Firebird

Firebird (2021) was co-written and directed by Peeter Rebane. This isn't a review of Stravinsky's Firebird. It a movie set in Estonia in 1977, when that country was part of the Soviet Union.

I don't know why the movie has an Estonian director, a star from the UK (Tom Prior), from Ukraine (Oleg Zagorodnii) and from Russia (Diana Pozharskaya). Everyone speaks in English. Director Rebane is bilingual, but what about Zagorodnii and Pozharskaya? They may be bilingual as well. Usually, you'll notice dubbing, but I didn't detect it in this case.

Prior plays Sergey, a young conscript who wants to become an actor when his conscription ends. Zagorodnii is Roman, a tough fighter pilot. ("The Firebird.") Pozharskaya plays Luisa, who works as the colonel's secretary. (She wears a uniform, but I can't tell if she's actually in the air force.)

I called this a very unusual love triangle, because both men are attracted to each other, and Luisa is attracted to them both. The plot moves forward from there.

We saw this film virtually from the great ImageOut Rochester LGBT Film Festival. It has an excellent IMDb rating of 7.7. I agreed, and rated it 8.

P. S. The Firebird ballet does enter the movie. The men go to see a performance of the ballet in Moscow.