The Wizard of the Kremlin

I suppose to be fair to Paul Dano, he does have something of the look of an apparatchik to him, but otherwise he really fails to deliver anything of the complexities or menace in this depiction of the rise of Vladimir Putin. OK, so Jude Law doesn't exactly convince in that latter role, either, but at least he does resemble his man! "Vadim" (Dano) is an aspiring film-maker of no great skill who ends up working as a television producer just as Boris Yeltsin is beginning to lose his grip. His benefactor, billionaire Boris Berezovsky (Will Keen) convinces him that the next man for the job of President could be the director of the FSB - a latter day iteration of the KGB. Putin is no fool, he knows he has limited appeal to the masses and hates public speaking, but "Vadim" convinces him that can all be managed and next thing he is Prime Minister. Next stop the Kremlin with this former movie man now in a fairly pivotal position as a confidante-cum-gentle enforcer. Perhaps surprisingly, Berezovsky isn't so keen on the creature he has helped to create and when Putin starts to rein in some of the more profligate characters - like Dmitri Sidorov (Tom Sturridge), a flashy gent who just happened to break up the relationship between "Vadim" and "Ksenia" (Alicia Vikander), he flees to the Côte d'Azur - but remains a thorn in the side of this new Czar and his increasing policies of centralisation. As "Vadim" watches how his new master is taking charge of the nation, he too begins to feel a little uncomfortable - and now banned from travelling to Europe what use is he to his boss now? This is an oddly sterile story that could have gone the whole hog and dramatically sensationalised the corruption in post-Soviet politics, but instead it uses Dano as both an actor and as a narrator to deliver a retrospective that is lifeless and even at it's most hedonistic is tame, timid and frankly quite turgid. Given that so much of this is pure speculation, why not pepper it up a bit? Why not draw parallels with plenty of adminstrations in the West that are only in office thanks to spin doctors who know how to manipulate the media to convey a message? There are a few moments when the writing threatens to stray into the realms of the interesting, but then Dano's blandness swiftly snuffs that out leaving us with a glossy but entirely superficial look at not just Putin's rise to power but at the disposability of those who helped him get there. This is a long old watch, and I'm glad I saw it at the cinema. At home, I might have just given up.

Political leaders often don’t rise to that level of power without the strategic scripting concocted for them by the little-known kingmakers behind them. And that’s what this fact-based, though satirically fictional, political thriller about the rise of Russian president Vladimir Putin (Jude Law) seeks to chronicle. The film tells the story of professional political fixer Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano), who rises from art school student to television producer to “the Czar’s” righthand man, doing whatever it takes to promote and ensure the power of his boss after the resignation of President Boris Yeltsin (George Sogis) in 1999. Baranov is portrayed here as a soft-spoken schemer who doesn’t hesitate to play both sides of the fence to add to the unbridled clout of the Russian strongman, even if that means pitting social and political opponents against one another if that tactic results in increased backing for Putin’s policies and practices. What’s more, Baranov is so seduced by the prospect of amassing power and influence for himself that he even agrees to support causes that he himself disagrees with. For example, if need be, he’ll willingly back right-wing extremist positions regardless of whether those views clash with the “radical” democratic ideologies he once so whole-heartedly championed during the early days of the New Russia in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But that brand of shameless cynicism carries a high price when it comes to aiding a political figure – a former KGB operative – to help him restore the allegedly respectable “integrity” of the Russian Empire. Baranov’s questionable odyssey is largely revealed through voiceovers by the protagonist and an American journalist (Jeffrey Wright) conducting background research about the 30-year era in question. His dubious exploits come to life through his various unsavory dealings with political leaders, oligarchs and social movements within Russia and surrounding areas like Ukraine and the would-be breakaway republic of Chechnya, most of which, unfortunately, are given short shrift and little more than Cleft Notes treatment. That may allow the pacing to move along surprisingly briskly, but it provides inconsequential depth and opportunities for little more than smarmy quotes by the protagonist in dialogues with clueless cohorts. There’s also a largely needless romantic story thread involving Baranov’s significant other (Alicia Vikander) that could have easily been cut, a move that would have allowed more time to be devoted to the re-creations of the watershed historical events depicted here. And, despite the strength of Law’s fine but underdeveloped performance, the remainder of the cast leaves much to be desired. Writer-director Olivier Assayas’s latest is arguably one of his most commercial works, but, like so many of his other films, it’s another disappointment, even if it’s easier to follow than many of his prior overly cryptic productions. However, that kind of accessibility still doesn’t make for a great picture, especially one whose subject matter deserves better treatment than it receives here.