The Diamond Arm (1998)

After watching "Brilliantovaya ruka" I can well believe that it's with very good reason that it has such a beloved reputation among Russian language comedies. The vibe it generates it of an extremely high level of breezy fun, and it sustains that with supernatural consistency all the way through.Combine that with an abundance of simply good jokes drawing from farce, slapstick, and everything in between. The performances are just the right level of broad to pull the maximum number of laughs. The almost constant underscoring perfectly compliments the fact that the pacing is masterfully timed and the fact that all the location filming simply looks fantastic to make this one of the most all-around fun viewing experiences you could imagine. Moments such as the walking-on-water, the set-up seduction, and the division of the "two parts" are among hilarious moments that also draw in character for their humor and even border somewhat on what might be called "Pythonesque" in style. At the same time, roots in the best of silent comedy, farce, and adventure film are happily evident. I can easily image how this comedy would reward reviewing, which it evidently for many other commentators here.

Whether you consider "Brilliantovaya ruka" a Soviet version of "Get Smart" or something else, it's still a hilarious movie. Portraying a man on vacation in Istanbul getting confused for a spy, they pull just about every gag imaginable. The line "Our people don't ride in taxis" implies that only people in western countries do that (it was also a reference to the people employed as secret police in the Soviet Union). Probably the best scene is when the guy sings "A nam vsyo ravno", which in Russian means "Everything is equal to us"; that scene is comparable to the toga party in "Animal House".Anyway, a really funny movie. They must have had fun filming it. The Jesus scene would no doubt incur the wrath of the Russian Orthodox Church nowadays.

Gaidai's role model was Charlie Chaplin, and therefore most of his humor is built upon silent scenes accompanied by music. This makes his movies being beloved by many generations, as the silent scenes were not done for a special group of people. However, in his later movies there is verbal humor as well, which requires you to be aware of the soviet society. Although many people considered this movie as the best of Gadai's comedies, in my opinion it is not a good introduction to Gaidai's style as it involves many scenes which require you being aware of the soviet society.For those people who do not speak Russian, or do not aware of the life and the difficulties in the soviet society, I recommend the "Operation Y" movie to start with.

I watched this movie as a small boy. I liked it. Then I watched it again, as a bigger boy. I liked it again :) Then I found it nowadays on video... was tempted to watch it again... and liked it again :-)This is classics! It's good! It's... yes, it's way too Russian......but because I know Russian language, and Russian culture a bit, too, I could understand almost all of the movie's plot, and jokes, and sometimes (too Russian?;) humour.The movie is real good. It has good plot, good acting, it's directed good, it has good music... I've given it 9/10 stars. It's worth watching! But... beware - maybe you wouldn't understand it. Because it's way too Russian? Maybe. Well, you can try, at least...I really enjoyed it:)One word-summary: recommend! ...for whoever want to try it:)