Taksi-Blyuz (1990)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Pavel Lungin

Writer:

Pavel Lungin (writer)

Release Date:

18 January 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Ivan is old Russia: thick, dour, hard-working, often brutish; he misses Communism. He drives a taxi and one night meets Alexi...

Plot Keywords:

Tragicomedy

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Pyotr Mamonov	...	Lyosha
Pyotr Zaychenko	...	Shlykov
Vladimir Kashpur	...	Old Nechiporenko
Natalya Kolyakanova	...	Christina
Hal Singer	...	Himself
Yelena Safonova	...	Nina, Liocha's Wife
Sergei Gazarov	...	Administrator
Yevgeni Gerchakov	...	Bald Musician in the Taxi
Dmitri Prigov	...	Writer Typing in the Train
Igor Zolotovitsky	...	Petyunchik
Valeri Khlevinsky	...	Fat Kolya
Yelena Stepanova	...	Smart Young Girl
Vladimir Sterzhakov	...	Musician in the Taxi
Konstantin Afonsky	...	Long-Haired Mechanic
Aleksandr Buyanov	...	Passenger with Newspaper

Also Known As:

Taxi Blues (International: English title) (USA) (DVD box title)
Такси-блюз (Soviet Union: Russian title)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

Soviet Union | France

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Germany:16 (bw)

Company:

ASK Eurofilm

A patriotic cabbie tries to change a lazy alcoholic Jew.

This film shows the conflict and forming of a friendship between two opposites: Shlykov, the hard-working patriotic cab driver built like a tank, and Lyosha, the thin, panhandling urban Jew.

A taxi driver in Moscow named Shlykov gets stiffed of his fare by the Jewish saxophone player named Lyosha who calls himself a genius who "speaks to God". Shlykov tracks down Lyosha and takes his saxophone and that is when the fun begins.

Lyosha fails to make money fast enough to pay Shlykov back but Shlykov decides to give him back his saxophone anyways. Lyosha, sensing Shlykov's soft heart, tries to further take advantage of him by begging him for money. After Shlykov lets Lyosha in his apartment, and after Lyosha causes him great trouble costing him even more money, Shlykov takes Lyosha to jail.

After a violent outburst by Shlykov he decides to go back to the police station to drop the charges against Lyosha. He has decided that sending Lyosha to jail would accomplish nothing. He wants to show Lyosha what life is like for honest hard-working people. Shlykov makes Lyosha come to work with him. The "intellectual" breaks down when forced to do what millions of other people in the country have to do everyday of their lives. Both characters show impulsive and unpredictable behaviour, but for different reason. Lyosha is simply a drunk. Shlykov is a patriotic ex-athlete full of proletariat angst and senses his nation is dying because of the "rotten" westernized hooligans he sees everywhere in the streets who lack any work ethic.

I will not reveal the ending to you but I will tell you this story is not a fairy tale.

I think this film goes much deeper than just showing what life was like in the USSR; the two characters can be found in almost every culture in the world today.

Excellent performances by both Zajchenko and Mamonov.