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Movies / On DVD / Perestroika
Perestroika

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Perestroika (2007)

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Reviews Counted:12

Fresh:6

Rotten:6

Average Rating:5.7/10

Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Moscow. 1992. Astrophysicist Sasha Greenberg, (Sam Robards,) returns after emigrating to the US 17 years earlier. Formerly branded a traitor by the government, he is now seen as a hero. The period... Moscow. 1992. Astrophysicist Sasha Greenberg, (Sam Robards,) returns after emigrating to the US 17 years earlier. Formerly branded a traitor by the government, he is now seen as a hero. The period of “Perestroika” (restructuring) has turned everything upside down. Old friends who had no choice but to denounce him now welcome him with open arms. Painful memories of anti Semitism return to haunt him. A former colleague and lover introduces him to a fiery young girl who may be his daughter. The entire society is in upheaval. Vodka is rationed. Old people can barely feed themselves. Films of polluted seas, rivers on fire, and dying forests, are seeing the light of day for the first time. People are saying things in public that formerly would have sent them to prison. Many expect Civil War. At the same time a new breed of entrepreneurs are born. In the midst of all this turmoil Sasha is expected to deliver a theory that makes sense of our universe. His wily but supportive mentor, Gross, (F. Murray Abraham) counsels Sasha to continue along his path, to ride out his personal and professional problems.

Perestroika is the latest narrative feature from storied writer/director Slava Tsukerman, the director of the cult classic “Liquid Sky,” and the critically acclaimed documentary, Stalin’s Wife. Perestroika is a fictional look at a period that addresses much that is going on right now. But it is also a semi autobiographical recounting of Mr. Tsukerman’s own return to Russia during Perestroika. In his youth Tsukerman was among the first Jews to be admitted to the Moscow Film School. Almost twenty years before Russia’s “restructuring” he managed to emigrate to Israel, and then the US, where he made a huge splash with Liquid Sky. In writing Perestroika he called on much of his own experience. --© Official Site [More]

Starring: F. Murray Abraham, Sam Robards, Oksana Stashenko, Jicky Schnee

Starring: F. Murray Abraham, Sam Robards, Oksana Stashenko, Jicky Schnee, Ally Sheedy

Director: Slava Tsukerman

Director: Slava Tsukerman
Producer: Slava Tsukerman, Nina V. Kerova
Composer: Alexander Zhurbin

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Reviews for Perestroika

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1 - 12 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Has stylish visuals and a provocative, imaginative screenplay, but occasionally drags and feels convoluted with too many irritatingly awkward moments that lack an emotional core.

Full Review Source: NYC Movie Guru | comment Comment
04/20/09
Avi Offer
Avi Offer
NYC Movie Guru

Perestroika races back and forth between the Soviet past and non-Communist present. The result is highly personal, talky, clunky and somehow engrossing.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
04/17/09
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post

Perestroika is a curious combination of documentary and fiction, politics and science, sophisticated structure and incompetent drama.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
04/17/09
Nathan Lee
Nathan Lee
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Too much science-babble obscures the truth of Perestroika. The tragedy of the aftermath would have made a better story unvarnished.

Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment Comment
04/17/09
Ron Wilkinson
Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics

The Russians have a word for it: Nyet.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
04/17/09
Phil Hall
Phil Hall
Film Threat

Alternately fascinating and boring, ultimately confusing, yet heartfelt film by a Russian expatriate about returning to the homeland after Gorbachev.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
04/16/09
Lewis Beale
Lewis Beale
Film Journal International

A nuanced and fascinating film about a Russian scientist's journey home to Moscow after living in the United States for 17 years.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
04/15/09
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Thought-provoking, if not wholly satisfying, "Perestroika" is a deconstructionist filmic stew to be savored without expectation in order to enjoy its laissez-faire reality.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/12/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

The film, which opened March 20 in Los Angeles, is unwieldy, overstuffed and at times hopelessly clunky, yet it's also touchingly funny, visually arresting and somehow a consistent joy to watch.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/23/09
Andrew Baker
Andrew Baker
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Perestroika asks, with a philosophical shrug of the shoulders: Why not try to be optimistic?

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
03/20/09
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

one of the year's strangest and most compelling narratives.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
03/19/09
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Filmcritic.com

On the evidence of his new movie, Slava Tsukerman, who made the 1982 cult movie Liquid Sky, would make a brilliantly entertaining dinner guest.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment 1 Comment
03/19/09
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly
 
 
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