Reviews

Good editing, pace and rythm. I liked the location and the feeling it gave me with all those falling leaves and changing mood and atmosphere. Not the best actors work, but I didn't expect much anyway.

Everything went well until the ending happened. It was unoriginal and plain dumb as if the writers (and they say that two heads are better than one) had no idea how they wanted to finish, haven't thought through past the initial premise and stepped right on the Blair Witch Project territory, which had very arguable conclusion itself. So the ending spoiled the whole thing for me. And that's very sad.

I was ready to like this movie. It's got solid basis by Sergey Mikhalkov (famous writer and poet, who also wrote the text of the USSR anthem), a good cast among children and even better cast of good old USSR actors in episodes. It's got music.

The plot consists of series of lies or to be correct of untold truths of the main ... he's no hero, and he's got no character. Boy.

The worst in this film for me was the lack of morality, there is no lesson to be learned. The boy just moves with the flow, no personal growth, no deep catharsis. In the end he's got it all, his parents accept him, he sings in the choir (though he's got no talent nor specific interest in music) with his friends, who evidently take him as he is and lost all interest and hope he'll ever change. He even got his childhood dream: a big dog.

Forgettable and disappointing experience.

This one is tricky. Although it was on the list of the movies for teens, with all the kids stuff and playful melodies I would think twice and still wouldn't show it to my children. I'm not ready yet. BUT I would recommend it to all the parents as a MUST SEE. There are serious topics and adult themes mentioned that are either for the grown mind or should be carefully and thoughtfully explained to your children if you think you're both ready for this kind of conversation.

1. Don't judge the book by it's cover. It's even more complicated with people. And please be really careful when you project your vision of the world and/or people to your kids. Sometimes they know better if you let them.

2. "Adults should be trusted. They never lie. Never. And still, where children learn to lie?" And we are never wrong, I must add. It's a good thing some are wise enough to see the truth presented to them and find the strength to admit they were wrong in the first place.

3. "Sometimes you don't want to grow up" It's even sadder when a childhood is taken from you too early. The bright side is you have to learn your life lessons sooner and faster. Or is it?

4. Children are watching us and, believe me, they see everything, don't try to fool them. They are our mirrors. Games they play show us our twisted reality. There is an episode with a little girl whose perception of the family is changed forever by the absence of the father in her life. Not to mention the main character Vit'ka.

5. This one striked me the most. Kids, labor and money. It might sound outdated, too soviet or socialistic, but I assure you it has something to think about. Somewhere on the way manual labor became shameful, not cool or prestige enough. We don't want to see our kids cleaning the yard or repairing shoes. We better give our children money for nothing. No surprise that in the end they have no respect nor interest for labor they know nothing of, easy money they didn't earn, and the feeding hand. That's us.

All of this is mentioned more for myself, 'cause it may be all too obvious, but maybe one day when I'll be ready I'll use this review as a plan for the big talk about life with my children. For now I'll make sure to recommend this movie to my wife.

After the "Dnevnik ego zheny"(2000) it was a matter of time when this one would come knocking. With the total length of almost 2 hours this slow story tells us about second half of Maksim Gorkiy's life. About his attempts to write, be politicaly active, love and live, simultaneously. "Master of the word" is rightfully among the best writers in Russian literature and the best parts of this mini-series are when the characters quote parts of his poems, novels, plays or letters. All other dialogues are made for dramatic purposes and can be easily skipped. Low budget, made for TV and it shows, yet it's still got a solid cast even in the small parts with Georgiy Taratorkin playing the lead.

It can make your dull evening a little slower if nothing is good on TV when you're stuck in your Groundhog day in 2010, but otherwise there is no point of searching for this one. Read some Gorkiy instead. Treat yourself.

New nor original. Watched it with the 1.5 speed, sometimes 2.0. It's not the worst movie I've seen, I wasn't expecting much, so no dissapointment here.

Actors are ok, but I didn't feel anything for the characters, didn't root for anyone, nobody to feel sorry for. Thanks for the bad writing, I guess.

The story and "the big reveal" were meh. Some movies are dead from the start and shouldn't be made. The only thing that is worth mentioning is the killing with the use of the frying pan, but it's still the same mess when I tried it IRL. Kidding.

I strongly DON'T recommend this one. Thumb down. Definitely a waste of time, there are better ones waiting for you: Unknown(2006), Fermat's Room(2007), Cube(1997), Method(2005), Exam(2009), El Hoyo(2019), Circle(2015), Nine dead(2009), Open grave(2013), Killing room(2009).