Spinning Boris (2003)

Touches You

Simply A Masterpiece

A lot of fun.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

OK everybody is so enthused by this film I hardly dare add a negative review but I just did not enjoy this movie.I have to say first I saw the film in Russian language overdub so I will have missed some dialog, but not much.Nice things first. There are some hilarious moments (the Elvis impersonator for instance). Actors seem well casted, also the Russians. Efremova is great and Goldblum is very good. Which brings us to the downsides of this movie. First of all. There is hardly any story and the end we know already: Yeltsin wins. So no drama or suspense. They tried to solve this problem with an emerging affair between the actors mentioned above, but that story kind of evaporates.More importantly, the film does not represent reality. The Russians at the level of politics and society portrayed in this movie are not funny, they are a serious and dangerous lot. I am willing to believe that flying in some spin-doctors from the states helped Yeltsin win his campaign, but the real interesting questions that should be addressed are: who financed the campaign, what did they get in return, how was the opposition handled apart from airing some commercials?So what we have here is a film, loosely based on reality (but strangely avoiding anything that could make the film either historically relevant or just a very good political thriller) without plot or subplot.

It's funny enough as a 'what if?' scenario. But knowing that this movie is based on a true story makes it much more interesting and fun. Three seasoned political consultants accept the job of getting Boris Yeltsin re-elected. Obviously, they find that things work a little differently in Russia. At times, it seemed there was the inclination to go a little over the top (both in plot and in performance), but Goldblum, LaPaglia and Schreiber manage to keep it within bounds most of the time. Cut-ins of actual footage of the before-and-after candidate on the stump balance the falseness of the zany factor. Flaks and reporters will enjoy this film. So will anyone who takes politics seriously.

"Spinning Boris" tells a tall tale of three American political campaign consultants who are retained by the Russians to help an ill, oft intoxicated, and very unpopular Boris Yeltsin win Russia's first post-Cold War democratic election. What you'll get is lots of snappy patter as the culturally challenged Goldblum, Schreiber, and La Paglia try against all odds to spin Yeltsin with the help of his daughter and a meager cast of characters. What you won't see is anyone standing in for Yeltsin or anything really Russian save some file footage and postcard shots of Moscow. An obviously contrived but cleverly wrought dialogue-intensive synthesis about a hapless trio of election engineers out of their element, "Spinning Boris" conjures humor and heart which should appeal most to those into political comedy/dramedy. (B)

There is a french saying, "la réalité dépasse la fiction", truth beats fiction. Think about it. The reason why Spinning Boris rings so true, including seemingly trivial details, is that things can happen this way - I know from personal experience with both politics and Eastern Europe. Nobody would be foolish enough to present this movie as a documentary (and by the way, why wait until Yeltsin was completely out of the picture ?), but insiders will wink at each other. Remember Primary Colors - and think about it.