The Russian film “Hipsters”, released in 2008, revealed something new that had been absent from Russian cinema for a long time. The youth subculture of the 50s was positively received by the audience, critics and many other representatives of the media. The creators themselves note that the tape is designed in the style of musical comedy and tragicomedy.
History of the film
Director Valery Todorovsky became interested in the script of Yuri Korotkov, who so responsibly approached the study of the life of young people of the last century. It is the story of an ordinary Soviet guy against the background of socio-social ideology that formed the basis of the plot of the future picture. Of course, the creators could not help but pay special attention to the issues of friendship and love.
The film has a rich musical range, in which the motives of domestic rock, jazz and rock and roll predominate. In a word, the musical style is sustained according to the era. In addition, most of the film is devoted to dance and choreographic numbers, brilliantly played on the screen. Many critics said that above all the film has an entertaining function. However, his peculiarity is that he does not forget acute social problems. The success can be evidenced by those who mainly recreated the features of the required culture - actors. “Hipsters” for them was not just another project. They allowed to plunge into the atmosphere of the middle of the last century, showing a simple but not forgotten life.
Historical plot features
Hipsters can be a group of young people who are fond of jazz and rock and roll. Thanks to this, their ideology is filled with the idea of freedom and a free way of life. In clothes, they prefer a bright style that greatly distinguishes them from the mass of other fellow citizens. Post-war life by them is unacceptable. On the contrary, they are self-confident, full of determination and do not pay attention to gray everyday problems. But what culture is not controlled by the state? So, in the country there are squads and patrols from Komsomol members who are called to “fight” with this youth direction.
A feature of the plot is that the main character, Komsomol member Mels, participates in a raid of dudes, where he meets the charming Polina. The girl invites him to join the group, and, choosing the appropriate outfit, the young man goes over to the side of the dude. Toward the close of the final scenes, the authors reveal an important secret: according to obvious data, in America there is no similar direction. And therefore, dudes exist only in Russia.
The film “Dandies”: actors
Valery Todorovsky set himself many tasks. Having found financial support, he embarked on a key task. To more accurately reflect the real reality of that time, he needed those who could realize the main characters on the screen - actors. The “dudes” required tremendous training, including physical and external data. Preferably new faces unknown to the public. However, the director also coped with this brilliantly.
A team of applicants emerged immediately after the casting. The main female role of Polina (Good) was prophesied by Ekaterina Vilkova, who already had experience in filming. But Todorovsky preferred to give her the image of Betsy's “doll”. The invited some Polish actress seemed alien to him among the whole team, and the role of Polly was again vacant. Oksana Akinshina tried on the role for which she dyed her blonde, and remained in the image. With the exception of two young actresses, the rest of the cast has already been approved.
So, the main male role was given to Anton Shagin. For the filming, he learned to play the saxophone, and Igor Voinarovsky, who played Boris (Bob), recovered by 20 kilograms. The role of Fedor (Fred) was received by Maxim Matveev, and Katya was embodied by Eugene Khirivskaya. Other actors who received the roles include Konstantin Balakirev, Elvira Voloshin, Sofia Lebedev, Olga Smirnov, Sergey Garmash, Oleg Yankovsky and Leonid Yarmolnik, who also acted as executive producer.
Having heard about the filming, the secondary actors, “Hipsters” for whom were an anticipated success, wanted to appear in at least several episodes. So, the lead singer of the Coral Reefs group, Kirill Sukhomlinov, appeared in a cameo-image, as did the musicians of the Tyan-Pushk collective.
Musical accompaniment
The maximum recreation of the era of the past, along with choreography and costumes, has become a primary goal. Responsibility for this rested not only with the actors. “Dandies”, conceived as a musical film, are accompanied by hits of real rock groups: “Cinema”, “Bravo”, “Chayf”, “Time Machine”. Konstantin Meladze and Yuri Shepeta were involved in arranging and processing.
Public criticism
The picture was nominated for the Nika Prize in eight nominations, but it only took the figurines in four. In 2009, the Golden Eagle was awarded, where the film also received awards.
Expected was a criticism of the Americans, who were lucky enough to see the movie at the box office. They met with an unknown youth culture that reigned in old Russia. Most of the assessments of foreign colleagues were positive.
To summarize, we can safely talk about the success of the film “Hipsters”. Actors and roles remained vivid and memorable in the audience’s memory, as well as the demonstrated era of subculture, which the modern generation is unlikely to be able to see from the pages of history textbooks.