I'll admit, Navalny wasn't really on my radar until it won Best Documentary at the most recent Oscars. While I don't think it was necessarily better than Fire of Love - one of the other nominees - I understand why it won, and still think it was overall a pretty good documentary.
It is a timely documentary. It's about a story that's still going, in a way, following someone who's gotten on the wrong side of some very powerful people - including Putin itself, it seems - in Russia. Given everything that happened concerning Russia in 2022, it's no wonder that something like this has been successful and acclaimed, and perhaps seen as even more relevant and important.
The story is overall interesting, and I think that as far as the filmmaking side of things is concerned, Navalny is competent, but not exceptional. There are some great sequences that are well-constructed, but other times it does feel a little uneven and kind of by the numbers. Again, it's not like that all the time, thankfully, but it's certainly not flawless when it comes to pacing and the technical side of things, and certain sections of the film prove more moving and intense than others.
It'll likely serve as a good snapshot of the state of things in Russia during the late 2010s/early 2020s in future years, and I'm not sure whether that will make it more or less interesting to viewers in the future. It could be historically fascinating, or it could just seem heavily of its time in a less compelling way. Time always tells; it just ironically likes to take its time sometimes.
It is a timely documentary. It's about a story that's still going, in a way, following someone who's gotten on the wrong side of some very powerful people - including Putin itself, it seems - in Russia. Given everything that happened concerning Russia in 2022, it's no wonder that something like this has been successful and acclaimed, and perhaps seen as even more relevant and important.
The story is overall interesting, and I think that as far as the filmmaking side of things is concerned, Navalny is competent, but not exceptional. There are some great sequences that are well-constructed, but other times it does feel a little uneven and kind of by the numbers. Again, it's not like that all the time, thankfully, but it's certainly not flawless when it comes to pacing and the technical side of things, and certain sections of the film prove more moving and intense than others.
It'll likely serve as a good snapshot of the state of things in Russia during the late 2010s/early 2020s in future years, and I'm not sure whether that will make it more or less interesting to viewers in the future. It could be historically fascinating, or it could just seem heavily of its time in a less compelling way. Time always tells; it just ironically likes to take its time sometimes.