Moscow on the Hudson

There are things you can hold against "Moscow on the Hudson". It is quiet and episodic rather than exciting in any way. Vladimir, the Russian main character is completely different from any Russian I ever actually met (although it can work since all individuals are different). Convinced Marxists will hate its all too truthful criticism of communism. The 2 sex scenes break up the movie´s otherwise family friendly tone. However, in spite of these details, which can be both pluses and minuses depending on one´s point of view, "Moscow on the Hudson" is a great movie - possibly even the best movie ever made about the immigrant experience. ( I should know because I was an immigrant to the U.S. myself.) It is perhaps even mislabled as a comedy since its dramatic aspects outweigh its comedic ones. Its essential point seems to be that if you have a positive attitude, you can actually connect with the strange people in a strange land. However, its other major point is that no matter how well you adapt, the home where your roots are is still your home and you will miss it no matter how awful life there was. And if you are like Vladimir, you will also have to deal with an unstable mix of odd jobs, friends who never stay in one place too long, your new country´s street scum, arrogant morons from your motherland, and a significant other who will not fully commit to you. However, Vladimir realizes that this is not too high a price to pay for freedom to speak your mind, travel, and really shop around at Bloomingdale´s. He also winds up appreciating America´s wealth of many different cultures and ethnic backgrounds, although the makers of this film were good enough to not bang the viewer over the head with this point. Rather, they present it as irreverently and matter of factly as Jim Jarmusch does in his best work. This all amounts to a movie that is very human (or humane) in a gentle way and rather realistic in its depiction of the less extreme varieties of human nature. Its low key approach is much better for expressing its points than the loads of melodrama which these kinds of movies usually have. The jazz music soundtrack is great too. Basically, if you´re sick of movies which are overblown and commercial, then you will especially appreciate this little gem.

I found that I had to think a bit about this movie to really begin to appreciate it. The initial response I had was to treat it as a mildly amusing comedy revolving around an eclectic set of characters that didn't really seem to have much of a point in the end. But there's more going on here than meets the eye at first. The whole movie revolves around the concept of freedom, and how freedom is defined. Produced at the height of the Cold War, I took from this movie a statement that freedom is about much more than a political system. The first part of the movie deals with Vladimir Ivanoff's (Robin Williams) life in the Soviet Union. Protesters are arrested, Ivanoff is threatened by the KGB for no reason other than that he has an eccentric grandfather and people line up for blocks to buy toilet paper or shoes that don't fit. From what I've read, that's probably an accurate description of life in the USSR. But it isn't as bleak as it seems. Ivanoff has a family he loves, a girlfriend who loves him and wants to get married, and he can pursue his passion of saxophone playing with the Circus. Most important - this guy doesn't want to defect, and he tries to convince his best friend Anatoly (Elya Baskin) not to defect either, when the Circus visits New York City. The second part of the movie is set in New York. On the spur of the moment, Vladimir defects - at Bloomingdale's. He hadn't planned to. It just happened. Asked by an FBI agent why he was defecting, he answered simply "freedom." And now we begin to learn about freedom. Vladimir tries to make connections. His best friend becomes a black store security guard named Lionel (Cleavant Derricks). Lionel's family parallels Vladimir's (right down to the eccentric grandfather), but it isn't Vladimir's family. Lucia (Maria Conchita Alonso) becomes Vladimir's love interest, but she doesn't want to commit. He can't even play the sax. He waits tables, drives a taxi, becomes a street hawker - all ultimately unsatisfying. For me the most poignant part of the film comes in a coffee shop, in a discussion among the various immigrants. They misquote the Declaration of Independence, and say that the "inalienable rights" of human beings are "life, liberty and happiness." But Thomas Jefferson didn't say that. He said "the pursuit of happiness." Here is where I really began to see the film as a sort of satire about freedom. To be politically free without having one's basic human needs met is ultimately not freedom. It's an interesting statement. Unfortunately, the movie itself is not that interesting. That's the basic problem. It has the potential to be powerful, but just doesn't rise to that potential. Why? Too much emphasis was put on the immigrant nature of New York City, for one thing. That became - to me - something of a running joke, and I started wondering what the next accent would be rather than following the story. For a movie that tries to make a powerful statement (and a gutsy one, given the political climate of the time) it just came across as too "light" - the sort of movie that you feel you could miss twenty minutes of and step right back into without trouble. The * scene with Maria Conchita Alonso in the bathtub with Robin Williams (Williams hands roving all over her body) also struck me as in bad taste and exploitative - totally unnecessary to the story. Anyway, not bad. Once I took the time to think about it I decided to move it up a couple of notches in my estimation. 6/10. Unfortunately, it could have been so much better.

Robin Williams is excellent as a Russian circus performer in New York City with his troupe for the first time, deciding to defect and become a U.S. citizen. After an appropriately dark, though somewhat heavy-handed opening, this comedy-drama from director Paul Mazursky suddenly finds its niche and seldom wavers. It may appear from the early parts of the picture that Williams is giving yet another of his overly-colorful, cartoonish performances, but he too gets into the groove of this project and fleshes out this charming, confounding, complicated man. Maria Conchita Alonso is wonderful as the working girl who falls for Williams (they have terrific chemistry, and Alonso has never been better). A fuzzy, friendly, thoughtful film, a bit too long but occasionally sublime. *** from ****

The guy who was the head of de urity at the end is selling hotdogs and thanks robin williams for defecting? For freedom? Freedom belongs to people with full stomach. I am annoyed to have spent time to watch this movie. Ok start, good points about Williams doubts and then: sudden happy ending for absolutely no reason!

It depressed me terribly. I couldn't figure out its message. Was it, that life is terrible? If so, why did the plot revolve around a Russian trying to adapt to life in America? Did the writer mean to say, that life here isn't easy? If so, he was stating a platitude. Did he mean to say, that though difficult, life here is better than in Russia? You do not have to make a movie to prove it. I hated this one. It was not blatantly anti-Russian, but it did manage to make a crack about Russian women and their beards. New York looks very alienating. An America that always needs reassurance about its uniqueness is in itself creepy.

Robin Williams is excellent in this movie and it is a pity the material is not enough of a match for him. This may work if you buy into the "U-S-A! Number One!" mentality but story wise nothing much happens. Quite a shame really since the movie is really trying to say something, and says it sincerely. It just doesn't pack enough emotional punch.

Apparently in the mid 1980's American film making could be kind of like in the 1950's. Every moment and the dialog generally feel contrived and sentimental. William's saxophone miming is totally unconvincing. Music choices under scenes are thuddingly obvious. There are a couple of very minor offensively stereotypical gay characters. The Russians shop at Bloomingdales. Why? Maybe it wasn't super expensive then? And William's character gets an apartment (OK, not a spiffy one, and only a bedroom/living room) in Manhattan with a spacious eat-in kitchen. And it's not on the street side! Why didn't he move to Brighton Beach? Anyway it was on the local PBS station and I didn't have to pay rapt attention, so worth it for some 80's NYC.

I cannot understand why this movie has received such a low rating of 6.2. I love Robin Williams when he is funny and also when he is serious. He is the best of actors and his performance in Moscow on the Hudson, as a Russian musician, is awesome. Cuban-born Maria Conchita Alonso also gives an excellent performance as the Italian young lady who falls in love with Williams. My recommendation: don't wait any longer, rent Moscow on the Hudson. You'll cry, you'll laugh, and you'll appreciate freedom. No matter how risky freedom could be, it's the only opportunity to be yourself.

Robin Williams became famous, I think, for his stand-up comedy, like his idol Jonathan Winters, but do you realize how many movies this guy has made over the years? He's really become quite a film star and is especially good playing against-type as a criminal or simply as a wacko (see "One Hour Photo?") Anway, this was an early Robin Williams film in which he plays a Russian musician defecting to the United States. He ("Vladamir Ivanoff") first hides out in a big store in New York City before being taken in as an immigrant by a black guy (can you say PC?) Williams does an outstanding job speaking Russian, by the way, as opposed to most English-speaking actors. There really isn't much of a plot here, just slices of life, if you will, some of it with the usual Liberal promiscuous (i.e. "I'm a liberated woman and if I stay the night, don't misinterpret that I want to get involved with you," the Italian tells the Russian. I can think of a few more accurate descriptions that the word "liberated.") All in all, despite the premise and talents of Williams, this was only so-so. It kind of runs out of steam halfway through and it's hard to maintain interest in the final 40 percent of it. Actually, I like Williams better when he plays more serious roles like this although I'm not sure if he himself was ready to play it straight this early in his career. He's just too tempted in this film to produce comedy. He's a talented and very strange guy; this film reflects that.

Manhattan looks so much more varied and gritty and real and less mall-ified than it does today in this, Paul Mazursky's 1984 love letter to the American way, and one of the last unambiguously patriotic mainstream American movies. (It's very much a product of its Reagan time, right down to the casual homophobia.) Robin Williams, for once not twinkling too hard or overworking his virtuosity or adorableness, is an Everyman Russian who unexpectedly defects in Bloomingdale's and goes on to live the immigrant experience, suffering urban indignities and romantic angst along the way. His worklife is a little easier, his economic situation a little less treacherous, and the people he meets a little nicer than they would be in real life. For all that, in its celebration of the melting pot and its warm embrace of the American urban landscape, the movie moved me to tears.