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osprey_archerStilyagi! I made a post about Russian movies a while ago and two different people urged me to watch Stilyagi, a Russian musical about stilyagi subculture in the 1950s in Soviet Moscow: young people who played jazz off records made on old X-ray plates, chose their clothes based solely on how eye-bleedingly bright they were, and occasionally got raided by over-zealous Comsomol members seeking to stamp out their colorful deviance.
Seriously, the stilyagi's clothes are so bright. There are a number of shots that contrast the butterfly stilyagi with the rest of Moscow's denizens, who dress mainly in gray; the contrast is startling every time.
Our hero, Mels, begins the movie as one of these Comsomol members. Led by their fearless leader, Katya, they raid a stilyagi party. They cut off the stilyagi's long hair! They slash their bright-colored clothes! Presumably they break the records, too, but we don't see that because Mels has pelted off to chase a stilyagi girl through the woods.
She outruns him, despite wearing high heels. But her high heels trip her up by the waterfront, and Mels, who is a gentlemen, stops to help her up. "What's your name?" he asks.
"They call me good-time Polly," she says.
"Why?"
"Help me up and you'll see."
He helps her up. She pitches him into the lake. This meanswar love! Mels, brain permanently addled by his fall in the lake, sets out to become the jazziest stilyagi of them all in order to win Polly's heart.
But unfortunately for Mels, the fearless Comsomol leader Katya is not about to let just let him go over to some jazz-heads in checkered coats.
Katya is my favorite, in the sense that she is most interesting, rather than likable, because mostly she's kind of a jerk. She puts her virtues - her bravery (I was not just calling her "fearless leader" as a joke), her fierce belief, her spine of steel - to such misguided use that they become vices.
She wants Mels to come back to the Comsomol. Her ostensible plan is to seduce Mels back to the path of righteousness. Actually, although she hasn't quite admitted it to herself, she's in love with him and this is just an excuse. But unfortunately (for Katya) Mels is in love with Polly (who by this time has begun to return his feelings), so Katya's plan fails.
There's a quite chilling scene where Katya rouses the whole Comsomol against Mels: they chant (this being a musical) his sins, until Mels, tight-lipped, stalks down the steps to the rostrum and slaps his party card on the podium, glaring at Katya, angry and betrayed - he didn't love her, but they were friends - daring her to be happy.
She isn't quite happy: she may realize, perhaps, that she destroyed a friendship because of jealousy, and did it so viciously she can't even properly apologize. But for now she is secure in her self-righteous triumph. Her coldness is what makes her fascinating to me.
And then a bunch more stuff happens! (Indeed, a bunch of other stuff happened that I left out. Mels' transformation from straitlaced Comsomoletz to stilyaga is fascinating.) But the movie's so jam-packed with things that it would take a ridiculous amount of time to summarize, and in any case, I don't want to spoil it. If you like musicals - maybe even if you don't! It's got less singing than a lot of musicals - I definitely recommend it.
(Also, if you're looking for it in the English-speaking world, the title was translated as "Hipsters," which seems unfortunate: I don't think there is an English word that stilyagi translates into - it being a pretty specific social movement - so they should have just left it as it was.)
Seriously, the stilyagi's clothes are so bright. There are a number of shots that contrast the butterfly stilyagi with the rest of Moscow's denizens, who dress mainly in gray; the contrast is startling every time.
Our hero, Mels, begins the movie as one of these Comsomol members. Led by their fearless leader, Katya, they raid a stilyagi party. They cut off the stilyagi's long hair! They slash their bright-colored clothes! Presumably they break the records, too, but we don't see that because Mels has pelted off to chase a stilyagi girl through the woods.
She outruns him, despite wearing high heels. But her high heels trip her up by the waterfront, and Mels, who is a gentlemen, stops to help her up. "What's your name?" he asks.
"They call me good-time Polly," she says.
"Why?"
"Help me up and you'll see."
He helps her up. She pitches him into the lake. This means
But unfortunately for Mels, the fearless Comsomol leader Katya is not about to let just let him go over to some jazz-heads in checkered coats.
Katya is my favorite, in the sense that she is most interesting, rather than likable, because mostly she's kind of a jerk. She puts her virtues - her bravery (I was not just calling her "fearless leader" as a joke), her fierce belief, her spine of steel - to such misguided use that they become vices.
She wants Mels to come back to the Comsomol. Her ostensible plan is to seduce Mels back to the path of righteousness. Actually, although she hasn't quite admitted it to herself, she's in love with him and this is just an excuse. But unfortunately (for Katya) Mels is in love with Polly (who by this time has begun to return his feelings), so Katya's plan fails.
There's a quite chilling scene where Katya rouses the whole Comsomol against Mels: they chant (this being a musical) his sins, until Mels, tight-lipped, stalks down the steps to the rostrum and slaps his party card on the podium, glaring at Katya, angry and betrayed - he didn't love her, but they were friends - daring her to be happy.
She isn't quite happy: she may realize, perhaps, that she destroyed a friendship because of jealousy, and did it so viciously she can't even properly apologize. But for now she is secure in her self-righteous triumph. Her coldness is what makes her fascinating to me.
And then a bunch more stuff happens! (Indeed, a bunch of other stuff happened that I left out. Mels' transformation from straitlaced Comsomoletz to stilyaga is fascinating.) But the movie's so jam-packed with things that it would take a ridiculous amount of time to summarize, and in any case, I don't want to spoil it. If you like musicals - maybe even if you don't! It's got less singing than a lot of musicals - I definitely recommend it.
(Also, if you're looking for it in the English-speaking world, the title was translated as "Hipsters," which seems unfortunate: I don't think there is an English word that stilyagi translates into - it being a pretty specific social movement - so they should have just left it as it was.)
