this week s most arresting release is dear comrades, the latest from acclaimed russian film maker andrei konchalovsky. set in 1962 in a provincial town in the southern ussr, this increasingly harrowing drama stars acclaimed stage and screen actor yuliya vysotskaya as lyudmila, a party devotee with a nostalgia for stalinist ideas in the age of khrushchev. what am i supposed to believe in if not communism? , asks lyuda as her beliefs are challenged in the fallout of a factory strike and protest to which the army and kgb respond with deadly force. as the authorities rush to cover up a state sponsored atrocity, lyuda searches for her missing daughter, for whose life she fears after scenes of terrible violence. based on real events, that were not officially acknowledged until 30 years later, dear comrades is a powerfulfilm that draws visual inspiration from soviet classics like the cranes are flying and ballad of a soldier, presenting its bleakly crisp black and white images in a
the headlines: a warning of mounting pressure on hospitals and staff by the head of nhs england. mass vaccinations begin at another ten centres in england from tomorrow as the foreign secretary pledges every adult in the uk will be offered a first dose by september. the anti kremlin activist alexei navalny is detained in moscow, embracing his wife before he was taken away. mr navalny flew back to russia for the first time since he was nearly killed by a nerve agent attack last year. the jailed american music producer, phil spector, who helped define the sound of the sixties and the creator of the wall of sound has died in prison aged 81. and america is on high alert, in the run up to the inauguration ofjoe biden. sportsday is coming up. now, it s time for the film review. hello and welcome to the film review with me, mark kermode. and despite the fact that covid has closed cinemas and put us in lockdown once again, there is still plenty of new movies for you to experi
this week s most arresting release is dear comrades, the latest from acclaimed russian film maker andrei konchalovsky. set in 1962 and a provincial town in the southern ussr, this increasingly harrowing drama stars acclaimed stage and screen actor yuliya vysotskaya as lyudmila, a party devotee with a nostalgia for stalinist ideas in the age of khrushchev. what am i supposed to believe in if not communism, what am i supposed to believe in if not communism , asks lyuda as her beliefs are challenged in the fallout of a factory strike and protest to which the army and kgb respond with deadly force. as the authorities rush to cover up a state sponsored atrocity, lyuda searches for her missing daughter, for whose life she fears after scenes of terrible violence. based on real events, that were not officially acknowledged until 30 years later, dear comrades is a powerfulfilm that draws visual inspiration from soviet classics like the cranes are flying and ballad of a soldier. prese
who is the sort of the eminence grise behind all of this, this victory, this somehow idyllic americana that doesn t exist and isn t real. and here s the thing it s basically the stepford wives. the difference is the stepford wives at the beginning of the stepford wives, you think, ok, this, you know, what? is there something off kilter? you can t quite figure what s wrong with it. in the case of this from the beginning, it is absolutely clear that this is an artificial world, that none of this can be what it seems, that somehow, they re in a bubble or an illusion. now, florence pugh works wonders making the character of alice engage you so that even though she s in this completely artificial environment, you believe in her character and you engage with her character. harry styles, he s fine. there ve been some sort of cruel things said about his performance. it s ok. it s staggeringly unremarkable. the problem is that you very quickly figure out there s one of a number of p
after leaving the village, which they re not allowed to do, and going out into the desert and encountering something. and alice starts to think, hang on a minute, this isn t what it seems. there s a conspiracy going on here. here s a clip. violet, where did you meet bill? we met on a train. to boston. yeah. yes, you dropped your ticket and you bent down, picked it up, gave it to you, right? that is, yeah. that s how margaret met ted. and peg, am i right in thinking that that s how debbie mcintyre met her husband? yes, lam. that s how they met. yes, that s true. i m jealous. honestly, it s such a sweet story. isn t that funny? that s incredible. there are so many different stories that were told. we re told what we remember, until we try to remember things that they want us to forget. ..like margaret. alice. no, jack. it s ok. i m curious to hear where she s going with this. - frank is doing something to us. so frank, played by chris pine, who is the sort of the eminence gri