TIL: Roger Ebert was a moron.

Excellent. Encore mieux, si on a un peu lu sur les oligarques auparavant.

An interesting look at the rise of a Russian Oligarch.

After a choppy first half, reminiscent of CITIZEN KANE, which rapidly recounts the protagonist's rise to power, a sudden twist (albeit one that's pretty obvious in hindsight) leads to a dark, gripping final act, and an intriguingly unresolved conclusion. Not that the first half is chopped liver; Plato Makovski, the tycoon of the title, is quite an interesting character, and the scenes of his rise to power are fascinating-but they are poorly organized, and one wishes for more explanation of his rise than scenes of the investigating judge from the Urals going from witness to witness; as it is, these are more efficient at filling time than filling in gaps in the story. Vladimir Mashkov is strong as Makovski; none of the other actors are especially distinctive, but none embarrass themselves either. Not a great film, but an interesting example of the new Russian cinema.

It's no 'Godfather.' It's no 'Scarface.' And it's definitely no 'Citizen Kane.' But still, it's not that bad.

Reflects a general idea of post-Soviet entrepreneurship pretty good.

(***): [img]http://images.chrc4work.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img] Well-acted and interesting.

Eh. Never gets off the ground... there are twists and turns but you don't notice them happening until the movie's over and you're just left saying "huh."

Nägin aastaid tagasi.. geniaalne...alul oli raske uskuda, et see lugu on tegelikult baseeritud töele.

Warmly recommended to anyone interested in the not-so-wonderful consequences of the end of communism in Eastern Europe. Not to mention the always breath-taking Vladimir Mashkov!

This movie is absolutely great! Everyone should definitely watch it. It's very deep, realistic, yet comical at times. It's one of those rare movies that no one really hears about, but is very very good!

[color=black][font=Tahoma]Tycoon is a tale of two movies: the first hour which doesn't quite work and the second hour which is much better and far more interesting. This Russian film tells the life story of a brilliant mathematician turned mobster/con-man who, along with his friends, builds a fortune that ultimately controls large parts of the new [/font][/color][color=black][font=Tahoma]Russia[/font][/color][color=black][font=Tahoma]. The film is structured and edited with a style that brings the viewer back and forth from the past to the future. The problem is that it is done with such regularity that the viewer has a hard time getting involved in the characters or getting a feel for the plot. The second hour of the film is much better with a more complicated, better structured and more interesting plot. If you like mob-type stories you may like this movie, assuming you can get past the first hour.[/font][/color]

It's a really good description of this milieu called the "Novy Russky" in Russia nowadays. Very interresting movie, but don't try to link Plato to any oligarch.