Mirovoe imya is a weirdly relatable 1920s office fight

If you have some free time and want to see what Russian film studios looked like in 1927, watch this. It is for people who like behind-the-scenes drama. You will probably hate it if you can't stand silent movies where people point at things very intensely.

I found it on a whim. It’s mostly about this director guy who is stressed out because of the NEP years—that time when the USSR let people sell stuff again. He wants to make serious films, but his rival is making trashy stuff for the 'petty bourgeois.'

The 'bad' movies they show in the movie are actually the best part. They look way more fun than the serious stuff the hero is trying to film. 🎞️

Vera Maretskaya is in this. Her eyes just do so much work in every scene she’s in.

There is this one scene with a giant desk that feels like it takes ten minutes. The guy just sits there looking at papers. It is extremely relatable if you have ever had a boring office job.

The pacing is... well, it is silent film pacing. You know how it is. Sometimes a character will walk across a room and it feels like an eternity.

I kept thinking about Straight Shooting for some reason. Maybe because the conflict is so black and white, even if the film is literally black and white.

It’s not exactly The Big Hop in terms of excitement. There are no planes or big stunts here. Just people arguing about taste.

One of the actors, Ivan Klyukvin, has a very intense forehead. He spends a lot of time looking worried about the future of cinema. I get it, man. I feel that way after most modern trailers.

The movie kind of trips over its own feet in the middle. It gets a bit preachy about what 'the people' want to see.

There is a cat in one scene that looks very confused to be there. 🐱 I wonder if it was a stray that just wandered onto the set in 1927.

It reminded me of the grit in Blackbirds but with more paperwork and less crime. Well, unless you count making bad movies a crime.

The things I noticed:

• The lighting in the studio scenes is weirdly harsh.
• Everyone wears these huge coats even indoors. Was it that cold?
• The way they cut the film-within-a-film is actually pretty clever.
• The the main character's mustache is a work of art.

You can tell they really hated the 'commercial' directors back then. The villain director is played so greasy and smug. It is not subtle at all.

Is it a masterpiece? Probably not. But it is a very human look at people arguing about their jobs. 💼

The ending feels a bit rushed, like they ran out of film or money. Or maybe they just wanted to go home.

If you like seeing how the sausage is made, give it a go. Just don't expect any explosions.