Spy (2012 Russian film)
The Spy () is a 2012 Russian dieselpunk spy film, an adaptation of Boris Akunin's novel "The Spy Novel" (). It was directed by Alexey Andrianov, the film stars Danila Kozlovsky and Fyodor Bondarchuk. Akunin adapted his own novel. It had one of the largest film budgets in Russian history. Plot. The movie is set in the year 1941, months before the German invasion of Russia. The two protagonists, NKVD officers Dorin and Oktyabrsky, are hunting a German Abwehr spy in Moscow. They believe their success might reveal Hitler's plans and the exact date of invasion . It is implied that Dorin is a distant relative of Erast Fandorin, the most popular character of Akunin's books. Production. The film was based on the plot of Boris Akunin's "The Spy Novel" written in 2005. In the tango scene, during a pause, the hero of Fyodor Bondarchuk clicks his orchestra loudly with his fingers. Although the hand is in a glove, and it is impossible to make such a sound in it. Filming. Principal photography, some scenes had to be shot not in the Russian capital, but in the city of Minsk, Belarus. Versions. The duration of  the full television version is more than 4 series of 45 minutes. Release. The film was released in the Russian Federation on April 5, 2012, by Central Partnership. The closed premiere took place on April 2. Reception. The movie was a moderate success at the box office grossing $4.588.176 (258.479.483 rubles) against a budget of 192.000.000 rubles. Critical response. From an article about the film "The Spy" in the journal Izvestia: The Russian film "The Spy", sold in the USA for display on the VOD system (video on demand), in just a few days at the HULU video service , came out in number of views to 14th place among 2.5 thousand European, American and Asian films. This is an extraordinary result, commented on the information of Eleanor Pomegranate, representing Loskino in Los Angeles. From the review of the film "The Spy" in the newspaper Gazeta.Ru: "The Spy" is the first successful adaptation of Boris Akunin's prose, placed in the only comic book space suitable for her. From the review of the film "The Spy" in the newspaper Trud: Alexei Andrianov's fantasy turned out to be ironic, rich, full of chic and funny episodes. Where, for example , there is a wonderful Oktyabrsky tango with a movie star Lyubov Serova (Ekaterina Melnik) who was beaten off by him in a restaurant for unsympathetic youths - and in this scene the exquisitely self-righteous hero Bondarchuk evokes about the same feelings as the imperial Moscow invented by Andrianov.