Mermaid (2007)
"Rusalka" (original title)

In Moscow, a young woman disappears after falling in love with a new man.

Director:

Anna Melikyan

Writer:

Anna Melikyan (screenplay)

Stars:

Mariya Shalayeva, Evgeniy Tsyganov, Mariya Sokova

6 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mariya Shalayeva	...	Alisa Titova (as Masha Shalaeva)
Evgeniy Tsyganov	...	Aleksandr Viktorovich 'Sasha'
Mariya Sokova	...	Alisa's mother
Anastasiya Dontsova	...	Young Alisa (as Nastya Dontsova)
Veronika Skugina
Irina Skrinichenko	...	Rita - Sasha's girlfriend
Albina Evtushevskaya	...	Alisa's grandmother
Oksana Borisova
Ivan Nikolaev
Igor Savochkin
Igor Yatsko	...	Alisa's chief
Igor Uryvaev
Sergey Chirkov
Maksim Konovalov
Tomas Motskus

Storyline

The fanciful tale of an introverted little girl who grows up believing she has the power to make wishes come true. She must reconcile this belief with reality when, as a young woman, she journeys to Moscow and grapples with love, modernity and materialism.

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Plot Keywords:

girl | little girl | wishes come true | family relationships | seaside | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [ru]

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian Mandarin

Release Date:

22 November 2007 (Russia)

Also Known As:

Mermaid

Filming Locations:

Anapa, Russia

Box Office

Budget:

$1,700,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Central Partnership

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min 100 min (theatrical)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Russia's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign-Language Film category.

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Quotes

Alisa Titova: And you, do you have a lot on the moon?
Aleksandr Viktorovich 'Sasha': I don't need to escape anywhere, i feel bad enough here.

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Connections

Features The Fifth Element (1997)

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Soundtracks

"Smeshnoy chelovechek"
Music by Aleksandr Zhurbin (as A. Zhurbin)
Lyrics by Pyotr Sinyavsky (as P. Sinyavsky)

User Reviews

A fantastic modern fable

Mermaid is an awesomely bizarre tale of a strange girl called Alisa, who, as a little girl, lives by the beach with her comically grotesque mother and grandmother and pines for her father to come and rescue her . Later on in her life she is forced to confront reality when she travels to Moscow with her family, and as a teenager, finds out all about all the wonders of the world, including love, jobs and friendship, all seen through an impossibly optimistic and offbeat sensibility. Mermaid plays like the second coming of Amelie, and everything about it is utterly charming; the fantastically upbeat, jazzy score, the dreamy cinematography tinged with realism, the quirky scenarios, but mostly the utterly charismatic and awesome central performances from the two girls playing Alisa, who like Audrey Tatou before them, will make you fall in love. Alisa is such an endearingly odd character, charmingly offbeat and naive, while remaining startlingly independent and fierce. A last act stumble provoked by a tangle of superfluous characters dampens the charm of the film somewhat,and it meanders in parts, but on the whole Mermaid is an almost note-perfect film that will leave you with a dreamy smile on your face and a longing for days of lost innocence.