Moscow on the Hudson

Name: Moscow on the Hudson
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: April 6, 1984
Duration: 115 min
Rating: 67
Cast: Maria Conchita Alonso, Robin Williams

1984

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Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

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Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

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6.8

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6.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

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Moscow On The Hudson

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Movie Details & Credits

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: April 6, 1984 | R

Starring: Maria Conchita Alonso, Robin Williams

Summary: When a Russian musician defects in Bloomingdale's department store in New York City, he learns that adjusting to American life is more difficult than he expected.

Director: Paul Mazursky

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 115 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

It is also a rarity, a patriotic film that has a liberal, rather than a conservative, heart. It made me feel good to be an American, and good that Vladimir Ivanoff was going to be one, too. Read full review

Pauline Kael

Wonderful comedy about a tragedy.

Time Out London Staff (Not Credited)

Romantic humanism may not be fashionable in these cynical cinematic times, but few directors reveal the tragicomic lives of ordinary people with such sensitivity and humour. Read full review

The Guardian Staff (Not Credited)

The absence of a real point of view, and of any depth of characterisation, prevents the otherwise pleasing entertainment drawing blood. Read full review

Empire William Thomas

As a fish-out-of-water comedy-drama, it works well. Read full review

Vincent Canby

It seems unfinished, not yet thought through. Even the title doesn't quite fit, since the New York City that Vladimir discovers is far more densely populated by Southern blacks, Latin Americans, Western Europeans, Orientals and Indians from India than by Russians. It sounds as if it were one of those titles around which a screenplay was eventually composed. Read full review

David Ansen

Mazursky's satiric edge has always been leavened with heart. But now that his edge is gone he's wearing his heart on his sleeve and his dramaturgy has gone flabby. [16 Apr 1984, p.93]

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DawdlingPoet

Nov 26, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The first thing I'd say is that there are a lot of subtitles present for the first twenty minutes or so of the film and thus if you don't like relying on subtitles to follow a story, at least for a while, then this may well put you off. This is at the start, when Vladimir is in Russia. There is some quite witty dialogue present, some good comedy but of course baring in mind that this is an American film and the relationship between America and Russia hasn't been, shall we say great, then I suppose I did question how much of a caricature the characters were but then obviously this isnt intended to be taken entirely seriously. I did find myself questioning how likely some of the Russian translated/subtitled dialogue was - it seemed pretty Americanised to me but then I guess I wouldn't necessarily know how Russians speak? thats probably me being a bit picky. There is a sort of slapstick element to the comedy and the characters in this film, I felt - in fact I thought it reminded me a bit of the various Police Academy films in terms of characterisations and a sort of sense of wackiness it contained, with the characters being fairly wacky and one or two being especially stern and subversely mocked as authority figures. What is different with this film compared to the Police Academy films, however, is that I feel this features some slightly wittier comedy, although it does rely on fairly visual comedy at times, with chases on foot and facial expressions present. I found the story quite interesting, in as much as there's a good depiction of his family and background in Russia before he arrives in New York, which makes him more easy to understand or feel sorry for I suppose.

The music is quite lively and enthusiastic and some of the camera angles and movements are a bit jerky and may not be greatly appreciated by those who suffer from motion sickness potentially(!). I certainly found this to be an entertaining film, if a little slow to build up plot wise at the start, it does well at portraying the multi-cultural side of New York City. It was released in 1984 and thus it does have quite an 80s feel to it, if you know what I mean, as far as fashion and TV etc. is concerned. I did feel that on a few ocassions, there was a slightly uncomfortably mocking tone to racial depictions but for the most part its quite light hearted. I felt this was quite a good film at depicting someone who is out of their depth, the whole adjusting to a new foreign culture side of things. Ivor is quite an introverted character at times, in that he's softly spoken and tries to stay in the background although he's also somewhat of a pervert at times but he does have a charm about himself, if he isn't also a bit of an awkwardly bumbling fool at moments.

The actions of one or two characters surprised me at times, seeming to go against the stance they seemed to hold earlier, like the Bloomingdales security guard who takes Vladimir in, to live with him. I noticed that the time scale seemed a bit confusing, in as much as we're barely shown him working in the circus in NYC one second and the next he's in a bus, heading to Bloomingdale's and being told he'll be flying back out to Russia later that day. Another film that this reminded me of in terms of themes and similar character depictions, is one called The Terminal starring Tom Hanks, although thats set entirely in a New York airport. If I'm remembering right, they both feature characters with a real love of music and a musical talent - in this film, Vladimir is a passionate saxophone player.

I found it interesting following some of what Vladimir says, his perceptions of his identity, how he viewed things in Russia and where he stood. I found this to be quite a watchable film, fairly entertaining and amusing in parts - it has a bit of a charm about itself, though I'm not sure there's much else I could add.

Robin Williams puts in a decent performance as a predictably quirky and somewhat hyperactive in some respects character. I'd say its pretty watchable and it has its moments as far as comedy is concerned but I wouldn't say its one of the funniest films I've ever seen either. Its very much a 1980s film I'd say, which could be seen as a good thing or a bad thing but I suppose thats down to personal tastes and opinion(?), so I'll maybe opt for the undecided option, as far as recommendations go.… Expand

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