Ballad of Bering Strait
Opens Friday, Feb. 21
With a Grammy nomination for best country instrumental performance, their first album just released on Universal South, fresh off an appearance on "60 Minutes" and several high-profile live performances in New York and Los Angeles, it's safe to say the wonderful Russian band Bering Strait has finally arrived. They even have their own movie.
Were the subjects not such an irresistible combination of wildly talented musicians who are young, attractive, multilingual and not spoiled by success, one could dismiss Nina Gilden Seavey's documentary "The Ballad of Bering Strait" (showing locally via digital projection at Laemmle's Sunset 5 in Los Angeles) as well-timed boosterism with no depth or critical aspects. Instead, it's a coming-out party of a project that is never less than engaging.
The one unconditional critique of the movie is there is not enough of the band playing their music. Those not familiar with Bering Strait's blend of bluegrass, rock and country, with songs performed in English, are in for a treat. But other than loosely chronicling the journey to fame of the group -- all seven are natives of Obninsk, Russia -- there isn't much substance to the biographical portraits.
Still, Seavey lets her subjects talk, and it's hard not to fall in love with the likes of lead vocalist and acoustic guitarist Natasha Borzilova, who starts the movie with Long Dark hair and has been transformed by the end into a short-haired country blonde. Her singing voice and performance skills are amazing, but the banjo and lead guitar playing of Ilya Toshinsky are equally of the highest order.
Impressive for their seriousness, musical skills and persevering attitudes are red-haired keyboard player and backup vocalist Lydia Salnikova and drummer Alexander Arzamastsev. Although all seven members are anxious to have success, with some having played together since childhood, the love of the music is clearly what inspires them -- and it's a great gift they have to give. Still, it would have been OK to show them eating junk food and watching dumb TV shows or more of how they survived for years in the United States waiting to get their shot.
Straightforward and fast-paced, the film does recount the group's initial attempts to record and perform in America that were derailed by the changing fortunes of record executive Tim DuBois. Meanwhile, their manager, Mike Kinnamon, was a major help during the years it took to finally record an album and play the Grand Ole Opry. The movie concludes soon after their first big concert, but hopefully Bering Strait will be around for a long time.
THE BALLAD OF BERING STRAIT
Emerging Pictures
Credits:
Director-producer: Nina Gilden Seavey
Director of photography: Erich Roland
Editor: Jeff Consiglio
Cast:
Natasha Borzilova, Ilya Toshinsky, Lydia Salnikova, Alexander Arzamastsev, Alexander "Sasha" Ostrovsky, Sergei Passov, Sergei "Spooky" Olkhovsky, Andrei Misikhin
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
With a Grammy nomination for best country instrumental performance, their first album just released on Universal South, fresh off an appearance on "60 Minutes" and several high-profile live performances in New York and Los Angeles, it's safe to say the wonderful Russian band Bering Strait has finally arrived. They even have their own movie.
Were the subjects not such an irresistible combination of wildly talented musicians who are young, attractive, multilingual and not spoiled by success, one could dismiss Nina Gilden Seavey's documentary "The Ballad of Bering Strait" (showing locally via digital projection at Laemmle's Sunset 5 in Los Angeles) as well-timed boosterism with no depth or critical aspects. Instead, it's a coming-out party of a project that is never less than engaging.
The one unconditional critique of the movie is there is not enough of the band playing their music. Those not familiar with Bering Strait's blend of bluegrass, rock and country, with songs performed in English, are in for a treat. But other than loosely chronicling the journey to fame of the group -- all seven are natives of Obninsk, Russia -- there isn't much substance to the biographical portraits.
Still, Seavey lets her subjects talk, and it's hard not to fall in love with the likes of lead vocalist and acoustic guitarist Natasha Borzilova, who starts the movie with Long Dark hair and has been transformed by the end into a short-haired country blonde. Her singing voice and performance skills are amazing, but the banjo and lead guitar playing of Ilya Toshinsky are equally of the highest order.
Impressive for their seriousness, musical skills and persevering attitudes are red-haired keyboard player and backup vocalist Lydia Salnikova and drummer Alexander Arzamastsev. Although all seven members are anxious to have success, with some having played together since childhood, the love of the music is clearly what inspires them -- and it's a great gift they have to give. Still, it would have been OK to show them eating junk food and watching dumb TV shows or more of how they survived for years in the United States waiting to get their shot.
Straightforward and fast-paced, the film does recount the group's initial attempts to record and perform in America that were derailed by the changing fortunes of record executive Tim DuBois. Meanwhile, their manager, Mike Kinnamon, was a major help during the years it took to finally record an album and play the Grand Ole Opry. The movie concludes soon after their first big concert, but hopefully Bering Strait will be around for a long time.
THE BALLAD OF BERING STRAIT
Emerging Pictures
Credits:
Director-producer: Nina Gilden Seavey
Director of photography: Erich Roland
Editor: Jeff Consiglio
Cast:
Natasha Borzilova, Ilya Toshinsky, Lydia Salnikova, Alexander Arzamastsev, Alexander "Sasha" Ostrovsky, Sergei Passov, Sergei "Spooky" Olkhovsky, Andrei Misikhin
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/21/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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