Zhara (2006)

Moscow, hot summer day of 2006. The four high school friends meet after a long separation. They did not suspect that this meeting will drastically change the life of each of them.

Director:

Rezo Gigineishvili

Writer:

Rezo Gigineishvili (idea)

Stars:

Aleksey Chadov, Artur Smolyaninov, Konstantin Kryukov

1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aleksey Chadov	...	Aleksey
Artur Smolyaninov	...	Artur
Konstantin Kryukov	...	Kostya
Timati	...	Timati
Anastasiya Kochetkova	...	Devushka s fotoapparatom
Agniya Ditkovskite	...	Nastya
Deni Dadaev	...	Deni
Alexander Rapoport	...	Inturist (as Aleksandr Rapopport)
Irina Rakhmanova	...	Ofitsiantka
Tatyana Lyutaeva	...	Mama Alekseya
Viktor Rudnichenko	...	Papa Alekseya
Igor Lysov	...	Otets Kosti
Olga Zharinova	...	Polina (as Olga Bolbukh)
Mikhail Vladimirov	...	Menedzher bara
Aleksandr Golubev	...	Barmen

Storyline

Moscow, hot summer day of 2006. The four high school friends meet after a long separation. They did not suspect that this meeting will drastically change the life of each of them.

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Plot Keywords:

youth | hot weather | group of friends | summertime | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Russia]

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian English Azerbaijani

Release Date:

28 December 2006 (Russia)

Also Known As:

Forróság

Filming Locations:

Moscow, Russia

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Art Pictures Studio

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Out of 27 soundtracks mentioned in the credits of the film, the names of four contain the word "zhara" (heat) and the names of another three contain the word "Moskva" (Moscow). The film is called "Zhara" ("The Heat") and is about a hot day in Moscow.

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Connections

References Scarface (1983)

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Soundtracks

Kogda ty plachesh
Performed by Tokio
Music by Yaroslav Malyy (as Malyy Ya.), Demyan Kurchenko (as Kurchenko D.), Ilya Yazov (as Yazov I.), Maks Bogoyavlensky (as Bogoyavlensky M.)
Lyrics by Yaroslav Malyy (as Malyy Ya.), Demyan Kurchenko (as Kurchenko D.), Ilya Yazov (as Yazov I.)
Played in the last scene and in the end credits

User Reviews

Another guilty pleasure happened in one heck summer day in Moscow...

V Yanyarya budet zhara... In January comes the heat...

I just watched this film this morning and I like it. From the trailer, I thought it would be more romantic, but turned out to be an above-average of Russian comedy. 4 good folks from schools got reunion in a summer café on the bank of River Moskva, and they had an unthinkable trouble to deal with check, though one of them is so rich. One by one, a friend left the table to find solution and everyone of them met with different stories. The rich one got caught, ended up in jail for a night with the help from other folks. Friendship never ends...

The film's idea is unique, given a try to bring out everything that happens in Russian cities right now, from possible street crooks and young "Novyi Russkij", to more serious ones, like problems with immigrants and skin-heads or racists. But the plot is somewhat too predictable and relies too much on coincidence. As you should know the slogan of contemporary Russia, "Russia - a country of possibilities"; so everything can happen and taking that into consideration, that makes this film not senseless at all.

However, I like it as another Russian guilty pleasure. As a foreigner studying in Russia, this film is good enough to entertain me and easily shows Russian young people's lifestyle (most of them are a part of "ribyata"(guys) from 9 rota). The soundtrack is quite impressed, given a combination of slow Russian "popsa" to Russian soft night-club-style hip hop, although. The ensemble, comprising of young Russian rising stars, did a great job. The director also did a fine job using every fantastic view of Megapolis Moscow that you can possibly think of.

It is hard to imagine if people outside Russia today would get the film, anyway (even babushkas who live in this territory for the whole life will have a hard time watching this one).