Cinema
Assa
Асса
Sergei Solovyov · 1988
Synopsis
Yalta, in winter, out of season. Alika, a young woman, accompanies her lover, Krymov, an older man who runs a criminal organisation and is watched by the KGB. At the Intourist hotel, she meets Bananan, an eccentric musician of the underground rock scene, who initiates her into Soviet counterculture. A relationship develops between the young woman and the musician, which Krymov discovers, and jealousy takes hold of him.
Context
The cinematography is by Pavel Lebeshev, the music by Boris Grebenshchikov, and the director wrote the screenplay with Sergei Livnev. Tatiana Drubich plays Alika, Stanislav Govorukhin Krymov and Sergei “Afrika” Bugayev the musician; Viktor Tsoi sings in it with his group Kino. Shot in Yalta and produced by Mosfilm, the film was presented on 24 March 1988 in Moscow, in a factory's palace of culture.
Who it is for
A drama of nearly two and a half hours, for those interested in Soviet rock and in the end of the Soviet era.
Prizes and reception
According to Meduza, the film gave Viktor Tsoi his first major role and a song that became the anthem of aspirations for change.