Koch Lorber Films presents “TAXI BLUES” (1 October 1990) (110 mins/Color) (Dolby Digital) — This film shows the conflict and forming of a friendship between two opposites — 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 — 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.

Under the production staff of:

Pavel Lungin – Director / Screenwriter

Marin Karmitz – Producer

Pierre Rival – Producer

Denis Yevstigneyev – Cinematographer

Valdimir Chekassine – Composer (Music Score)

Elizabeth Guido – Editor

Valeri Yurkevich – Art Director

Alexei Chkele – Set Designer

Natalia Dianova – Costume Designer

Larissa Avdiouchko – Makeup

Yvon Crenn – Production Manager

Story line and plot, Pavel Lungin’s film Taxi Blues explores many different aspects of contemporary Russian life — Set against the cultural melting pot of Moscow, the story unfolds as two men compare and contrast their lots in life, each admiring what the other has and wishing they could have it as well — The film begins with a taxi driver, driven by the hardships in life and accustomed to the dark side of life in Moscow — He picks up a group of musicians after a night out on the town, and after the last one has been dropped off, he is stiffed on the bill — Enraged, the taxi driver stalks the last musician out of the taxi, corners him, and steals his saxophone — In return, the musician is thus forced to perform manual labor for the taxi fare, and to get his saxophone back! — The conflict in the film is evident through the two characters involved here — The taxi driver is a dark, strong willed character, and the musician is a thin and weak soul — They see each other as complete opposite, almost as enemies — But, they somehow manage to find a friendship through their encounter — Gradually, each becomes dependent upon the other, and this is essentially the film’s theme — What Lungin is attempting to convey here is that sometimes the bleakest situations in our lives can provide our best opportunities for self-improvement — Both characters are lost, but in different capacities — They are alone, frustrated, and tired, but both experience these things on different levels; the working class level, and the creative/artistic level — Through their experiences together, both men help one another to achieve something greater for themselves, and their friendship is a testament to that — Taxi Blues received great critical acclaim and many awards, including director Pavel Lungin winning the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1990.

the cast includes:

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

Great job by Koch Lorber Films — looking forward to more high quality titles from the International Collection Film Market — order your copy now from Amazon or Koch Vision where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch releases — where they are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector.

Total Time: 110 mins on DVD ~ KOCH Lorber Films ~ (01/13/2009)
Rating: 4 / 5

Stay way from this jumbled and disjointed subtitled film which is filled with lots of meaningless violence and overdramatic acting. I was pretty hard pressed to detect any of the sentimentality or sensitive inter-ethnic dynamics which are supposed to be the hallmark of this movie.
Rating: 1 / 5