Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by clarkjohnsen (R) on December 23, 2002 at 13:08:24

Russian TV viewers get a new take on life in US

By David Filipov, Globe Staff, 12/22/2002

MOSCOW - As a Russian emigre trying to make ends meet in the crime-ridden chaos of contemporary Los Angeles, Andrei Somov faces some daunting challenges.

Not only is Somov, an aging former police major from Moscow, trying to fight international criminals, land a job with the LAPD, and spring his American wife from jail. He also hopes to debunk American stereotypes about his homeland and capture the hearts of millions of his countrymen back home as he recounts the bittersweet experiences of Russians who have left their homes for the United States.

Luckily for Somov, he is not real, but the fictional hero of the first Russian-American television crime drama, ''Russians in the City of Angels,'' a new 12-part series that will begin showing on Russia's Channel One in January. As an up-close-and-personal program about criminals and crimefighters, ''Russians in the City of Angels'' takes its place among a number of local television productions attempting to translate the popularity of such US shows as ''Homicide'' and ''The Sopranos'' into Russian reality.

But ''Russians in the City of Angels'' has a few catches that set it apart from the average Russian crime show. As a joint Russian-US project, it was shot mainly in the United States and features such American actors as Eric Roberts, Gary Busey, and Sean Young as well as Russian stars.

Each installment features crimes, car chases, and intricate story lines that lead from Los Angeles to Moscow to the deserts of northern Mexico. But the subplot of the series focuses on the ambiguity of the contemporary Russian-American relationship. This is nothing like ''Red Heat'' or ''Rocky IV,'' Hollywood films that pitted American good guys against Russian supervillains in 90-minute celluloid microcosms of the Cold War.

In ''Russians in the City of Angels,'' Russians and Americans fight international mobsters together, fall in love, get married, argue, and overcome linguistic and cultural barriers, as the Russians cope with their homesickness and the Americans marvel about what it must be like over there.

''The majority of these immigrants study English and learn many American customs. However, they still remain Russian at heart, and find it difficult to part with their pasts and adapt to the realities of their new homeland,'' said Rodion Nahapetov, an acclaimed Russian filmmaker and actor who plays Somov and who created and directed the new series. ''I wanted to give these people a voice - to portray a slice of their lives.''

Nahapetov, who moved to the United States in 1989, admits being inspired in part by his personal experience. Not unlike Somov, Nahapetov fell in love with an American woman long before he fell in love with his new home. Like Somov, who finds work as a taxi driver and in a restaurant, all the while pestering his newfound American police friends to give him a job, Nahapetov had to come to grips with the fact that his talents were not in demand in Hollywood.

''I was a star in Russia. I expected a different life in America,'' he said after a press screening of two episodes Friday in Moscow. ''But I was hit in the face by reality.''

The disillusionment many Russian emigres face in the United States is a major theme of the series, but it seems most concerned with showing how its characters manage to get by. In a refreshing twist on most cop shows, Somov is no action hero; nor does he always know how to save the day.

Neither do his American police friends, a quirky bunch led by Busey's psychic police captain and Lane Davies and Pat Battistini as officers who would just as soon share a toast with their new Russian friend as fight crime with him. Then there's Erik Estrada, costar of the 1970s series ''CHiPs,'' who does an over-the-top take on his uber-corrupt Mexican cop.

The Russian characters, meanwhile, often find that the America they long for is less than what they expected.

''I've only met one American ... he looks OK, but he's a total psycho,'' says a character in one episode named Rita, a Muscovite whose husband has scammed a bunch of would-be vacationers out of their money and absconded with his secretary to Acapulco.

Rita takes her daughter to Mexico to search for her husband, but instead runs across Eric Roberts, who plays a troubled man with a soft spot for kids who smuggles illegal immigrants across the border into the United States.

Katerina Redkina, the Russian actress who plays Rita, said she was happy to get a role that avoided Hollywood stereotypes. ''There are three parts for Russians - if you're a woman, you can be a prostitute, if you are a man, you can play the role of a Russian Mafioso or a Russian crazy scientist,'' said Redkina, who first attracted international attention for her starring role in the critically acclaimed 1998 film ''The Thief.''

''Russia in the City of Angels'' might help break down American stereotypes about Russians, if anyone in the United States ever sees it. Producer Natasha Shliapnikoff, Nahapetov's real-life American wife, said she is negotiating with Warner Brothers. But for the time being, the show will only be seen in Russia, where it will have difficulty making a dent in Russian stereotypes about Americans. One reason is the many US shows already on the airwaves here.

Given a choice between a Russian-directed police drama and such outlandish portrayals of American reality as ''The Jerry Springer Show,'' many Russians probably would choose the latter.

This story ran on page A6 of the Boston Globe on 12/22/2002.
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