Friday, September 13, 2013

Break Loose (Not Bad)/Восмёрка (Не Плоха)

My first Russian film of the festival, Break Loose screened a few hours after my Russian lesson. How much of it would I be able to understand, without relying on the subtitles? I'm making progress, but I have a ways yet to go; I could understand lots of words and the odd complete sentence, but not enough to understand the film without the subtitles.

The film is about a guy who works as a riot policeman, but falls for a mobster's girlfriend. It's hard to tell the cops from the gangsters when they're not in uniform; both are just thugs, and the society around them is corrupt enough that it's not always clear which has greater authority. The protagonist and his buddies almost seem to enjoy getting the shit kicked out of them as much as inflicting a beating on others. There was some good action, and maybe a little insight into Russian society at the turn of the millennium (it's set around New Year's 2000), but overall nothing exceptional to my eye. Не плоха, но не отлично.

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