Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

Tycoon: A New Russian

(Russia, 2002)

The “new Russian” of the title is a breed that sprang up following the end of the USSR. Things were chaotic, stuff was up for grabs, nobody was looking out for much but themselves. A clever fellow could make a lot of money. A lot of money, and at a rate that would make Bill Gates blink. People became overnight billionaires, if they were willing to kill a fair number of people on the way up and not too worried about getting killed themselves. Many of them came from poverty. They literally had so much money they didn’t know what to do with it.

Joke:
1st New Russian: How do you like this necktie? I paid $3000 for it.
2nd New Russian: You got cheated. I saw the same one for $5000.

This movie was inspired by Boris Berezovsky, who the Russian authorities are trying to put in jail or maybe have killed. It is well done, but told in a very confusing manner. It was hard to keep the characters straight, and then it just seemed to end. Too bad. I thought it was going somewhere, then it just fizzled out.