A film shows the basic historical stages of becoming of Moscow from the origin of city to 1947.A film shows the basic historical stages of becoming of Moscow from the origin of city to 1947.A film shows the basic historical stages of becoming of Moscow from the origin of city to 1947.
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Moscow turbulence
Am not taking any pleasure in not giving 'To You, Moscow' a high rating. Absolutely love Soviet animation, as one can see from my reviewing of the consistently high quality output of Soyuzmultfilm, and the subject matter of showing Moscow's turbulent history was admirable. Expectations were mixed though, because despite loving animation and Soviet animation "propaganda" films and shorts are not always my thing and have a number of traps.
Traps that 'To You, Moscow' fell into unfortunately. While admiring its good intentions and finding some truly fantastic things about it, especially one significant asset, 'To You, Moscow' didn't really do it for me and confirms why this sort of short can not be my cup of tea. It starts off well and the animation is undeniably never less than great, but it just didn't grip me and actually left a bitter taste in my mouth later on. It is not as if all Soviet "propaganda" films are terrible, 'Black and White' is terrific, but the Soviet animations based on fairytales and folktales appeal me a lot more.
Will start with what is good in 'To You, Moscow'. What especially redeems it is the visuals, which are amazing and make up more than one star of the rating. The animation is very beautiful and expressive, while also being foreboding and remarkably real. A case of the visuals speaking louder than words. There is also live action footage, which contains some truly startling and stark imagery that hit hard.
Especially in the 1917 revolution section. Have not seen fire this vivid in a long time. The music has liveliness but also emotional intensity while the narration is informative and gritty. Did feel that 'To You, Moscow' started off very well, with some shockingly realistic battles like the 1812 revolution.
However, the middle section felt too drawn out and too slow. Worse was the section dealing with the celebration, which felt tacked on after such horror-filled atmosphere beforehand and felt like another short completely. Also found it incredibly heavy-handed and that the more heroic and over-glorified tone (such as "our youth, our glory" in its description of Moscow) bordered on distasteful and one-sided.
Some of the imagery also felt on the "ramming down the throat" side and the bridging wasn't necessary as they only came over as a source of linking sections without doing much else. 'To You, Moscow' tends to be quite dull outside of the battles and doesn't really educate or illuminate, depicting the city from one viewpoint and doing so in a way that made me feel too talked down to. This is all personal perception though and not everybody will agree, which is fine as long as no personal attacks are involved.
Overall, watchable but for curiosity value really. 5/10.
Traps that 'To You, Moscow' fell into unfortunately. While admiring its good intentions and finding some truly fantastic things about it, especially one significant asset, 'To You, Moscow' didn't really do it for me and confirms why this sort of short can not be my cup of tea. It starts off well and the animation is undeniably never less than great, but it just didn't grip me and actually left a bitter taste in my mouth later on. It is not as if all Soviet "propaganda" films are terrible, 'Black and White' is terrific, but the Soviet animations based on fairytales and folktales appeal me a lot more.
Will start with what is good in 'To You, Moscow'. What especially redeems it is the visuals, which are amazing and make up more than one star of the rating. The animation is very beautiful and expressive, while also being foreboding and remarkably real. A case of the visuals speaking louder than words. There is also live action footage, which contains some truly startling and stark imagery that hit hard.
Especially in the 1917 revolution section. Have not seen fire this vivid in a long time. The music has liveliness but also emotional intensity while the narration is informative and gritty. Did feel that 'To You, Moscow' started off very well, with some shockingly realistic battles like the 1812 revolution.
However, the middle section felt too drawn out and too slow. Worse was the section dealing with the celebration, which felt tacked on after such horror-filled atmosphere beforehand and felt like another short completely. Also found it incredibly heavy-handed and that the more heroic and over-glorified tone (such as "our youth, our glory" in its description of Moscow) bordered on distasteful and one-sided.
Some of the imagery also felt on the "ramming down the throat" side and the bridging wasn't necessary as they only came over as a source of linking sections without doing much else. 'To You, Moscow' tends to be quite dull outside of the battles and doesn't really educate or illuminate, depicting the city from one viewpoint and doing so in a way that made me feel too talked down to. This is all personal perception though and not everybody will agree, which is fine as long as no personal attacks are involved.
Overall, watchable but for curiosity value really. 5/10.
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- TheLittleSongbird
- May 24, 2021
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- Tebe, Moskva!
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- Runtime18 minutes
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- 1.33 : 1
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