Movie rec: Ya Lyublyu Tebya AKA You, I Love
TV show/movie: Ya Lyublyu Tebya (AKA You, I Love), 2004
Genre: Comedy / LGBTQ
Plot synopsis: Vera and Tim are successful young professionals living fast-paced lives in ultra-modern Moscow. Their lives crackle with the capitalist energy of excess, anxiety, consumption, and stress- and they are in love. Everything changes one night when Tim accidentally drives his car into Uloomji, a young Kalmyk day worker. (The Kalmyks are a semi-nomadic people of Mongolian decent.) The two men begin a torrid affair that involves howling and knocking over a lot of furniture. Tim is attracted to Uloomji's exotic demeanor and liberated by his impulsiveness and lack of inhibition. To Uloomji, Tim embodies a kind of class and refinement he sees only in magazines. Vera struggles to comprehend their bond and her boyfriend's erratic behavior. She is dragged reluctantly into a bizarre love triangle. Before long, all three lives unravel, exemplified by a visit to a Buddhist healer, a three-way in the bathroom of a gay bar, a faked death and a kidnapping. -- Written by Sujit R. Varma
Why's this worth watching? It's sweet, funny, enjoyable and just a touch screwed in the head. The characters and their relationships are portrayed wonderfully. There are a few scenes that made me squee v. hard on the inside (I probably squaked a little on the outside as well ;)). Oh and the eye candy! See below...
"YA LYUBLU TEBYA (You I Love) is a fast paced bonbon of a movie from Russia being hailed in some circles as the 'hottest gay film of the year'. Hot it is not: fun it is. The message from director/writers Olga Stolpovskaja and Dmitry Troitsky seems more a PR statement about how Westernized and modern in social behavior Russia has become since Perestroika than creating a significant gay film. Yet somehow the result is a rapid sequence entertainment that should appeal to a very wide audience. ..." -- Gary Harp @IMDB
Caveats: The ethnic minority characters are a bit stereotyped. The movie doens't make any meaningful statements about wider social, cultural and ethnic issues, focusing only on the lives of the individual characters (which might be considered a plus in a comedy, actually). Some plot/script/direction/camerawork elements will make you go "bzuh?!!?", the storytelling's not tight as it could be, there are a couple of quite cheesy scenes... But you know what? Overall this movie's cracked in a mostly good way.
Slashability: Canon, and v.v. sweet. *sniffle*
Picspam (click thumbnails for larger versions):
DVD covers:
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This is Timofei - pretty, preppy, capable of great devotion but also of asshattery:
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This is Vera, Timofei's girlfriend. She's obsessed with food (not that you can tell by looking at her). She deserves to be treated better, so it's a good that things work out as they do...
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Don't Vera and Timofei make a lovely couple?
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Things were going so well for Vera and Timofei. Then Uloomji fell on Timofei's car and nothing was the same again. Uloomji's an odd one, very innocent in some ways, a bit wild... He know what he wants, who he is. It takes time for Timofei to learn.
...
...
...
...
Like puppies in a box...
...
...
But what about Vera? Perhaps Vera and Uloomji should find a way to get along...
Genre: Comedy / LGBTQ
Plot synopsis: Vera and Tim are successful young professionals living fast-paced lives in ultra-modern Moscow. Their lives crackle with the capitalist energy of excess, anxiety, consumption, and stress- and they are in love. Everything changes one night when Tim accidentally drives his car into Uloomji, a young Kalmyk day worker. (The Kalmyks are a semi-nomadic people of Mongolian decent.) The two men begin a torrid affair that involves howling and knocking over a lot of furniture. Tim is attracted to Uloomji's exotic demeanor and liberated by his impulsiveness and lack of inhibition. To Uloomji, Tim embodies a kind of class and refinement he sees only in magazines. Vera struggles to comprehend their bond and her boyfriend's erratic behavior. She is dragged reluctantly into a bizarre love triangle. Before long, all three lives unravel, exemplified by a visit to a Buddhist healer, a three-way in the bathroom of a gay bar, a faked death and a kidnapping. -- Written by Sujit R. Varma
Why's this worth watching? It's sweet, funny, enjoyable and just a touch screwed in the head. The characters and their relationships are portrayed wonderfully. There are a few scenes that made me squee v. hard on the inside (I probably squaked a little on the outside as well ;)). Oh and the eye candy! See below...
"YA LYUBLU TEBYA (You I Love) is a fast paced bonbon of a movie from Russia being hailed in some circles as the 'hottest gay film of the year'. Hot it is not: fun it is. The message from director/writers Olga Stolpovskaja and Dmitry Troitsky seems more a PR statement about how Westernized and modern in social behavior Russia has become since Perestroika than creating a significant gay film. Yet somehow the result is a rapid sequence entertainment that should appeal to a very wide audience. ..." -- Gary Harp @IMDB
Caveats: The ethnic minority characters are a bit stereotyped. The movie doens't make any meaningful statements about wider social, cultural and ethnic issues, focusing only on the lives of the individual characters (which might be considered a plus in a comedy, actually). Some plot/script/direction/camerawork elements will make you go "bzuh?!!?", the storytelling's not tight as it could be, there are a couple of quite cheesy scenes... But you know what? Overall this movie's cracked in a mostly good way.
Slashability: Canon, and v.v. sweet. *sniffle*
Picspam (click thumbnails for larger versions):
DVD covers:
...
This is Timofei - pretty, preppy, capable of great devotion but also of asshattery:
...
...
...
...
This is Vera, Timofei's girlfriend. She's obsessed with food (not that you can tell by looking at her). She deserves to be treated better, so it's a good that things work out as they do...
...
Don't Vera and Timofei make a lovely couple?
...
Things were going so well for Vera and Timofei. Then Uloomji fell on Timofei's car and nothing was the same again. Uloomji's an odd one, very innocent in some ways, a bit wild... He know what he wants, who he is. It takes time for Timofei to learn.
...
...
...
...
Like puppies in a box...
...
...
But what about Vera? Perhaps Vera and Uloomji should find a way to get along...
