Hipsters

A chord or scale is neither left nor right, making assigning political orientation to a piece of music a tricky undertaking. Nothing illustrates this better than the way both cultural bolshevism and bourgeois decadence became epithets hurled at jazz and rock'n roll during the 50s and 60s from opposite ends of the Atlantic.

The politics of music is explored by director Valery Todorovsky's as he hones in on the conflict between the garishly dressed and sexually liberated hipster movement of 50s Russia and their arch-foes - the Komsomol, the youth wing of the Communist Party. In a familiar musical set-up Communist youth Mels, falls head over hells for Polly, a hipster girl who shows him the wonders of American jazz, and hairspray. Music and their common dream of America becomes a manifestation of freedom. But is the America they dream about real, or just an elaborate fantasy?

With a score consisting of jazzed-up versions of Russian hit song, and headed by a young and energetic cast, "Hipsters" celebrates the rich and colorful legacy of Russia's musical tradition.
LEE BLANCHARD