I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renee Rogers to talk about the new releases in theatres, including the hellish hallmark “Obsession,” the rowdy revenge of “Is God Is” and the secrets of “The Wizard of the Kremlin.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the hellish hallmark “Obsession,” the rowdy revenge of “Is God Is” and the secrets of “The Wizard of the Kremlin.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make your bed. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the hellish hallmark “Obsession,” the rowdy revenge of “Is God Is” and the secrets of “The Wizard of the Kremlin.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” a new political drama now playing in theatres, Paul Dano plays a television producer who rises through the ranks to become the spin doctor and master of manipulation for KGB agent Vladimir Putin.
CAST: Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge, Will Keen, Jeffrey Wright, Jude Law. Directed by Olivier Assayas.
REVIEW: Adapted from Giuliano da Empoli’s novel, “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” this is not a reliable history lesson. Instead, we’re told by the film’s opening title card that it is “an original work of fiction with artistic intent.” Names and situations have been changed but this fictionalized story is no stranger than the real story of television producer and strategist Vladislav Surkov, architect of the post-USSR Kremlin.
Beginning in 2019, years after Vladimir Putin’s enigmatic advisor Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano) retired from public life, the film is framed as a conversation between “the Wizard of the Kremlin” and American writer Lawrence Rowland (Jeffrey Wright), whose article “Vadim Baranov and the Invention of Fake Democracy” caught Baranov’s eye.
Baranov’s episodic story begins with a “When I was growing up…” and winds along his journey through the new world of the early 1990s Russia. From life under Communism and a particularly hedonistic theatre school, where he learned how to stage eye catching spectacles, to reality television (“First rule,” he says, “don’t be boring.”) to the world of banking oligarchs and the upper echelons of a new world order, it’s a tale of nationalism, chaos, autocracy and the power behind the power. “I don’t know much about politics,” he says, “but I do know about communications.”
The conversational framing device is an efficient way to drop big chunks of exposition and keep the story moving forward, but it also means an over reliance on voice over. In a show me don’t tell me medium, it feels more like a lecture and a low energy one at that.
Dano’s monotone, I suppose, is befitting a man of mystery, someone who spent a career as the unknowable person behind the throne, but it is too one-note to be compelling. It’s a shame because the machinations of creating a new political brand could be a fascinating and timely topic.
Bringing more energy is Law whose Putin is charismatic and chilling as he calmly speaks (in an English accent) of the advantages of Stalin’s rule and eliminating rivals. “We need to inspire fear and fury,” he says. It’s all surface, no real introspection here, but it’s a pretty good surface.
“The Wizard of the Kremlin” is ambitious but despite revealing Baranov’s secrets, ultimately doesn’t have that much to say.
