I am still inclined to believe that the late Eldar Ryazanov was greatly inspired by the American television series Sex and City for the creation of the movie Old Knaps. It is visible, because all the archetypes of the four friends are almost literally transferred here: Gurchenko (of course) is a kind of Samantha, the sex bomb of the quartet; Kryuchkova is a man in a female body, that is, Miranda; Irina Kupchenko plays a gray mouse without any identifying features, as Charlotte guesses. Well, the incomparably talented Leah Akhedzhakova reminds me of Carrie Bradshaw: no, not by love for expensive clothes (although they meet here, directly on the main characters, but not for long), but for her vulnerability, naivety and defenselessness.
The plot of the picture, due to its immortality (especially for Russia), did not lose its relevance. Plagiarism here I did not see the word absolutely, as the film is inspired by the series about sex in the big city. He does not copy (except in a small part) the series, does not reproduce it in the scenery of Moscow in the 1990s. In the end, sex here can be traced only in the tragicomic jokes of the four adorable “knaps”.
You know, after watching the movie "Old Knights" (2000) I despise all men. Seriously. Because men like Khomenko (a black realtor played by Koli Fomenko) I have seen a billion lives ahead. This terrible meanness, ruthlessness, I miss his character. And here are the heroes of such a plan as the officer performed by the Great Valentin Gaft; guys, I have never seen such men. And most women, I think, too. Ah.
The only thing I want to talk about is the special effects. No, no, no, they did not spoil my impression of what they saw.
And the Jewish songs are closer to the end, God. I feel these chants in Yiddish extremely deeply. Not to the point of hysteria, so they penetrate into my soul.
Thank you, dear Eldar Alexandrovich, for your soulful cinema in this difficult time.
10 out of 10
An adventurous detective with pieces of buffoonery. He'd be forgotten forever if it weren't for the titan's name. Ryazanov — pretty, it seems, had a hand in the production of the script — with the new times clearly did not make friends and exposes the ugliness in post-Soviet Russia, along the way, still finishing up with the criminal Soviet past. The epic imagery characteristic of his best old films was replaced by on-screen tinkering with cheap film techniques and directorial vision, too looking senile grumble. The full pathos of the fight against untruth in such a frivolous presentation looks unnatural. In the mass of episodes, the film has a magical ability to make you feel uncomfortable for the flights of director’s fantasy, the dash of which cannot be leveled by the attempts of acting. The honored maestro, who invaded not his film field at all, where the taste and sense of proportion clearly change him, showed everything he was now capable of - without cutting off the slag, sometimes giving off insanity. In the distant four desperate aunts I. Kupchenko does not fit well, the expressive stupidity of the goods to her, the role of clearly gravitating, does not fit at all. In his usual heroic image, Gaft looks pathetic here. The brightest played by Mamuka Kikaleishvili.
1990s. A time when everything collapsed and people survived as best they could. Our heroes are no exception and are defeated. In addition, the insolent businessman Vasya deceived the apartment from Lyuba. The friends, tired of indiscretion, undertook to punish the scoundrel. They are still full of strength and go to various tricks. Even Luba’s car became a savior. The final is optimistic: the villains are punished, and the friends resume performances.
This film is one of the most powerful Ryazan films: the same race ZIS-101 and Mers, as well as a trip to ZIS on the metro line is impressive. I like the cast, the music is amazing. In a word, Ryazanov is a real master wagon. Thank you for a good movie.
I don’t understand why there are so many negative reviews – maybe people just didn’t understand anything.
So basically:
1. The film takes place in the gangster 90s, however, the director managed to demonstrate the features of this troubled time without typical for this “techniques”, as a result of which we do not see on the screen a vulgar “Russian film about bandits from the 90s” and for this – the first 5th picture. Antagonists rather, cause a smile, but do not lose their essence of "negative heroes", because the film looks quite easy.
2. The main heroines are friends, most of their lives living in the USSR and therefore, differing in some naivety and simplicity (which the heroine Akhedzhakova demonstrates to us). The director makes it clear that naivety is not the same as stupidity and for all the simplicity, our heroines are smart (by the way, very educated women) and can stand up for themselves. The scene at the car wash is indicative where we see how the situation of the intelligent population has changed and who are now the "masters of life."
3. About the situation in the army in those days, did not forget to mention too: “nothing to feed the soldiers”, “and the teacher?”, “and the doctors?” – here, you and the social drama immediately. And the boy taking money from the old ladies selling cakes off the subway, like the son of a heroine who went to war? Did no one see this transparent message about the Chechen campaign?
4. Scenes that scold for “implausibility” are called the beautiful word “grotesque” and are designed not only to amuse the viewer, but also to emphasize some of the thoughts inherent in the plot. In particular, mutual assistance and mutual help of friends in relation to each other, were awarded a win in the casino, the help of the general is rewarded in return, a submarine car, immersed in the song “our proud Varangian does not surrender to the enemy” – much more clearly! – just the embodiment of the motto “Never give up”! And at the same time, as I think, against the background of the above, and a message on the scale of a poor, but unsinkable country selling cakes!
5. That’s not all there is to say about this movie! I think that this picture is not just “not the best picture of Ryazanov” – on the contrary!! – it is the best!
And despite the fact that in fact, it is not a comedy, but a social drama with elements of comedy (I would describe it as such), it leaves behind bright feelings - hope, faith in human good qualities and an optimistic view of the future.
After the frankly weak and failed film “Hi, Dummies”, I decided to move on to even later works of Eldar Ryazanov. He moved on and realized that the maestro had finally fallen into insanity. If “Hi, Dummies” is just a boring and slurred film, then this film is generally terrible and completely inadequate. Personally, I was a bit shocked after watching. What I saw was not just a comedy, but a movie. In the end, I decided to forget this film altogether, but by chance I went to this page and saw that the reviews for this “miracle” are almost all positive. And then the thought crept into my head: and if a person who loves Ryazanov’s early work comes here, read the reviews and decides to see this “masterpiece”. So I decided to write my review here.
The plot tells about four friends who in the 90s remained out of business. They make money selling newspapers, fruits and other things by the subway. Here, one of the friends is framed by black realtors and taken away from her apartment, moving the hostess to the Vagankovo cemetery. The apartment is occupied by a real scammer Khomenko. Aunts try to return the apartment in an honest way, but they fail. Then they decide to fight for an apartment. That is, they give Khomenko their elderly friend, so that she seduces him, then torture him, threatening to kill him if he does not give up the apartment.
Consider the “kindness” of this comedy. Especially the scene with the seduction of Khomenko. The fact is that he is seduced by the heroine Gurchenko, who at the time of filming was over 60. And I'm sorry, what kind of idiot would he fall for this seduction? But Khomenko is on. By the way, he is played by Nikolai Fomenko. That is, the screenwriters did not bother to come up with a name for the character, but simply replaced one letter from the surname of the actor who will play this businessman. Fomenko plays very badly. He's not even trying to do it. Instead of an evil genius, it turned out to be a clown with the habits of a master. But back to the script. The most delusional moments of this film are the scenes with the car of one of her friends. The car does not burn in the fire, and does not sink in the water, and the subway rides on the rails. They wanted to make this scene laugh, but they caused pity. To Eldar Ryazanov, who in his old age was forced to make this film. The master himself prefers not to mention this work. Do not remember about it and the producers of TV channels, on which if and show this film, it is only at night.
Now I turn to acting. All the actors in this film were apparently shocked by the very poor script. There's no acting. Even Gurchenko, Akhedzhakova, Kupchenko and Kryuchkova did not save this film with their play. There is nothing to say about the rest, since they only crooked throughout the film.
If you know how to feel and love, if Hollywood has not yet killed all life in you – watch this movie, but read the review.
I can easily explain the fact that young people will not like this film, if only because our young people for the most part do not know the history of their native country, and not knowing the history, how can you judge a movie that is simply imbued with the consequences of the events of the long history of the USSR. And also because the main characters are not two-meter supermodels, but ordinary women who lived most of their lives in the USSR.
This is a story about women who have passed many tests, but were able to maintain their friendship - and this means a lot. It’s a pity, it’s just a pity that our young people don’t watch such films, because in fact the idea is just beautiful! And here I am undoubtedly an extremely happy person, because my grandmother, a real Soviet woman, loved all such films and instilled in me a love for them, and I, then a very girl, watched them with her, not understanding the meaning, but was able to adopt the ideals that Soviet films instilled in us. And although this film was made after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has this vein that makes you believe in the best, do good for others, make friends, take care of your friends and just love.
The key ideas of the film are that despite how old you are, what life baggage you have behind you, how much loss you have suffered and how long you had to wait for your happiness, it is never too late to become happy and love. And then I just want to take off my hat to Ryazanov, who simply can’t shoot bad pictures in principle, because his name is already a ready-made stamp on the film “required to watch”: what chic actresses he chose for the main roles, what delightful images were created for them! These are images of women who have suffered so much, but at the same time continue to smile and even sing - this is in the spirit of our great country - to smile through tears, and end a seemingly comedy film with a song that will pour tears into the river. The same applies to other songs in the film "Song of the mother of a soldier", "Years are rushing - bad weather", "Last love" - these songs are tears in the eyes, of course, not everyone, but only those who have not yet forgotten how to feel and love.
And I'm really sorry that you'll probably never see this movie, never feel it, but just snort and go see a hyped Hollywood comedy. Very sorry.