ANGELS OF REVOLUTION (Angely revolyutsii) (2014) - ♦♦♦

Directed by - Aleksey Fedorchenko

Written by - Aleksey Fedorchenko, Oleg Loevskiy, Denis Osokin

Starring - Darya Ekamasova, Konstantin Balakirev, Pavel Basov

"Five Soviet avant-garde artists, led by hero of the Russian revolution Polina Schneider, travel to Siberia to "civilize" the native Khanty and Nenets tribes through art. 

ALEKSEY FEDORCHENKO's ANGELS OF REVOLUTION is based on a true story, but often presents the film in a deadpan like type of satirical humour that is enriched by mise-en-scene meticulousness and still camerawork. The colourful imagery creates a stark contract with the purposefully cardboard acting by the cast, who are meant to be two dimensional allegorical representations of different personalities of the artists of the revolution. 

The film does not move by conventional cinematic language, but rather by a succession of episodes. These episodes are not well balanced, and despite being equally as entertaining as they are powerfully haunting through an essential respect for its themes with a metaphorical immediacy and the portrayal of its heavier and more importance of their historical depiction, are quite exhausting in the way they are put together, and make the film seem too self-indulgence. This harms the impact that it could have had, as in the end ANGELS OF REVOLUTION is perhaps more admirable for its silent Soviet matter-of-fact like vibes and stylistic eccentricities than for either story or message."

Drama, Russia