Stilyagi

Stilyagi (, also known as Hipsters in the English release) is a 2008 Russian romantic jukebox musical film directed by Valery Todorovsky and starring Anton Shagin and Oksana Akinshina. Set in mid-1950s Moscow, the film depicts the Soviet stilyagi subculture, along with their struggle for self-expression within the prevailing reality of the Soviet repression. Stilyagi has been featured at the Toronto International Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, and the Cleveland International Film Festival, where it has been an audience favorite. It won the Audience Choice Award at the Anchorage International Film Festival in 2009 and several Golden Eagle Awards and Nika Awards, including Best Film in both. In Russia, it has become a cult film, as most of its score consists of covers of 1980s and 1990s Russian rock music from bands such as Bravo, Nautilus Pompilius, Nol and the Red Elvises. It received generally positive reviews from critics. Synopsis In 1955, a group of young Muscovite Komsomol (communist youth) students led by Katya intercepts illegal stilyagi gatherings in Gorky Park. Perceived as "enemies of society", the stilyagi are forced to flee, with many of them getting caught and their clothing, ties or hair cut by the Komsomol for demonstrative purposes. Mels, a twenty-year-old paragon athletic student and member of the Komsomol, is ordered by Katya to chase one of the escapists, another young girl. However, the girl soon tricks him into believing that she broke her ankle, and then abruptly pushes Mels into a pond, at the same time inviting him to "come spend some time with Polly (Russian: Польза, wordplay on "benefit") on the Broadway". The next day, Mels visits Gorky street and runs into the same group of stilyagi, with Polly among them. Before being aggressively seized by Dryn, another member, he has a short talk with Polly during which she gives him a kiss on the cheek, all while asking Mels if he has gotten sick. Fred, the leader of the gang, then appears, calling Mels an "innocent little schlub", and all the stilyagi leave the scene in Fred's car. Determined to being in love with Polly, Mels decides to change himself for someone she would appreciate: a stilyaga [singular of stilyagi].