Sunday, March 16, 2014

The Irony of Fate Part 1 - The Hangover 4: Moscow to Leningrad

This originally was just something that I thought would improve my understanding of the Russian language since I am an intermediate Russian speaker. I didn't know what to think of the plot of this movie, but overall I enjoyed it.

The Irony of Fate (the shortened English title of the movie) tells the story of Zhenya, played by Andrey Myagkov, a man in his 30's thinking about proposing to his girlfriend Galya, played by Olga Naumenko, on New Year's Eve. After a drunken evening at a bathhouse in Moscow, his friends accidentally fly Zhenya over to Leningrad. The story takes off from there.

This is one of the first times that I've had to read subtitles for a movie in a foreign language, but I would have to say that I did enjoy this film regardless of the quality nor the fact that I had to read subtitles.

It is a bit slow. I can tell that some parts of the movie could have been chopped off without deviating from the original plot of the movie. However, I do understand that this film is a bit old (1976), so I'll try not to be to critical of these things.

Furthermore, I did like the cliff hanger that the movie leaves for Part 2 at the end of Part 1. I think I will watch Part 2 now that I've seen what the movie is starting to become.

I can see why the title of this film is The Irony of Fate, given the situation that both Zhenya and Nadya, played by Barbara Brylska, are in at the end of Part 1. For a comedy, this Soviet film is not too bad. I wonder what Part 2 has in store for me.

Update: If confused, there are two parts on YouTube, a Part 1 and Part 2. Physically, The Irony of Fate is a 3 hour movie, not chunked into two like YouTube has it. I will post a The Irony of Fate Part 2 to refine the ideas on this review.

I give this movie a 4/5.


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