THE STORY – Russia, early 1990s. Amid post-Soviet chaos, a brilliant young man, Vadim Baranov, charts his path. First an artist, then a reality tv producer, he becomes the spin doctor to a rising KGB agent: Vladimir Putin. At the heart of power, Baranov shapes the new Russia, blurring the boundaries between truth and lies, belief and manipulation. Only the magnetic Ksenia is beyond his control, tempting him away from this dangerous game. Years later, after retreating into silence and shrouded in mystery, Baranov finally opens up, revealing the dark secrets of the regime he helped build.
THE CAST – Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge, Will Keen, Jeffrey Wright & Jude Law
THE TEAM – Olivier Assayas (Director/Writer) & Emmanuel Carrère (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 156 Minutes
Politics is often composed of a well-timed (or not) series of accidents, with improvisation and sudden changes leading to shifts in power and control. For as frequently as we’d like to believe that there are grand, well-laid out plans in place in the halls of authority, so much of our global infrastructure is the result of people being in the right or wrong place at the right or wrong time. “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” the new political epic from Olivier Assayas, examines the rapid ascension and subsequent tightly held grasp of control by the seemingly ever-present President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. However, anyone hoping for an in-depth examination of Putin the man may be surprised to hear that his on-screen proxy, Jude Law, doesn’t appear for the entirety of the lengthy film’s first hour. Instead, the film focuses on Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano), a steady presence in Russian politics who grows from an underground artist in the 1990s post-Soviet landscape to becoming an unlikely right-hand man for those at the heights of political control, dubbed the “new Rasputin” or the “Wizard of the Kremlin.” But even more surprising than Baranov’s swift climb up the Russian political ladder is the fact that Baranov doesn’t actually exist.
In fact, he’s a creation of author Giuliano da Empoli, who wrote the novel upon which this film is based. The movie opens with text stating that it is an original work of artistic intent, and that the characters themselves are fictional. This doesn’t mean that the film creates an entire alternate reality of unreal figures. Besides the unfortunately very real Putin, the roster of characters also includes people like the late Russian oligarch and political party benefactor Boris Berezovsky (played by Will Keen). However, this story serves as a satire of the brutal and unpredictable Russian power structure. And while it’s an inherently gripping tale for political junkies, others less invested in the inner workings of geopolitical bodies will likely find this to be a taxing watch.
The story is framed as a conversation between Baranov and an American writer (Jeffrey Wright) living in Russia to research his latest non-fiction book. One day, after a chance meeting on social media, facilitated by shared interests, the writer is invited to Baranov’s secluded compound, where he lives in exile from the governmental halls that used to be his home away from home (he has also been banned from entering Europe and the United States). Bonding over their surprisingly aligned passions, Baranov recounts his life story to the writer.
After growing up as a rare child of privilege in the final days of the Soviet Union, Baranov delves into the burgeoning avant-garde artistic scene that flourished with fervor after the collapse of the Communist regime. There, he meets Ksenia (Alicia Vikander), a cynical performer, and they quickly fall in love. After befriending the shrewd and wealthy businessman Dmitri Sidorov (Tom Sturridge), Baranov’s profile rises to the point where he eventually becomes a television producer. With his newfound connections, he becomes a colleague of the station’s owner, Boris Berezovsky. He and Baranov work together to find a man who can be installed as prime minister to act as a behind-the-scenes leader in place of the essentially lifeless President Boris Yeltsin. They land on Putin, then director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), who quickly becomes acting President after Yeltsin resigns. With Baranov by his side, Putin rises from being essentially a political puppet to one of the most powerful and feared leaders on the world stage, whom the other characters refer to as “the Tsar.”
It’s a compelling story, to be sure. However, the film is far more interesting before Putin himself appears. Until that point, it’s a fascinating story set in an exciting emergent world of newfound freedom. Possibility abounds, newfound allegiances form, and things move very, very fast. The screenplay is expertly constructed in this first act, with Dano’s occasional narration and well-read characters who’ve seen both sides of the Soviet-Russia transition expounding on the nature of power and the ways that a society can change and adapt from both the bottom up and top down. That intellectual perspective isn’t lost once it shifts from a story about the people to one about governmental agents, but the political philosophizing becomes extremely repetitive and, at times, exhausting. As may be familiar to anyone who has ever read a story set in Russia, the film features numerous characters, many of whom make brief appearances, with their necessity or purpose in the larger story not always entirely apparent. If this were a wholly true story, these verbose asides and detours would make more sense, but given that this is a fabrication (or at least a partial one), it’s somewhat mystifyingly obtuse and long-winded.
Although the film may be overlong, Assayas keeps things moving with an admirable energy, aided by propulsive editing that effectively ferries the audience from one location to the next. There’s also a helpful level of clarity in the screenplay. Despite the many characters – some of whom disappear and reappear much later in the film, and a few who even share names – the script’s vast story is always easy to follow, yet done in an intelligent manner that will undoubtedly make audiences feel smarter for having watched the film.
Once his character is introduced, Paul Dano is in nearly every frame of the film, dominating the story and therefore the Russian political world it depicts. But this doesn’t mean he gives a big, showy performance. This isn’t a figure who holds onto power thanks to the volume of his speech or an imposing physical presence. He’s soft-spoken and gentle, performing closer to his work in “The Fabelmans“ than “There Will Be Blood.” It’s a surprising choice that primarily works, although those around him occasionally overshadow him. In a role with less time on-camera than might be expected, Jude Law is effectively menacing as Putin, chilling any room he walks into with his intimidating frown. But like Dano, he doesn’t lean into a cartoonish depiction of firmly-held power. He also doesn’t adopt a Russian accent – clearly a piece of direction from Assayas himself, given that most actors use what seems to be their actual voice rather than attempting something more Slavic. This also helps him feel more like a real person than some of the more over-the-top interpretations of non-fiction leaders that we’ve seen in recent films. The film attempts to portray him as the real Putin through his hair and makeup, but even that’s done with a level of reasonable subtlety. In fact, it seems as if the hair work is more extensive than the makeup. In his first scene, it’s shocking to see Law with a different hairstyle and eyebrows, but it’s easy to get used to it quickly. Tom Sturridge is a delight in his more minor role, utilizing his minimal screen time to maximum effect by being as offbeat and charming as possible.
Despite being overwritten in places, the screenplay is the real star of the show in “The Wizard of the Kremlin.“ Full of astute observations and dryly humorous quips, it’s gratifying to listen to. Assayas’ film is catnip for followers of political machinations, even if more casual viewers may find it as unconquerable as Russia has proved to be over the centuries.
