Underplayed Gems

Assa (1987)

Assa poster
Original title
Асса
Directed by
Sergei Solovyov
Genre
drama film, crime film, romance film, teen film, music-themed film
Country
Soviet Union
Runtime
2h 28m
Rated
16+
Rating
7.0 of 10 from 76 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A young woman gets involved with a criminal while discovering the underground rock music scene in Soviet Russia. The film follows her relationships and the cultural tension between authority and artistic freedom.

rebelliousenergeticnostalgicdefiantyouthfulromanticcultishraw

What happens

Assa (Russian: Асса) is a 1987 Soviet crime film directed and co-written by Sergei Solovyov. It became a cult film, mainly because it was one of the films that brought Russian rock music from the underground into the mainstream. Solovyov made a sequel to the film twenty years later, 2-ASSA-2. While there are no causal links to it, Sovietology uses the release of Assa as a benchmark for when Perestroika reached the mass culture, and accordingly, entered its prime phase. This could be explained by the fact that the film was the first sanctioned production to feature the rock band Kino. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.