52 Films by Women Vol 3. 41. CRYSTAL SWAN (Director: Darya Zhuk)
Crystal Swan is billed as a comedy but I didn’t laugh, nor did many members of the audience of a packed afternoon Press and Industry screening. This is not to say that it is a bad film and it does go for humour, though its major comic character, Alik (Yuriy Borisov) a deranged, sex-addicted drug taking DJ, tries a little too hard; he’s more creepy than funny. It begins with its protagonist, Evelyna (Alina Nasibullina) being berated for her blue wig by a boy on a bus. ‘Hey, clown, where’s the circus?’ Just before that we see the mad charge to get on. Just after, we see the young woman snap on a pair of headphones, switch on her personal stereo and watch the world through a soundtrack. The city is Minsk. The year is 1996. Evelyna – Velya – loves house music and wants to be a DJ in the windy city, Chicago. But first, she has to get a visa. Joining a very long queue, she is coached by a woman giving advice on presentation – mention that you want to study culture. An older man come...