Simply Perfect

Overrated and overhyped

A Masterpiece!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Lopushansky's second film focuses on a few hours in the life of a soloist musician during the siege of Leningrad, in WWII. The Leningrad philharmonic is going to play Chaikovsky's 5th Symphony, which is to be broadcast to England. The soloist, like his fellow musicians, is weak and half-starved, and doubts whether he will be able to perform well enough. Several of Lopushansky's later aesthetic choices already show in this early film: dark interiors, ominous music, profound respect for his characters. Main character easily carried through by N. Grinko. Definitely well worth watching.