ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

leonblackwood Review: After the sad passing of Robin Williams, I thought that I would catch up in his older movies. I really enjoyed this film which shows a different side to his versatile acting style. This is a more serious side to his character, about a Russian who defects to New York after a trip to the big apple with the circus. There are a lot of political sides to the storyline which have a lot of similarities to everyday life in this day and age. Robin Williams put in a great performance, along with the other characters who make the movie realistic and quite funny in some parts. It's also a heart warming story which proves that determination and a little bit of guts can make you achieve your dreams. Enjoyable!Round-Up: After following Robin Williams career over the pass years, this is definitely a movie which shows that the man can really act. His Russian accent was brilliant and I liked the way that the black family took him in, regardless of his political views and his colour. The movie does look quite dated because it came out in 1984, but the storyline is timeless and I'm sure that everyone can relate to the many different situations which Williams character comes across. Anyway, it's definitely worth a watch, just to see Williams in a different light.Budget: $13million Worldwide Gross: $25millionI recommend this movie to people who are into there comedic dramas about a Russian defecting to America after travelling with the circus and visiting Bloomingdales. 5/10

tavm After Robin Williams' death was announced a few days ago, I remembered I bought this DVD years ago at the Walmart I still work at. So I suddenly had the jones to finally watch it and Mom agreed to view it with me. We both enjoyed it though Mom thought it was a bit X-rated with the bathtub scene with Williams and Maria Conchita Alonso. Paul Mazursky made a touching dramady about the struggles of a Russian musician immigrant trying to make it in America with many others from other countries settling here befriending him along the way. Williams was really convincing speaking the language and whatever playing he did on the sax also sounded pretty good. I've always loved him as a comedian but when he does roles like this, it's when I really appreciate all the talents he used to the best of his ability during his lifetime. The way he passed on may have been tragic, but the way he lived was never less than a joy to watch. So on that note, in the words of the character I first knew him as, Mork from Ork: "Nanu, nanu!"

tieman64 In the early 80s there were many pro-American/anti-Soviet movies like "Moscow on the Hudson". President Ronald Reagan reheated the Cold War in his 1982 "Evil Empire" speech and suddenly free capitalism and collective communism waged war once again on cinema screens.Unsurprisingly, "Hudson" begins in Russia, director Paul Mazursky treating us to a twenty minute sequence which stresses that the great socialist paradise is really a nightmarish hellhole. Cold and harsh, Russians wait hours in line for toilet paper, are constantly under surveillance and always fearful. Robin Williams, who plays a member of a Russian travelling circus on tour in the US, thus decides to defect, literally seduced by the capitalist decadence of a Bloomingdale's department store.From here on virtually every character in the film is an ethnic minority or immigrant, Mazursky stressing that in America everyone is from somewhere else. Heck, even the immigration officers are immigrants, every creed and race given the chance to make something of themselves.Mazursky then rolls out the cultural icons. Blue jeans, coffee mugs, soft toilet paper, department stores, yellow cabs, hot dog stands, baseball games, limousines etc are celebrated and dished out like ideological weapons, symbols of cultural superiority. Robin Williams himself finds it easy to make friends and overcome obstacles in this fantasy word. Black men, Italians, Greeks and Latinos cheerfully assist him along the way and he has no trouble jumping from one job to the next. The film pauses at times to say that crime, racism and greed are rampant in America, and takes aim at the cavalier attitude most American's have towards their freedom, but for the most part, the way Williams smoothly assimilates into American life is a bit too unbelievable. There are no struggles, no racial tensions, everything is a bit too easy.And yet, I think Mazursky does try to insert a bittersweet, almost subversive tone to the film. Williams remains an anonymous bum at the end of the film, a mere street musician, and his closest friend, an African American, loses his job and kids. America may be the land of opportunity, but only for those it doesn't crush.7.9/10 – Quirky, despite its black and white politics. Worth one viewing.

Lee Eisenberg I'm guessing that when "Moscow on the Hudson" first came out, it looked kind of silly and unrealistic. But now that the Cold War has long since ended, it looks better (and watching the movie, you can see why the Soviet Union was imploding). Robin Williams, in one of his more easygoing roles, plays Russian saxophonist Vladimir Ivanoff, who defects while his group is performing in New York. The rest of the movie shows him trying to adjust to life in America, with varying degrees of success. Among his new acquaintances are Lucia Lombardo (Maria Conchita Alonso), Lionel Witherspoon (Cleavant Derricks) and Orlando Ramirez (Alejandro Rey, whom you may recall as Carlos on "The Flying Nun").All in all, this isn't really anything special, but it does almost seem to be a premonition of the Eastern Bloc collapsing. Worth seeing.