Silver Skates (B+ or 3/4 stars)
On the frozen canals & of St. Petersburg, Russia, a petty thief on ice skates warms the heart of an ambitious aristocrat's daughter as forces try to keep them apart in Michael Lockshin's 'Silver Skates', a sweeping Russian melodrama of the tallest order. The setting: 1899, St. Petersburg, Russia, where the Tsar rules over everything. Enter 18 yr. old Matvey (Fedor Fedotov), a fast ice skater who glides along on antique "magical" skates, speedily delivering fancy pies to the local elites. The skates were given to him by his poor, ailing lamplighter father, Petr, who is dying of tuberculosis.
When Matvey is fired from the pie delivery gig, he is offered a job with a gang of speed-skating pickpockets who teach Matvey the tricks of their trade as they navigate the frozen waterways of the city to take wallets & watches from the unsuspecting wealthy. Honest at heart, but desperate for $$ {for his sickly dad}, Matvey is conflicted about thieving, but it brings him face-to-face {in a swoony balcony scene - Romeo & Juliet, much?} with the beautiful Alisa (Sonya Priss), daughter of the powerful Duke Nikolay (Aleksey Guskov) - an aristocrat who despises radicals & free thinkers. Little does he know that his feminist/science-loving daughter longs for a life in which she could study along men in university; unheard of, at the time.
To that, the Duke pushes Alisa to forget school to marry the handsome social-climbing Capt. Arkadiy Tarisov (Yuri Borisov). Alisa is bereft by the idea of being a trophy wife, but is encouraged to defy her father because her newfound love for Matvey is so strong. But Matvey's underworld connections endanger them both and, the police attack his gang of pickpockets. The police squads vow: to kill every gang member. Chaos ensues as Alisa plans for an elopement of sorts with Matvey. But can they out-skate her father, her fiancee & the police to start their life anew? Will the lovers triumph?
'Silver Skates' is a bit bloated at 136 minutes and, the story is far from original -- VERY similar narrative beats to the love-story-in-the-face-of-adversity plots of both Romeo & Juliet & Titanic {where ICE is featured prominently in both, hehe}. And other than our main couple, the characterizations of the rest of the players are played too broadly. But boy, was I swept up in much of this movie. I praise the appealing leads, Fedor Fedotov & Sonya Priss. I was awash in the starkly beautiful cinematography, lavish production design, ornate costumes, & the scintillating locales. And the film sticks the landing. As a fan of skating, I also loved that that is featured prominently throughout; impressively kinetic filming of those ice sequences, as well.
I liked what this movie had to say, politically. Marxist ideology was in the air at the turn of the century. And women were on the verge of demanding rights that the male-dominated society would never have previously – it's wild to see that someone like Alisa {with a brain & gumption} would be denied higher education because her father and/or husband would not permit it. As a Russian Netflix Original - not knowing what to expect going in - I would say that this film greatly surprised me. I pulled for the lovers, I marveled at the sumptuous visuals, and it's not every day that we're afforded an escapist 19th century Russian-set romance.
When Matvey is fired from the pie delivery gig, he is offered a job with a gang of speed-skating pickpockets who teach Matvey the tricks of their trade as they navigate the frozen waterways of the city to take wallets & watches from the unsuspecting wealthy. Honest at heart, but desperate for $$ {for his sickly dad}, Matvey is conflicted about thieving, but it brings him face-to-face {in a swoony balcony scene - Romeo & Juliet, much?} with the beautiful Alisa (Sonya Priss), daughter of the powerful Duke Nikolay (Aleksey Guskov) - an aristocrat who despises radicals & free thinkers. Little does he know that his feminist/science-loving daughter longs for a life in which she could study along men in university; unheard of, at the time.
To that, the Duke pushes Alisa to forget school to marry the handsome social-climbing Capt. Arkadiy Tarisov (Yuri Borisov). Alisa is bereft by the idea of being a trophy wife, but is encouraged to defy her father because her newfound love for Matvey is so strong. But Matvey's underworld connections endanger them both and, the police attack his gang of pickpockets. The police squads vow: to kill every gang member. Chaos ensues as Alisa plans for an elopement of sorts with Matvey. But can they out-skate her father, her fiancee & the police to start their life anew? Will the lovers triumph?
'Silver Skates' is a bit bloated at 136 minutes and, the story is far from original -- VERY similar narrative beats to the love-story-in-the-face-of-adversity plots of both Romeo & Juliet & Titanic {where ICE is featured prominently in both, hehe}. And other than our main couple, the characterizations of the rest of the players are played too broadly. But boy, was I swept up in much of this movie. I praise the appealing leads, Fedor Fedotov & Sonya Priss. I was awash in the starkly beautiful cinematography, lavish production design, ornate costumes, & the scintillating locales. And the film sticks the landing. As a fan of skating, I also loved that that is featured prominently throughout; impressively kinetic filming of those ice sequences, as well.
I liked what this movie had to say, politically. Marxist ideology was in the air at the turn of the century. And women were on the verge of demanding rights that the male-dominated society would never have previously – it's wild to see that someone like Alisa {with a brain & gumption} would be denied higher education because her father and/or husband would not permit it. As a Russian Netflix Original - not knowing what to expect going in - I would say that this film greatly surprised me. I pulled for the lovers, I marveled at the sumptuous visuals, and it's not every day that we're afforded an escapist 19th century Russian-set romance.