Natasha (I) (2015) User Reviews

Sociopolitical issues get in the way

[jonniecomet-14209 · 7/10 · 19 February 2021]

From online descriptions this began to sound like a romance. And it is one at its heart. You want to believe that the story might carry itself and that the details are there just to lend authenticity. But in this film the opposite happens: it gets so bogged down by its own details that the story itself drowns.

First we have the older generation debating over what characteristics make one Jewish enough. But none of them newly in Canada seems to keep Judaism close at heart - they don't go to a synagogue and never pray or even refer to the Bible; so what is the point?

Then we have the teenager and his older friends trading in marijuana. At least one of them is growing it and several apparently smoke it. Instead of introducing the audience to characters, the pot-trading characters look shallow and stupid. It's a backward step in plot development - more interesting characters would give Tasha people to react to or learn from.

But when Mark shows Tasha round the neighbourhood, he never teaches her anything about her newly adopted-culture except how to inhale. So now both of them look shallow and stupid; the smoking doesn't advance their relationship; and neither of them smiles at the other.

In fact Tasha never learns any English and though Mark speaks English at them most of his relatives never use it, though they all must know it (so do mind the subtitles). This barrier remains one through the whole plot and keeps the teens' relationship at a standstill - exactly what the audience does not expect or want.

Ultimately the only character you care about is Tasha, whilst no-one else in the movie cares about her - as a sympathetic character no-one even thinks of or mentions here. These self-centred immigrants don't even stick together to worry about or support a young member of their own whom they have to know is in serious trouble.

I found myself cheering for Tasha to make the life change she mentions for herself; but the film concludes leaving us no idea what will happen to her at all. So having drowned in its side stories (none of which is ever resolved) the film simply ends, as though it has run out of time, with nothing positive to recommend itself. And to me that's a tragic waste of an intriguing story line.

was a great movie until the end...

[pink_raven · 5/10 · 25 November 2017]

i agree with previous review, subtitles are excellent, felt like English movie. but... I would rather watch the Blair Witch Project again.. or the pool cleaner in paranormal activity...than watch the disappointing ending of this movie. I am sure it was meant to be "artistic" but wtf

Unfair, Inaccurate Portrayal of Russians

[lavatch · 3/10 · 27 July 2019]

Natasha is the name of the one of the greatest creations in Russian literature in the character portrayed by Tolstoy in his epic novel "War and Peace." In this film, Natasha is the protagonist of a contemporary story of Russian emigrés residing in Toronto. At its heart, the film offers a misleading and blatantly inaccurate portrayal of contemporary Russians and Russia itself.

On the surface, the film is a love story about a couple of teenagers, Natasha and her new cousin Mark. The aunt and uncle of the two youngsters are to be married, which brings together Natasha and Mark in a fateful relationship. But this story is much more sinister than a rehash of "Romeo and Juliet." The filmmakers go out of their way to offer a negative cultural impression of the Russians, life in Moscow, and Russia itself.

Rather than merely tell the story Natasha and Mark, the film's dialogue was overlaid by lengthy conversations around meals, wherein politics entered into the picture. It was never made clear what was the filmmakers' point about the Russian Jewish emigrés. Even when the topic of anti-Semitism was raised, it was unclear what statement the filmmakers wanted to convey.

All too frequently, Russia was described in such disparaging terms that there was the appearance that dysfunctional families like the ones depicted in the film were the Russian cultural norm. Mark's parents were depicted in a happy relationship, but it was odd that Mark's mother Bella appeared young enough to be the daughter of her husband. Likewise, Natasha's parents were portrayed as a mismatched couple from the outset, the mother depicted as a gold-digging, mail-order bride. Above all, the harrowing story of Natasha's childhood abuse was presented in such a casual way that the tragic impact on her was lost on the audience. Instead, Natasha was portrayed as a virtual Medea, as opposed to the lost soul that she was. The ugliest scene in the film is a catfight between mother and daughter that includes Natasha picking up a knife and having to be restrained from her apparent intent on killing her mom.

This film was produced in 2015, prior to the phony American probe into "Russian collusion" in the 2016 presidential election. But the stereotype of Russia as a backward, medieval land with no mores or family values was a blatantly inaccurate one and a holdover from the rarefied days of the Old War.

The good cast, especially the young actor playing Mark, deserves some credit in rising above the dramatic material they were handed. Still, the result was an extremely unpleasant and distasteful film experience.

At 16, he's coming of age; at 14 she's too old too soon

[richard-1967 · 8/10 · 27 July 2016]

This is a coming-of-age movie about 16-year-old Mark, but it's much different than the usual fare. First, although shot in Toronto with an American director, about 75% of the film is in Russian with sub-titles. Second and more important, the other main character, Natasha, is s 14-year-old recent émigré from Ukraine who has seen way too many "worldly" things at way too young an age.

The unlikely friendship/romance between Mark and Natasha begins when they're thrown together when her mother marries his uncle. Natasha never smiles, says a character. But Mark is assigned by his mother to show her around their suburban town, which he dutifully does. And gradually, she learns to trust him.

There is a sweetness and tenderness that develops between Mark and Natasha, but the causes of her underlying sadness lurk nearby. It would give away too much to provide more detail. So suffice it to say that the movie works well for the most part, portraying two teenagers who both speak Russian but otherwise have very different backgrounds and life experiences, yet come together in a natural and believable way.

The use of Russian with English subtitles is so well integrated into the story that I barely noticed. It looks and feels like an English-speaking film, just one in which the principals speak mostly Rusian.

A dark view into youth on a bad path

[fanorr · 8/10 · 24 November 2022]

***spoilers *** Not a bad picture. I don't agree with the reviewers who said the ending was too arty or pretentious, or the writer ran out of ideas. The ending was true to the nature of the characters involved. I have even met people like the girl.

One thing other reviewers failed to address is that the entire picture was from the point of view of a 16 year old guy, who thought he was much smarter than he really was. All the information he had about Natasha's life came from Natasha, who we find at the end is quite manipulative. Whether she was always that way, or learned it from her mother, or was simply just another lazy, stubborn girl who felt her life was "boring" and got in with a crowd of manipulative adults who simultaneously took advantage of her and also taught her how to manipulate other adults, we can only guess.

In the end, she had found her next "mark" to take care of her material needs. (And he is like those Russian and American men who gave Natasha her start in the world of sexual manipulation. Of course he too is going to be manipulated and fooled, since he too is convinced he is smarter than he is. Note his comment about how "principled" she is.) God only knows how Natasha's life will end up. After she gets old and ugly, she might be exactly like her mother, if indeed her mother is like she portrayed her.