Would you be able to play Nocturne on the flute of drain pipes? To be honest, before watching the series, I did not even suspect that there is such a singer - Valery Obodzinsky. Of course, I’ve heard the songs “Oriental”, “These eyes are opposite”, but, in general, I was not puzzled by those who perform them. When I started watching the series, I went online to see who Mr. Obodzinski was. I can’t say that the story of his life struck me to the core, but the voice is, yes, such an amazing purity and depth. I was pleased that the series not only covered his songs, but used real recordings of his voice, digitized and adapted to the present.
The story of the singer’s life, his formation, the struggle with ideological obstacles to his work, popular love and fierce hatred of officials.
I'll run through the main characters.
Valery Obodzinsky by Alexey Barabash, not bad, even good. Probably, even reliably, and most importantly, I want to believe that he is really so talented and received his recognition, his heavy burden for a reason.
Nelly Obodzinskaya as Evgenia Brik is probably a slightly underestimated actress. But the role of Obodzinsky’s wife turned out to be very organic. Here, personally, it seems to me that a lot of everything that happened in the life of the singer is not good, and lies on the conscience of the wife (at least, this impression I had when watching).
Anatoly Zarubin - Kirill Safonov, a young musician, whom Obodzinsky twice crossed the road - first took his place in the orchestra, and later took away his beloved girl and married her. Enemy number one Obodzinski, the personification of all officials who destroyed him all his life, mixed with dirt. Personal accounts are very well placed on the public. Zarubin is a negative character, but all sorts of small, ugly, Safonov just wonderfully played him. For me, the strongest scene in the whole film is the moment when Obodzinsky comes to him with a showdown and suddenly finds out in the party hall, which puts sticks in his wheels all his life, the very Tolik from the cruise ship, whom he broke his glasses to protect the girl. And an adult man Zarubin, who has broken more than one life, at the moment turns into the same frightened Tolik. And then all his actions are mixed with shame in front of himself for this fear.
In general, the cast is selected very well even for secondary characters.
I was also pleased with the attention that the creators approached the details - costumes, household trifles correspond to the era.
Of course, if you look at the film as a biography under a microscope, even an inexperienced viewer like me will notice some inaccuracies. But in general, the picture is quite at the level. The moment of rebellion from the ashes of Obodzinsky’s star is simply touching and sad at the same time. I recommend it to all fans of the genre of “biographical cinema” and other fans of good Soviet music.