The Barber of Siberia

Jane, an American who arrives in Russia in 1885, is helping an engineer sell the patent for an enormous machine designed to cut down the forests of Siberia, and to do it she has to work her way into the army. There she meets Andrey, a cadet, and what happens between them ruins both their lives. Nikita Mikhalkov built it as a large-scale period melodrama, with crowded parade sequences, the Maslenitsa festival and the military academy as its showiest passages. Julia Ormond and Oleg Menshikov lead. It was among the most expensive Russian productions of its moment and was argued over for its nationalist register. It runs past three hours. Who it is for: viewers who like period melodrama and large-scale Russian production. Who it is not for: anyone wanting restraint, since everything here is done big.