An Ordinary Miracle

A beautiful film with great actors. A magician turns a bear into a young man who must kiss a princess in order to turn back into a bear. Leonov is hilarious as the King.

This is one of the best masterpieces of world cinema, despite the extreme simplicity of both the plot and the simplicity of the effects inside the film. The plot takes place in just a few rooms and is essentially a theatrical production.

Little known outside the Russian cultural space, it is easy to watch with the current development of new digital means of automatic translation.

Although based on a trivial story, the development of the plot is captivating. Excellent multi-level humor, which can be understood better in adulthood - having watched it at 10, 25 and 40 years old, different levels of subtext are revealed and the film is understood in a new way.

Although not necessary, knowledge of the Russian language will help to understand the beauty of the play on words and musical compositions.

The only reason that I'm ranking it 9 instead of 10 is that fact that it's... not actually a movie.

It's based on a theatre play, directed by a theatre director, and it shows in everything: the dialogue, the set, the scenes, the costumes, the actors often talking and looking directly at the audience... However, if you're willing to disregard that little detail and instead watch it as a recorded theatre play, it's an absolutely breathtaking experience.

The movie is based on the play of the same name by Evgenyi Shvartz, one of the most significant Russian The story is painfully simple: two young people fall in love, even though they cannot be together. The literal magic and the magic of being human twist together to make a beautiful plot about love out of this world. People born in the Soviet Union know the iconic songs and quotes from this movie by heart. The cast is stellar, although a few of them are first and foremost theatre actors, which, again, shows.

An Ordinary Miracle has really stood out among the run of Russian films I've seen, which was at a very high standard. And I mean this in a very good way. An Ordinary Miracle is a beautiful-looking film, the fantasy settings are wondrous and the scenery like some of the other best of Russian films makes me wish I could go to Russia. The photography is of the kind that is simple but also very elegant. The music is orchestrated sensitively and to the extent that you wish you can buy it on CD alone, the songs also stick in your head for days and are just lovely. There is some satire in the dialogue and it's very sharp and hilarious, and there's a lot of thoughtful and touching moments too. The story made me laugh with the satire, cry or feel very touched with the three romances(very romantic and charming) and in awe with the fantasy elements. It is also swiftly told, I was impressed at how much there was, it's a quite long film but never tiresome. The characters are quirky engage hugely, all of them serving a point. The acting is theatrical but still very good, Oleg Yankovsky and Irina Kupchenko are excellent. Overall, beautiful film and a miracle really. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This movie has always been a romantic inspiration to me. I understand, that for Western movie fans it must look too simple in terms of effects (if any :), but Mark Zakharov is a theatric director, so it is actually a movie PLAY, having a touch of theater.

Øýü afraid that the half of the original flavor will be devoured by any however good translation - humor, romance, smallest shades of mood or feelings. But if you will get into the movie, if you will find the right tune for it - you will discover a lot of wonderful things about yourself, about feelings...