Stilyagi 2008

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: It's taken the Russian musical "Hipsters" four years to reach America. That's all right. It may take audiences four years to recover. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: An endearing curiosity that, at 125 minutes, is as badly in need of a trim as the hair of its comically coiffed dandies. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: While everything looks glinty and gorgeous, the story's political edge is dulled by excessive levity. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: Todorovsky cleverly indicates how every generation holds bragging rights to its own unique brand of youthful defiance. Read more

Alison Willmore, AV Club: Light as a bubble, Hipsters suggests that age may catch up with everyone, but that there will always be people fighting against the current of conformity, even if they only express it via how they wear their hair. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: Raucous and vibrant. Read more

Karina Longworth, L.A. Weekly: In a postwar Moscow where consuming Western products is considered a form of treason, their insouciant fetishization -- and charming lost-in-translation misinterpretation -- of American jazz culture are legitimate forms of political rebellion. Read more

Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic: What is... wondrous, the chief repression that we see-and hear-is Stalinist hatred of jazz and American hip clothes. Read more

Ella Taylor, NPR: The hipster moment may have faded fast through repression and attrition, but in Todorovsky's reading, it was crucially formative on today's Russian youth. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Are you ready for a bright and breezy musical comedy from Russia? Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Aside from what we get in the big dance scene, the songs are of little interest, and each one feels like an intrusion. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: 'Hipsters" practically vibrates with zeal and joy. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: [A] punch-drunk, decadently designed slice of eye candy... Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: A candy-colored confection with a dark, bittersweet center. Read more