We've been tracking Nikita "Burnt by the Sun" Mikhalkov's Russian contextualization of Sidney Lumet's classic 12 Angry Men for a while around here. One of the writers around these parts, who will remain unnamed, has seen it and loved it, but is holding back with the reviewage for some reason! (For this he should be punished.) 12 is one remake that is a great thing (even Oscar seemed to think so by giving it a nomination), the source material being perhaps one of most beloved 'single room' movie (see Twitch-O-Meter). This story is so universal, that one wishes more countries would offer their inflection of the universal human stuff that make up the grist for the mill here. And that all of the versions be as atmospheric and top-tier production value as this Russian take on the tale.
A loose remake of 12 Angry Men, set in a Russian school in the war-torn republic of Chechnya. 12 jurors are struggling to decide the fate of a Chechen teenager who allegedly killed his Russian stepfather. The jurors: a racist taxi-driver, a suspicious doctor, a vacillating TV producer, a Holocaust survivor, a flamboyant musician, a cemetery manager, and others represent the fragmented society of modern day Russia.
Damn! That is a really great trailer! Shot well, the music complementing perfectly! It definitely makes me want to see the movie. Which, of course, is the point. Mission accomplished! :D
Love the Lumet version, this one looks dazzling. I can't wait.
It's very strange how do people in different cultural niches react.
As I live in Ukraine, which is basically the same movie market with Russia, the new remake is well-known here (even more then the original classic). But the comments on the movie here weren't too positive. Yes, it may seem like "fragmented Russian society", but actually it is not! It's too sketchy, too exploitative and too predictable for anyone who actually lives here.
The only people here, who can be hooked with that movie are those outfit ultra-right radicals, who might be kinda "teased" with the idea.