Ice

Nadya learns to skate as a small child and never gives it up. Years pass; she competes as a pair in figure skating and a championship is close. Then there is a fall. The doctors say she will not walk again. Her coach does not let go of her. There is a hockey player in the hospital; coarse, rude and stubborn. He sets about teaching her to walk and nobody likes his method. Nadya wants to get back on the ice. Nobody says that is possible. Oleg Trofim directs. Aglaya Tarasova plays Nadya; Alexander Petrov, Mariya Aronova and Miloš Biković are in the cast. It is a Russian production. The film is a musical; the characters sing well known Russian pop songs within the scenes and the songs are part of the narrative. It did large business in Russia and sequels followed. Professional skaters were used for the ice sequences and long takes were preferred. The matter it treats is the return; the story uses the shape of the sports film and does not leave it. The narrative also takes on the mother's pressure; Nadya's goal is not her own goal to begin with. The musical sections break from realism and the film does that deliberately. Its limit is predictability; every step can be guessed and the emotional steering is high. Who it is for: viewers who like musicals, sports drama and Russian popular cinema. Who it is not for: it is formulaic, the emotional dose high, and the ending too tidy.