Cheap Moscow On The Hudson (DVD) (Robin Williams, Maria Conchita Alonso) (Paul Mazursky) Price

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Customer Reviews of Moscow On The Hudson

the dawning of glasnost
This is not a great movie but definitely a sleeper. Robin Williams does a fine job as a jazz musician from Russia who deeply desires the freedom--and gets his chance--to play in America. The scene where he and his bandmates are being briefed by the KGB before traveling to New York is priceless, especially where the head agent pronounces Greenwich Village as "green-Vich Ill-yage". But the most priceless scene is where Robin Williams does defect in that greatest symbol of all American democracy and capitalism, Bloomingdales. From there, the movie teeter-totters between a comedy of cultures and some soppy sentimentality. Still, this is a movie well worth seeing, expecially for those of us who remember the dawning of glasnost

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The human yearning for freedom vs. actually living it.
Robin Williams does his credible Russian accent in this whimsical, comedic story of two musicians living under Communism, yearning to be free. Finally their opportunity arrives on a concert tour of the U.S. Williams goes through with his plan to defect, whereas his friend cannot bring himself to do it. Thereafter, Williams negotiates the ups and downs of life in America, where you are as "free" as your bank account, insider connections, and ethnic privileges allow. He falls in love, gets robbed, and otherwise encounters the ironies and inconsistencies of living "free." There is pain as well as joy, loss as well as gain, all accepted, even embraced as part of the whole. Meanwhile back in Russia, his friend pines still for freedom, but with the advantage of never having risked anything. A wonderful, relatively ignored performance by one of our best actors; and, likewise, a wonderfully nuanced depiction of life with all its complexities and paradoxes.

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A snapshot of New York
After visiting New York for the first time, I had to order this DVD. The film captures the experience I had in NY: Everyone was from someplace else! The hot dog vendors, the cab drivers, hotel staff, store personnel, waiters, carriage drivers, street performers. I loved the scene in the cafe: so-called American waitress, the lawyer from Puerto Rico (or Cuba?), the Asian and the Russians. This may seem like flag waving and some critics might nitpick, but the film truly captures the flavor of NY. Now, whenever I want to go back there again, I watch this film. All the cast was great, plenty of humor, a feel-good movie that celebrates America. Watch for the scene where Robin Williams is being followed.