The Wizard of a Kremlin review: What a long, densely-written slog
The prospect of seeing Jude Law as Russian President Vladimir Putin was just too irresistible to pass up, so of course, I had to check out Olivier Assayas‘ political drama The Wizard of the Kremlin. But Law’s take on Putin was not enough to sustain this dry movie.
An adaptation of Giuliano da Empoli’s book of the same name, The Wizard of the Kremlin tells the story of scheming spin doctor Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano), a character based on Vladislav Surkov. Baranov invites American journalist Lawrence Rowland (Jeffrey Wright) to his countryside retreat, where he has spent his days since his retirement, to tell him the story of how he got into politics in the 1990s and became an influential Kremlin official and master manipulator amid the rise of Putin (Law).
The Wizard of the Kremlin, which declares that it’s a work of fiction despite depicting many real people and real events, pulls back the curtain and shows us the inner workings of the Russian government. It’s a long, dense, dialogue-driven political drama that moves through world events quickly and dispassionately, not stopping to allow for impact. This film will undoubtedly be more interesting to people with greater knowledge of Russian history and politics and a better grasp of the way fact and fiction intersect.
It’s probably for the best that everybody speaks in their normal accents (except Dano, who bizarrely speaks in a British accent) instead of attempting Russian, but the inconsistency of voices in a Russia-set movie was quite distracting. The most frustrating was Law. He’s playing the most famous living Russian and speaking in his own accent! This disconnect was too big a hurdle for me to overcome, and it really bothered me whenever he spoke. He looks vaguely like Putin (the wig does a lot of the work) and it’s interesting to see his performance initially, but it’s nothing spectacular, and the novelty wears off quickly. I never fully bought him as Putin and the accent is largely responsible.
I’m usually a Dano fan, but he played Baranov in a very passive and emotionless way and gave us very little despite being a calculating manipulator. He just spouts the dense dialogue in a straightforward, monotone English voice and therefore feels quite distant and cold. Alicia Vikander has the most life and vibrancy as Baranov’s love interest Ksenia, but she’s not in it much, same as Wright, whose talents are wasted as the narrator.
At 137 minutes, The Wizard of the Kremlin is a very long and dull drama that becomes quite a slog after a while. However, people with an interest in Russian politics may have a completely different experience.
In cinemas from Friday 17th April