Synopsis
In this hit Russian musical, a group of friends flaunts Soviet authority in 1950s Moscow by embracing jazz. When Communist Mels falls for Polly, a free-spirited jazz fan, he risks losing his party membership by associating with her rebellious crew.
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Cast
- Anton ShaginMels
- Oksana AkinshinaPolza
- Maksim MatveevFred
- Igor VoynarovskiyBob
- Ekaterina VilkovaBetsi
- Konstantin BalakirevDryn
- Oleg YankovskiyFred's father
- Aleksandr StefantsovNolik
- Georgiy SivokhinKim
- Olga FilimonovaSherri
Recommendations
- 85
NPR
The hipster moment may have faded fast through repression and attrition, but in Todorovsky's reading, it was crucially formative on today's Russian youth. - 80
Los Angeles Times
The spirited young cast includes the luminous Oksana Akinshina, best known for her title role in Lukas Moodysson's devastating "Lilya 4-Ever," who still lights up the screen like few actresses in the world. - 75
Slant Magazine
An over-the-top Russian musical about hipsters set in 1950s Moscow, where getting a non-pastel-colored tie is a mafia-mediated operation and a saxophone is considered a concealed weapon? Yes, please. - 75
The A.V. Club
Light as a bubble, Hipsters suggests that age may catch up with everyone, but that there will always be people fighting against the current of conformity, even if they only express it via how they wear their hair. - 75
New York Post
When it comes time for a Hollywood remake, Depp would make a great Mels. - 70
The New York Times
Who knows if anything remotely resembling the culture of Hipsters really existed? It's a musical, after all. In any case this movie, which won the 2009 Nika (the Russian Oscar) for best picture, is an endearing curiosity that, at 125 minutes, is as badly in need of a trim as the hair of its comically coiffed dandies. - 60
L.A. Weekly
Punch-drunk, decadently designed slice of eye candy. - 60
Time Out
Hipsters is also a musical (in an intentionally naive "Absolute Beginners" vein), and while everything looks glinty and gorgeous, the story's political edge is dulled by excessive levity.
