‘Soviet Barbara’ Review: High Art Collides With Global Politics in Moscow
variety.comDennis Harvey Film Critic Offering a singular perspective on Russia’s current pariah status in much of the world is Gaukur Ulfarsson’s “Soviet Barbara,” probably the most enjoyable — as opposed to depressing — documentary involving the invasion of Ukraine you’re likely to see.
It focuses on Icelandic multimedia artist Ragnar Kjartansson’s preparation for exhibits that would open a major new museum in Moscow.
That launch proves fatefully ill-timed in terms of larger events, however, even as his splashiest custom creation provides ironic commentary on recent Russian history by reprising an American TV soap opera that had been an unlikely imported smash in the nation’s immediate post-USSR years.
The colorful intersection between art, ideology, patronage and politics should appeal to a wide range of nonfiction outlets and programmers.
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