An Hour with Chekhov Review: Short, Weird, and Very Russian

So, An Hour with Chekhov. If you like watching people squirm because they’ve accidentally annoyed someone important, this is definitely worth your time. It’s for the folks who enjoy dark, dry humor and don't mind a movie that looks like it was filmed inside a dusty attic. If you need big explosions or a fast plot, you’re gonna absolutely hate this one within the first five minutes. 🎞️

The movie is split into three parts. The first one is "Anna on the Neck," and it's basically about a girl who marries a rich, boring old guy to save her family. It starts off feeling pretty heavy and sad.

But then she goes to a ball and realizes everyone loves her. The way she looks at her husband after she becomes the star of the room is brutal. She just stops caring about him entirely, and you can almost feel the guy shrinking into his suit.

I noticed the sets in the ballroom look a little flimsy. Like, if someone danced too hard, the walls might actually shake. It’s not quite as polished as something like The Face of the World, but the acting makes up for it.

Then we get "The Death of a Government Clerk." This is the best part of the whole thing, honestly. Ivan Moskvin plays this tiny little clerk who sneezes on a general at the opera.

He gets so obsessed with apologizing that he basically ruins his own life. The close-ups on his face are wild. He looks like a panicked hamster. 🐹

There’s this one moment where he goes back to the general's office for like the fifth time to apologize. You can see the general’s neck getting redder and redder because he's so annoyed. It’s funny, but it also makes your skin crawl because we've all been that guy who doesn't know when to shut up.

It reminded me a bit of the physical comedy in The Suitor, but way more depressing. Russian humor is just built different, I guess.

The final story is "The Chameleon." It’s about a dog that bites a goldsmith’s finger in the middle of a market. A policeman has to decide what to do with the dog, but he keeps changing his mind based on who might own the animal.

He keeps asking his assistant to take his coat off and then put it back on because he’s literally sweating from the stress of accidentally offending a nobleman. It’s a bit too obvious with the metaphor, maybe?

The dog in the scene looks genuinely confused by all the shouting. I spent half the segment just wondering if the dog got a treat after they finished filming. 🐕

The crowd in the background feels very real, though. They aren't just standing there like the stiff extras you see in In Bad. They actually look like they’ve been standing in the dirt all day.

One thing that’s weird is how fast it ends. It just... stops.

I guess that’s why they called it an "hour" with Chekhov. It doesn't try to be a giant epic or anything fancy. It’s just three quick punches to the gut about how much humans suck at being normal around each other.

The film quality on the version I watched was pretty rough in spots. Sometimes the faces get washed out by the light, but maybe that adds to the vibe.

It’s definitely a better watch than The New Commandment if you’re looking for something with actual personality. It feels like a real person made this because they actually liked the stories, not just to fill a theater seat.

Anyway, it’s a neat little time capsule. Check it out if you’re in the mood for some vintage awkwardness. 🕰️