River City Film Club will be screening Stilyagi (Hipsters) as the closing film of the year at River City Forum, 2nd floor of River City Bangkok, Charoen Krung 24, on Saturday at 4pm.
Directed by Valery Todorovsky, the cult Russian musical comedy depicts a unique and interesting clandestine sub-culture that existed in the Soviet Union in the 1950s.
At the height of the Cold War in the Soviet Union, the titular Stilyagi were a bunch of Western-oriented hipsters who loved jazz, dances like the swing and boogie-woogie, exhibited questionable morals, and enjoyed dressing with a flamboyant style. They even called the main street they used "Broadway".
There are certain West Side Story touches in the film, which centres around a "war" between a group of young Muscovite Komsomol (Communist youth) and a group of Stilyagi (Hipster youth), who clash whenever they meet on the streets of Moscow.
At the start of the film, Mels belongs to the former group and is singled out by leader Katya for her personal attention.
However, when he meets Polly of the Stilyagi group, he falls in love and decides to change his personality to please her -- including clothes, shoes and hairstyle. He learns to dance from his Jewish friend Bob, begins listening to jazz, and even plays the saxophone, considered controversial at that time.
The film has many lively but thought-provoking moments which vibrantly combine a hipster sub-culture, a love story, and the clash with Western ideology. It was screened at top festivals and won more than 16 awards in Russia, Europe and America.
The films comes with English subtitles. Russian Ambassador Evgeny Tomikhin will introduce the film and host a reception after the screening.
Tickets cost 100 baht and can be purchased from ticketmelon.com/rivercitybangkok/rcbfilmrussia. Email rcbfilmclub@gmail.com.
