Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Pyotr Mamonov | ... | Lyosha | |
Pyotr Zaychenko | ... | Shlykov | |
Vladimir Kashpur | ... | Old Nechiporenko | |
Natalya Kolyakanova | ... | Christina | |
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Hal Singer | ... | Self |
Elena Safonova | ... | Nina, Liocha's Wife | |
Sergey Gazarov | ... | Administrator | |
Evgeniy Gerchakov | ... | Bald Musician in the Taxi | |
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Dmitri Prigov | ... | Writer Typing in the Train |
Igor Zolotovitskiy | ... | Petyunchik | |
Valeri Khlevinsky | ... | Fat Kolya | |
Yelena Stepanova | ... | Smart Young Girl | |
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Vladimir Sterzhakov | ... | Musician in the Taxi |
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Konstantin Afonsky | ... | Long-Haired Mechanic |
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Aleksandr Buyanov | ... | Passenger with Newspaper |
Ivan is old Russia: thick, dour, hard-working, often brutish; he misses Communism. He drives a taxi and one night meets Alexi, a new Russian, a musician, an alcoholic, irresponsible. Alexi stiffs Ivan for the fare, so Ivan tracks him down and a love-hate relationship ensues. When Alexi lets the bath water run over in Ivan's flat and Ivan must pay 500 rubles for repairs, he tries to force Alexi into day labor to repay him. It's hopeless. Then, suddenly, Alexi is discovered, goes on a jazz tour of America, becomes a celebrity, and returns in triumph. Ivan longs to renew the friendship, and it looks as if he may get what he wants. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
Released as the Soviet Union was starting to implode, Pavel Lungin's "Taxi Blues" gives one a sense of the disillusion that would come to dominate Russia under Yeltsin.
As it turns out, the movie just became even more relevant. The protests resulting from George Floyd's murder drew attention to the Tulsa Massacre of 1921 (depicted on "Watchmen"). Here's the link to this movie: Hal Singer - who appears as himself - is the last male survivor of the massacre. He was less than two years old when a white mob razed the area known as Black Wall Street, slaughtering thousands. Now 100 years old, he is one of the few surviving links to that act of domestic terrorism.
Anyway, worth seeing.