The Barber of Siberia (1998)

After almost three years I didn't know what to make of this movie. I had posted so many "news" pieces on this site that it just wasn't funny any more. The thing opened in Europe in 1999!

So would I like it? Would I hate it? Would I not care either way?

It soon became obvious that the only way I would see it would be to buy it on video. Of course it wasn't in any of the stores I walked into so I bought it online for 16 of your British pounds.

The first thing I noticed was that it was a *lot* funnier than I had expected. I had read stuff saying how funny it was, but I didn't know if Russian Funny would be the same as Jack Funny. In any case I laughed. The piano scene was a particular favorite, but there are others such as Julia's character "using" the phone in the general's office.

Julia looks like she had a lot of fun with the role. It was nice to see her smile and laugh for a change. And she is in nearly every scene and even narrates. The film would not have worked if her character didn't work. Julia made it work.

[It pisses me off that she's doing such good solid work but the likes of Zeta get their egos stroked because they marry some jowl guy...]

After watching the movie I realised that it reminded me of "Legends" to a large extent: A young woman arrives in a different world and all the men fall for her. But the man she falls for is the "wrong" one. It all goes tragic and they are separated. Then she marries another man.

One difference is that the second half of Barber seems to be missing and we get a truncated ending instead. When the Oleg guy is sent off to Siberia I felt that it was the half-way point of the movie, but actually there's not much left after that.

However Julia survives to the end without blowing her brains out and with her smile intact.

In case you didn't know, I had very big problems with the story structure (and some of the acting) in Legends. I did have a *little* trouble with the story structure of Barber, but to a much lesser degree and I can overlook it. I am happy to say that I had no problems with the acting. Also some of the shots are very nicely constructed.

Richard Harris was hardly in the thing, and the machine of the title gets only two or three scenes.

In summery: It's great to see Julia again. She's so good it just reinforces the fact that it's almost criminal how little we see of her.

The video is available to rent and buy in the UK. It's in English and Russian (with English subtitles). There are no Russian voiceovers.