Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears

Thinking about it, I'm not quite sure I have ever reviewed a film that could be considered more on the romance genre side of things compared to anything else. I have seen and reviewed films that contain romantic elements to their narratives, films that focus on the drama and complexities of love and the isolation one may feel without it. These themes are quite common these days, after all. Though, I admit I am far from the type of person to watch actual romance films. I have never really been the type to enjoy a romantic comedy film, in particular. So, to watch a film that is considered more romance and drama film is an incredible rarity for me. In fact, the closest to a romance film that I have seen in recent years is likely the film noir titles I explored a few months back, containing narratives of love and manipulation. Though, again I wouldn't really cal these romance titles. In fact, I'm so out of touch with the romance genre that I'm not even sure if this is a genre that still is rather active. Do they still make romcom films these days? Are any actually good? I'm sure they exist more around Christmas give the typical hallmark genre.

Well, I often imply that I watch almost anything from any country from any period in time. Clearly this isn't entirely true given my total ignorance regarding the romance genre. And recently I have taken quite a liking to Russian cinema and the older Soviet titles that have managed to escape me over the years. So, often enough while scrolling for something to watch I may avoid the films that are classified as romance films. Perhaps I have done this without really noticing, making myself miss out on actually good films as a result. Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears was a name I was certain I had seen recently, either from someone mentioning it to me or part of my prior searches for something to watch from the Soviet era. At first, I didn't know it was a romance film, I expected plenty of drama based on the name; little did I know that I'd be watching the most normal Soviet and Russian film I think I have ever seen! Though, more on the lengthy side and certainly something you'd want to split up over a day or two.

Before I get more into this review, I will state that Mosfilm, the creator of this title and many other Soviet era films, legally uploaded the film to their YouTube channel. Sometimes these uploads contain subtitles, sometimes they don't. So if you're interested, just have a search for their channel and enjoy not being tied down to Netflix and the other various disappointments!

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears is a romantic drama, but a film that also shows an interesting look at regular life during the Soviet Union. It was more interesting to me to see the way of life of the average citizen in what many Russians would call the elites of Moscow. Where, of course at the time, romance was probably the largest issue one had. Though it remains a deeply human film on the regular lifestyles of Moscow's Soviet women. A collection of regular workers that held jobs that seemed to have no real ambition behind them, typical manual labour in factories that produce nothing of real value to both them and the nation. Typically, romance films in the west are nothing more than a pipedream, people live in romantic cities and often have successful capitalist careers; writers, artists, workers in the machine of finance deep in New York City. Not so much the gritty, dangerous factories of Moscow. And it is this in which I found my enjoyment in. A film that, perhaps not necessarily by intention, rejected the idea of a romance setup and pursued one closest to its own present culture. While actually offering something incredibly unique. To contribute to this idea of difference, Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears is also a film that focuses on women. Perhaps this is not a surprise to you, but to me it somewhat is. Of course, to the USSR, every person was a worker, a mighty contributor to the Motherland. It makes sense to appeal to them all.

Though, for me I found it interesting in how it approached the chaotic ambitions of women during this time. The more capitalistic ideologies: wanting a successful husband. Consumerist ideas in the form of wanting to buy a modern television. Ultimately, snippets of materialism. It seemed like a counter to what many may assume of a communist nation. In addition to this, the film even explores ideas that may seem less traditional to the era: the idea of divorce being one. Or single parents and alcoholism. The film's story contains many interesting surprises to begin with, starting off in the past as it shows our main character, Katerina, more in her youth with her friends. We see the ambitions these friends have for their futures, to which the film pushes two decades into the future to display their more adult lives. Katerina is now a mother, with a daughter in her twenties, Katerina is single as a result of a prior refusal of marriage from a partner. It sets up a story in which the idea of love has been deeply removed from Katerina's life, as well as from her friends, who each have had their fair share of romantic struggles also.

Now, for a romance film, it takes forever to get going. One of my main problems with the film was that it just dragged on without really telling much of a story. It gets its point across quite early and does not really expand upon the idea of its romance until towards the end, where things quickly pick up and come to an end. I often criticise films that are quite lengthy, but this is definitely a film that dragged on a bit, certainly with some scenes that were just not necessary. For some context, there is one scene in which Katerina's daughter is being a typical youth and sleeping in. The film insists on showing a scene of her in her underwear and then showering. Did it add anything to the story? Nope! Did it keep the Soviet men awake in the cinema in 1980 while their wives soaked in the love and drama of the film? Yep! Anyway, it was moments such as these that I felt the film could have sped up a bit, given a bit more drama and with better pacing. The film even takes a strange move to show more of the life of Katerina's daughter even though her character doesn't really offer anything to the story. Katerina, however, the film is mainly about her and her rediscovery of love. Finding a man out of nowhere and quickly developing feelings for him, though out of rear rejecting him only to regret it later on. It's a very short story despite two hours of scenes.

Though these scenes aren't shot badly at all. And the audio in the film was pretty good. I didn't have any issues with the dubbing, everything seemed more authentic and immersive. Character performances were more theatrical and interesting, and I really enjoyed seeing this perspective of Soviet Moscow as something a bit gritty in the factory work, but also full of life and colour and beauty. A nice, big difference to the western stereotype of Moscow as a cold, snowy but polluted communist hellhole riddled with decay; though this was more the reality about a decade later. Despite this, it was a nice glimpse into a different piece of history. One certainly different to the history of my nation, with a different culture and set of ideas. I love it for this! To have a film broaden your awareness of something you had a very different idea about, to make you feel more connected with people so distant, it's something to admire. Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears is almost a metaphor for the upcoming hardships the city would face, the heartbreak and the struggles yet the everyday people just wanting to live and have comfortable lives. The Cranes Are Flying showed us the pain women felt during World War 2; I'd like to think that Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears shows us the struggles of relationships women faced after such an ordeal. Ambitious, but hesitant over fear of more heartache. Despite hardened hearts, longing for love.