:


Some more photos:

flixtime

toddly, any recollection of a ballpark runtime for the movie?

IMDb lists both a 130 minute director's cut and a 115 minute theatrical version...russiandvd lists 87 minutes (but I'm guessing that is not accurate (as happened with their runtime for THE ADMIRAL)).

toddly6666

This DVD was definitely around the 115 minute mark!

jammed

My DVD is 130 min 48 sec

toddly6666

Did you watch it? Are you sure that's the actual runtime or that's just what's listed on the dvd? If so, can you tell me if the villain girl group had another song? Or she only do that one Pink Floyd-type song?

flixtime

BUMP


Not to worry, I'm not bumping this to say I didn't like the movie...

...at least not yet...muahahaha.

Actually, this just came out on U.S. DVD under the title HIPSTERS from Kino Lorber this week...English-subbed of course...the runtime is listed at under 90 minutes on Amazon, but DVDEmpire lists the runtime at 125-minutes (also shown on the back coverart)...haven't checked yet if there are any other International, English-friendly versions now available.

Alan Smithee

Unfortunately the Kino DVD is only 2-channel and the left and right channels are flipped on top of that, and the picture quality is pretty bad. Anyone know where that Blu-Ray can be ordered in the US? I loved the movie despite the shortcomings of the DVD, it really deserved better.

flixtime

Don't know where you can get that Blu-ray toddly posted. Do you need English subs though? Because, according to blu-ray.com, that pictured Blu-ray does not have English subtitles.

Man, what a screw-up with regard to the U.S. DVD.

Alan Smithee

Since I've watched it once with English subs and remember pretty much everything that was said, I wouldn't miss them too much on the Blu-Ray if it's better quality than the US DVD.

toddly6666

The Russian PAL DVD is way way way better quality than the US DVD. There's also a Russian Blu-ray, so I'm sure the quality is pretty top notch.

I have the Russian PAL DVD for sale if anyone is interested! 20 bucks including shipping! PM and/or email me at [email protected] if anyone is interested!

TheDoug

Toddly6666 based on your laudatory review I'm attempting to find the Russian blu-ray of STILYAGI. In the meantime those wishing to view the whole film sans english subtitles can do so by linking to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zu4ltxXVx8 Once I obtain the blu-ray I'll talk about any extras and the actual running time (probably 130 minutes) but the YouTube video seems to run 136 minutes. Stay tuned...

TheDoug

Well, two months after my prior posting I finally acquired a copy of the Russian musical STILYAGI from a source in Belarus via Ebay. Sadly to say it's a bootleg blu-ray. My reason for posting this is to show you said image of the dvd sleeve so others can be forewarned should they come across this elsewhere.( I paid $18.00 with postage.) Having just received this in the mail, I popped it in my player and the image quality seems fine as does the sound etc. It is all-region like the original and seems to be in the dvd-r format. I should have suspected such based on the pricing etc. Buyer beware as they always say!