Mermaid (2007) Poster

(2007)

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8/10
Great film
kajfash26 November 2007
This film is one more must see Film! I saw trailer few month before and realized that it could be a good film. So it started from 22 Nov in the Ukraine's cinema. This film type is Drama but there are lot of fun issues and new ideas. I was impressed as Mariya Shalayeva play Alisa and as you can see from awards list she won 'Best Actress' award at Sochi. I'm skeptic to the Russian films but this is one more film after which I had impression for the next 2 days. I want to write about this now! It exceed my expectations! I recommend this film for any people ages except children's! And I'm waiting next films from Mariya Shalayeva and Anna Melikyan. I hope they will be great too!
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8/10
This movie makes Amélie look insignificant
imbicta8 November 2009
In the center of the plot there's a girl who can use magic realism to transform her life and the life of people living around her. But this is just as far as I can get with the comparison to The Fabulous World of Amélie Poulain. Because then comes the best.

In this movie you will face not only the benefits of this power but above all the desperation in it. The alienation in it. And the violence in it.

Turns out to be something much closer to real life, and real dreams and frustrations. It's not sweet, it's just big. Deserves to be watched for sure.
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7/10
Where wishful thinking often brings the unexpected – or unwanted.
RJBurke194226 August 2012
This is, as the genre indicates here, a fantasy. There is a mix of comedy and drama within, but it is essentially a fantasy story about a young girl who possesses supernatural powers – or so we are led to believe.

Life for anybody, each day, is a succession of events, is it not? So also with this film where we first see the girl, Alisa (Anastasiya Dontsova), as an eight year old, passing through various episodes of growing up at the seaside, and with dreams of being a ballerina. As the story develops in a continually episodic fashion, Alisa (now played by Masha Shalaeva), now eighteen, moves to Moscow with her mother (Mariya Sokova) and grandmother (Albina Evtushevskaya), begins the process of finding work, and discovers the good and bad sides of life in general.

So, like other movies – notably Amelie (2001) with Audrey Tautou – the viewer is treated to a series of comedic/dramatic vignettes about what can happen when a young person starts life in earnest as an adult. And, while I might compare the frenetic Tautou's acting to that of Charlie Chaplin, Masha Shalaeva, in contrast, is a female Buster Keaton par excellence: her deadpan expressions, her sly looks, the ghosts of her smiles are treats to watch and remember.

Central to the story is Alisa's belief she is prescient and can make wishes come true; central, also, is the fact she has fallen in love with a high-powered, boozy, marketing man about Moscow, Sasha (Evgeniy Tsyganov), and does her utmost to make his life more comfortable; in turn, he simple regards Alisa as his bi-weekly cleaning lady. Along the way, Alisa discovers Sasha is already hitched up with a stunning, silky, slinky blonde, Rita (Irina Skrinichenko) – a fact that simple makes Alisa try harder to make Sasha truly see her.

We all make wishes during life. Sometimes, things do come about as we hope. Most of the time, however, nothing fantastic happens. Instead, what ultimately occurs in this story brings Alisa, Sasha and the viewer back to all-too-grim reality, encapsulating, perhaps, the thought that you should be careful about what you wish for...

The production is quite professional; the photography is great, so also the editing and directing. I particularly liked the sound track. And the acting? While the supporting cast is uniformly good – notably Evgeniy Tsyganov – Masha Shaleva is not to be missed, in my opinion; I look forward to seeing her in other roles. Mention should also be made of Anastasiya Dontsova as the young Alisa.

Give this a good seven out of ten. Recommended for all.

August 25, 2012
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9/10
A fantastic modern fable
newtt1126 June 2008
Mermaid is an awesomely bizarre tale of a strange girl called Alisa, who, as a little girl, lives by the beach with her comically grotesque mother and grandmother and pines for her father to come and rescue her . Later on in her life she is forced to confront reality when she travels to Moscow with her family, and as a teenager, finds out all about all the wonders of the world, including love, jobs and friendship, all seen through an impossibly optimistic and offbeat sensibility. Mermaid plays like the second coming of Amelie, and everything about it is utterly charming; the fantastically upbeat, jazzy score, the dreamy cinematography tinged with realism, the quirky scenarios, but mostly the utterly charismatic and awesome central performances from the two girls playing Alisa, who like Audrey Tatou before them, will make you fall in love. Alisa is such an endearingly odd character, charmingly offbeat and naive, while remaining startlingly independent and fierce. A last act stumble provoked by a tangle of superfluous characters dampens the charm of the film somewhat,and it meanders in parts, but on the whole Mermaid is an almost note-perfect film that will leave you with a dreamy smile on your face and a longing for days of lost innocence.
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9/10
Why worth watching and why worth remembering
redhairedjim28 December 2007
This beautiful picture represents the loveliest trend of the modern Russian cinema (that largely consists of cheap action movies and lachrymose dramas) - a definite piece of art and a work of an Author, a story that truthfully and painfully reflects city life from the confused point of view of an outsider, dreamer, youngster. "Rusalka" is often compared to "Progulka" (2003) and "Piter FM" (2006), as in this respect these films are kindred to "Rusalka", never mentioning the fact that they all star Yevgeni Tsyganov - the new Russian Gael García Bernal type. However, watching "Rusalka" aches more than two before-mentioned pictures, for it doesn't lie for the sake of good mood. "Rusalka" is sometimes also called "Amélie Poulain in Moscow" because of the expressive and charming character of the heroine who believes that life is a beautiful and never-ending mystery; however, "Rusalka" goes farther than "Amélie", openly showing that City is not only a place of romance and unexpected adventures, but in fact a get-together of very very lonely people who find each other to remain alone. "Such things do happen in megapoles. Seriously, no big deal. Such things do happen." This might hurt.
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9/10
Creative, quirky, spectacular acting!
sundisilver13 September 2011
For whatever reason, Americans rarely are treated to Russian films, which is probably a great loss... certainly seems so after seeing the film "Mermaid." With a quirky story line and a very compelling opening sequence (great graphics!), it's a combination of incredible acting by the two actresses who play the lead character at different ages as well as the supporting cast and creative directing that make this worth watching. Not wanting to give anything away, I'll just say that my family enjoyed this film very much - but nothing prepared us for the ending. Highly recommend. (I reserved one star because I would have liked to see some creative cinematography of the Russian countryside; nevertheless, seeing Moscow up close in film is a treat.)
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9/10
My favorite film at Sundance this year.
mrmproductions11 February 2008
I only saw fifteen films at the Sundance Film Festival this year, but this one was my favorite film. The music was fantastic and maintained a level of intrigue and surrealism that produced a sense of mythic reality and impending urgency. Anastasiya Dontsova was phenomenal as Young Alisa and Mariya Shalayeva, who played Alisa from ages 17-18 years old, was spellbinding. The many closeups of her anxious face were a delight to the beholder. Although the pacing was a little slow at times, the story moved forward with a sense of inevitability that I imagine reflects the current circumstance in Russia today. It's always wonderful to see great films still coming out of the former Soviet Union.
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10/10
Quirky, bright, fun, imaginative and innovative
johno-216 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This was among my four highest favorites of the 36 films I saw at this years Palm Springs International Film Festival. This film won the Directing Award and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, both in the World Cinema-Dramatic category at last years Sundance Film Festival. It's an amazing film for a feature film sophomore release by writer/director Anna Melikyan. This is the story of Alisa (Anastasiya Dontsova as little girl Alisa and Mariya Shalayeva as young woman Alisa) who grows up in a seaside fishing village with her mother (Mariya Sokova) and her grandmother (Albina Yevtushevskaya). Alisa is the product of very brief affair between her mother and a sailor. The sailor returns to his ship and the seas and out of their lives forever and Alisa longs for the return of the father she never knew. Alisa also longs to be a ballerina but when she is denied she takes a vow of silence to never speak again. This results in her being sent to a special needs school where she excels and develops what she believes is the power to make certain wishes come true. As an adult she heads to Moscow where she saves a handsome and wealthy burnt out real estate salesman from suicide. Now she must compete for his affection. Beautiful photography from cinematographer Oleg Kirichenko and art direction from Ulyna Ryabova with an excellent original music score from Igor Vdovin who all like director Melikyan are relatively new to feature film-making. Great casting with superb acting performances especially from Shalayeva as the older Alisa, who at 25 when this was filmed doesn't look nearly that old, and from the equally charming Dontsova as the younger Alisa. This film is a dramatic comedy with a lot of comedy blended with fable-like fantasy and color. This is quirky, bright, fun, smart, imaginative and innovative story and storytelling. There are a couple of dark scenes, one stunning and numbing scene in particular through great film-making where you anticipate what may happen but when it does happen it's not what you expected at all. This is a great film and I would recommend it and give it a 10 out of 10.
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9/10
Anna Melikyan is a filmmaker to watch
L. Lion22 January 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Mermaid (Rusalka in Russian) is a cross between Ghost World, Amelie, and The Tin Drum, from a post Soviet perspective. Alisa is a girl from a small seaside town who never knew her father. Trauma at an early age makes her decide to become mute. She also learns that she has the ability to make her wishes come true. When her family moves from the countryside to Moscow, her horizons are broadened - she grapples with depression, falls in love with a handsome, rich con artist, and begins to see life differently.

The story could feel aimless, since Alisa only reacts and there is no outward motivating force pushing the plot into motion, but the script by writer-director Anna Melikyan never lets us worry about that. It shows the strangeness of modern Moscow through the eyes of a very strange girl. The lead, played by Maria Shalaeva, is remarkably expressive as a mute. When she finally begins talking (because she has fallen in love) she becomes even more of a force on screen.

Her introduction to Moscow and the jobs she works (as a walking cellphone advertisement, then, when that costume is destroyed during a soccer riot, a walking stein of beer) are beautiful commentaries on society and her life. Aleksandr, the man she falls in love with is a walking contradiction - very successful, very sleazy, very handsome, and totally self-destructive. Saving his life from a suicide attempt (which he doesn't even remember) she is drawn into his world and comes into contact with her first romantic competition - Irina Skrinichenko as Rita, a woman so beautiful her presence by itself is intimidating. How could plain Alisa win Aleksandr with women like Rita around? How Alisa and Aleksandr bond, and the result of magic spells cast by both Rita and Alisa together (not knowing at the time that they yearn for the same man) give the film a lightness in what would otherwise be a very bleak tale. The film also includes one of the funniest scenes of romantic betrayal in many, many a moon.

I am so glad I caught this film. Anna Melikyan is a filmmaker to watch. If you like whimsical, bittersweet romance, this will be your cup of tea.
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9/10
Absolutely Enjoyable
jeeap1 June 2018
I can clearly understand why this piece of beauty has some wins at different festivals. Mariya Shalayeva's play is the reason number one. Then comes the story itself with some curves you woudn't predict. Plenty of little things like short dialogs, phrases, and situations you would simply laugh at. The moon-selling guy as an epitome of what our world has become.

Some people say the ending could be better. I disagree. Mermaid Alica has no place in this human mess and therefore shoud not be a part of it. That simple. And she obviously has a better option. Her smile at the end is a proof ))
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Believe in mermaids
MermaidMelissa29 September 2011
This was a good interpretation. It's the type of movie that I hope opens the imagination to it's viewers and allows you to believe in the unbelievable -if only for a moment. Even though I only viewed this film because it relates to my career field as a mermaid, I liked the feel of the project and can tell this one might have taken a while to plan and come up with. It is more of an adult type of audience more than what you might imagine and if you are hoping for an actual mermaid like in Disney you will be sadly disappointed. Not every film needs to be a replica of the next and this goes into its own direction and interpretation of how to use the word mermaid to tie in it's storyline.
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10/10
The story of a young girl with a special gift growing up and reaching adulthood.
sweetlilcolleen2 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Absolutely loved this film. I have not laughed to the point of gut-splitting pain in a long time.

While being one of the funniest and most beautifully films I have seen recently, the film was a poignant commentary on life particularly in Moscow, and less particularly in every other part of the world where advertisements, commerce, and socialization processes force collective humanity into a mold. I found it moving and incredibly enjoyable. This little girl makes her own definitions for beauty, her own temperamental luck, and her own guidelines for love. We experience her dreams, feel her emotions, and watch her young life bloom. Until a statistical tragedy takes its toll. Such is life.
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Don't watch it, if you are in a sentimental mood
pontram9 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Or if you could like Rusalka. I must say that this was the first movie for a long time that shocked me . Yes, I was shocked, because I liked Rusalka very much, maybe because she looks a bit like one of my children. I expected a light-footed modern comedy with some Russian strangeness and heart, a better version of the overrated "Amelie", and I was not disappointed. For the first 108 Minutes. Then - obviously announced by movie language - the disaster comes in such a laconic manner, is this typical Russian ? Maybe that's life, but the break-in of the reality into this humorous fairy tale is a serious break of the movie with its own intentions. Rusalka's senseless death (in movie context) is announced by the age counting inserts from the beginning, of course, but the solution is quite an unsatisfying one, because it doesn't fit to the movie and lets me behind with questioning the sense of the story and watching it. But I didn't vote lower than the movie deserves because of the ending I personally hate. I have no problems with bad endings basically, and I can even honor when I am shocked where I didn't want or expect.

Rather, the script lacks after about 1 hour or more from speed and originality, so that the movie began to bore me a bit and I asked myself where the story will evolve to keep my interest. I decided that the script writer herself didn't know it, because her inspiration had been worn out in some way. I got the same feeling as reading "Oblomov", where the first 100 pages are simply unbeatable, but the remainder of the book is mediocre.

Rusalka did not so bad in telling the old Andersen story in a complete modern and unusual way, taking away this and that and adding instead this and that. But it looses the view for following the potential of its own genius. Thats why it became no masterwork but only a nice and sad story.

My conclusion is 9 stars for good ideas, humor, mood, cinematography and the actress, minus 3 for the lack in story advancement. Maybe I am too hard against a very good movie, after all, it felt like a climax lost during a great intercourse.
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10/10
ocean of society
lee_eisenberg2 November 2015
Anna Melikyan's "Rusalka" ("Mermaid" in English) is an adaptation of "The Little Mermaid" set in post-Soviet Russia. The main character is Alisa, an unfulfilled girl whose life takes a new direction when she meets a young man in Moscow. One of the most effective scenes is right after Alisa and her mother move into their apartment and an advertisement gets opened!

A number of the Russian movies from recent years have offered criticism of the free-for-all direction that Russia took after the Soviet Union broke up. This movie also does, but emphasizes Alisa's relationship and how it causes tension with the man's girlfriend. The other link to Hans Christian Andersen's tale is no doubt the fishes that the man keeps in his apartment. And the end was a real shock.

I recommend the movie. Other good movies looking at post-Soviet Russia are "Window to Paris" and "The Fool".
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9/10
Wondrous
TheLittleSongbird31 July 2013
If you love Russian fantasy films or want to be introduced to one, Mermaid is a must-watch. The ending does make perfect sense though will repel those who are not familiar with the Rusalka story, but here does come across as incomplete, if the film was a little longer it could have been more rounded. Aside from that, Mermaid is a wonder. Visually, it is stunning with very skilled and beautifully-lit photography and charming scenery. The music score has a quirkiness and sumptuousness with a distinctive Russian quality to it, characteristically similar to the score of Amelie(in that it's quirky, charming and beautiful to listen to). The dialogue is noble and intelligent, with the comedy genuinely funny without being vulgar or in-your face, romantic parts whimsical and charming and tragic aspects affecting. The story, a very loose adaptation of The Little Mermaid with a touch of Rusalka too, is never dull and has a lot of emotional impact, with colourful fantasy elements and an appealing quirkiness, again Amelie-like. The characters are engaging, with a very relateable protagonist, while the acting is excellent, a big shout-out going to lead actress Mariya Shalaeva, even the word amazing isn't enough describing how good her performance is.

Overall, a wondrous film let down only by the incomplete-feeling ending. 9/10 Bethany Cox
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9/10
Quirky film - entertaining, humorous, but still dark
jim_coombes6 February 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I didn't really understand the comment before mine, comparing this film to other obscure works of Russian cinema. I saw this film at Sundance, but I'm not an art-film aficionado.

I wouldn't say that its "like" Napoleon Dynamite, because that would create the wrong expectation. But in many ways, it reminded me of ND. The quirky teenage girl does things her own way, people don't quite understand her, there's humor but its vague, not slapstick.

Russians definitely have a darker perspective on life than Mormons in Idaho. This film has excessive drinking, suicide attempts, sex, and other such items you won't find in Napoleon Dynamite. And if you prefer action films or Adam Sandler humor, its not for you.

But its "accessible" to normal people who aren't familiar with comparable Russian cinema, and don't like the typically obscure and self-obsessed Sundance art films.
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Thank God for Sundance!
GOWBTW6 September 2011
Different movies would make a big buff out of you. Especially when they come from other countries. I've always had a craving for Russian films, with Mermaid, it can be perfect for people with big imaginations. Here you have a girl name Alice(Masha Shalayeva) who went through childhood going through different stages of life. When she was a young girl, she wanted to be a ballerina. That fell through because of her mother's indecisiveness. Whenever she had a man who wasn't her father, she would set fire to the place she lived. Going through silent stages, she makes everyone think she has a handicap. By the time she was older, she got through some things by chance, especially when one student dies in a freak accident. Then there was the time she left the house, and jumped in a saved him from drowning. After that, she fell in love with him, not knowing he was already taken. She saw the action between him and his girl, she said the same thing, only without causing arson. Alice made changes in her appearance and she still uses her imagination to fulfill her dreams. She may have the imagination, but her determination makes her relentless to the world. This movie makes some sense, and it gives some meaning throughout. I enjoyed it very much. I owe it all to Sundance. 5 Stars!
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Awesome!
Missydparker11 August 2011
Beautiful! I realize not everyone will enjoy this, but if you can look at filmography as an art piece this movie is fantastic! This movie drew me in from the very beginning and I couldn't stop watching it. I hate to admit that I rarely watch a subtitled movie without numerous recommendations, but this one had me hooked. The cinematography was alluring and the plot kept me anticipating-something! It's very lifelike and the meek annoying character grew on me quickly. I started to empathize the exact moment that she mentioned empathy for a pathetic person. The insecurity of Alice and her growth as a character and woman is in sync! I cant wait to watch it with my husband and get his take on it. Watch it!
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Less to this than meets the eye
brunodutch10 January 2010
Perhaps 'twee' is to Russian films what 'quirky' is to American. Either way it's a sickly confection that demands nothing from its audience other than it checks its brain at the door. One of the most narcissistically irritating heroines since the repulsive Amelie is able to do stuff for some reason. That the role is played by such an unappealing actress doesn't much help but it could have been Hepburn and it wouldn't have survived the director's insistent 'look at me' style and the archness that sucks out whatever life there might have been in the story leaving behind nothing but pretty-pretty photography.

This story was much better done in the 50s in Giraudoux's play Undine which, in fact, introduced Audrey Hepburn in the West End.
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