Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Maybe,it sounds not convincing for a public far by period or East realities. but it is a real masterpiece. first, for its unique freshness. because it is more than an inspired love story but a precise and profound wise portrait of society. second...because it is so deep Russian. not only as area but as spirit, in tradition of great literature and cinematography. not the less - for performances. for small presence , in cameo role of Innokenti Smoktunovski, for Batalov and for the magnificent work of Vera Alentova. not the last, for the taste after its end. a sort of emotion who escapes to description. because it is like the air of morning at the first steps out of house.

Since it has become a good tone with IMDb commentators to analyze propaganda in every Soviet movie, I will start by exposing all propaganda in "Moskva slezam ne verit" (Moscow doesn't believe your tears) with a snap of my fingers. This movie's basic idea was to destroy the 'cavalry attack on Moscow' myth, to show to young persons that one can not trick the big city of Moscow. No matter how manipulative or scheming you are, how strongly you are motivated to quickly hit the jackpot, you will be weighed, measured and given what you actually deserve. And this process first will eat out 15 best years of your life, and then you'll find yourself stuck up to your ears with this mega-police, middle aged, with the initial goal even more distant than it was in the beginning. Moscow protects it's dignity of a city, Moscow will give you many lessons, Moscow will take your life slipping through your fingers as you stare in the eyes of this city without noticing years passing by, Moscow is dumb to your tears, Moscow sorts out grain from straw. "Sadovoe kolzo ( O shaped highway around the historical Moscow) became our wedding ring" sing main heroes in the final song. You can not trick life, you can not trick Moscow, without doing a bad trick to yourself. The propagandist message of this was to keep talented youths back to the cities where they were born.

Utterly normal drama, in the sense that every episode has two or three functions at the same time(developing the story, depicting the social background,making the main characters understandable and sympathetic to the viewer,pushing the dramatic situation forward).There is no useless episode or detail. The shooting and editing is complete, not waisting time to be too artistic(because it is not a Art-House film). This is a professional cinema work with normally composed drama,but not only so.The story begins in 1958, soon after the short "thaw"(ottepeli) had come to Soviet society, when Soviet cinema was full of hope and energy. So it is natural that young girls go to the theater with the board announcing "Festival of French films" and they dream of better life,to marry "celebrity", to become rich. It was so that moment.Screenwriter and director are utterly right to jump 20 years and then to start telling about their own time(film was made in late 70s). Dreams of youth were betrayed by the reality, but not so cruelly for ordinary people(different form intelligentsia),as Western right conservatives may have imagined. In Soviet Union lived such ordinary people, as well as intelligentsia under political pressure and many other social types(it happened and happens in USA, Japan and any other countries).We don't know how Katya suffered from personal complex and from possible injustice, but such things will make no sense to drama. And professionals doesn't add meaningless details to their works.

This may be the first Russian movie I saw that did not end tragically. There were the normal problems of living in Moscow, particularly for the 3 young women trying to make it under very difficult circumstances. The things they do (particularly Lyudmilla) are funny and yet give us a glimpse into how difficult it must have been for them. Katya, the main character, goes through her trials but comes out on top. She does better than anyone else (out of the 3), even raises a daughter (without a husband), but she secretly longs for a man in her life. After many failed attempts are relationships she accidentally meets the man who turns out to be the perfect one for her. However, they too go through some struggles before coming to the final realization that they belong together. It is a wonderful story of struggles, successes, and life in general. The acting was wonderful, particularly the actress who played Katya. Her young daughter (Alexandra) was adorable. The scene I liked the most was Gosha invites Katya and her daughter to a picnic, to get to know each other better (after declaring that he is going to marry Katya). Katya is tired and she just falls asleep in a chair in the fresh air. Gosha gently puts a blanket on her. Very simple, but very caring and touching. There are many wonderful moments in the movie. The humor is sprinkled throughout and it is very refreshing to see a movie like this one. The most valuable thing to me was it gave a glimpse into life in the USSR, and yet we can relate to the story and the characters on a human level.