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Released by: Deaf Crocodile
Released on: April 25th, 2023.
Director: Karen Shakhnazarov
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Oleg Yankovskiy, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan
Year: 1991
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The Assassin Of The Tsar – Movie Review:
Filmmaker Karen Shakhnazarov’s 1991 film, The Assassin Of The Tsar, stars Malcolm McDowell as a man named Timofyev (Malcolm McDowell) who is doing a lifetime stint in a rundown Soviet era mental asylum and who claims to be responsible for the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, as well as the death of his grandson Tsar Nicholas II in 1918. Given the timeline of these events, this seems very unlikely, but Timofyev is quite confident in his claims.
Timofyev, who seems to suffer from schizophrenia, is treated by Doctor Smirnov (Oleg Yankovsky), a cunning specialist type who decides to use an extremely unorthodox style of therapy on his patient in hopes of getting to the truth behind what he really has and hasn’t done. All of this occurs around the time that the Russian Imperial Family in Yekaterinburg is about to fall. In their sessions together, Timofye impersonates the family’s main personal guard, Yakov Yurovsky, and Smirnov Tsar Nicholas II. We see this all play out from Timofyev/Yurovsky’s point of view and with Timofyev’s voice over narration setting the different scenes that occur.
Beautifully shot and boasting impressive location work and production values, The Assassin Of The Tsar is an interesting dramatic thriller with a pretty strong lead performance from McDowell and work from Oleg Yankovsky that is almost as good. McDowell’s odd screen presence and ability to play quirky characters makes him a great choice for the role of Timofyev and while he stops short of delivering some of the scenery chewing we’ve seen him do in the past in this picture, he definitely does bring a sense of lunacy to the role when it’s called for. Yankovsky, on the other hand, is much more controlled and almost calculating in his efforts to bring Smirnov to life. The two main actors complement each other quite well and seem to be playing off of one another at times, to good effect.
The visuals on display in the movie are great. The use of color is interesting in how the colorful flashback or reenactment scenes contrast with the scenes inside the drab mental hospital, and there’s lots of interesting camerawork on display. The attention to detail paid to the sets and costumes is easy to appreciate and while the movie suffers from a few pacing issues during the middle stretch, overall this is a really unique film worth checking out, particularly for fans of Malcolm McDowell.
The Assassin Of The Tsar – Blu-ray Review:
Deaf Crocodile brings The Assassin Of The Tsar to Region A Blu-ray framed in 1.37.1 in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer that uses up 24GBs of space on the 50GB disc. Taken from a new restoration of “original 35mm elements by Mosfilm,” the feature looks really strong here. Colors are quite good and there’s nice detail throughout. The films rich cinematography really benefits from the quality of the transfer here. There are no issues with any compression artifacts or edge enhancement and the image is pretty much spotless from start to finish.
The only audio option for the feature is a 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track in English only. Optional subtitles are provided in English. Audio quality is quite good, there are no problems with any hiss or distortion and the levels are properly balanced throughout. Range is a bit limited, but for an older single channel track, there’s nothing to complain about here.
Extras start off with a new commentary track by film writer and historian Samm Deighan that goes into detail on what makes this an interesting example of late Soviet cinema, some of the international attention that the movie received due to McDowell's presence, the two version that exist of the movie, some of the historical events behind the movie, details on the different cast and crew members that worked on the movie, Karen Shakhnazarov life and work, some of the politics behind the story in the movie, the state of mental health care during the time that the movie is set, the quality of the cinematography in the movie and quite a bit more. Clearly a lot of thought was put into this track, it's quite interesting.
The disc also includes a new interview with star Malcolm McDowell, conducted via videoconferencing software by Deaf Crocodile's Dennis Bartok. Here, over fifty-five minutes, McDowell talks about how he came to play his role in the film, the historical setting in which the film takes place, how the movie was the last film to be released in the Soviet Union before the U.S.S.R. dissolved, getting along with director Shakhnazarov, what it was like being in Russia on this part, how the Russian actors had to speak their English dialogue phonetically for the English version of the movie, thoughts on the events portrayed in the movie, factors that influenced his performance in both versions of the movie, needing to learn how a Russian smokes a cigarette to bring authenticity to his work and other details surrounding his experiences on the film and his career in general.
Lastly, we get a new interview with director Karen Shakhnazarov running sixty-nine minutes with some special assistance by Elena Tazetdinova. This extensive talk covers Shakhnazarov's work as a director and at Mosfilm Cinema Concern, where Shakhnazarov's career was at when the movie was made, what sets The Assassin Of The Tsar apart from his other work as well as similarities that exist, his own fascination with history and its influence on his films, the events that inspired the movie, changes that were made to the movie, working with Malcolm McDowell, some of the other cast and crew members he collaborated with and lots more.
Note that the disc also includes the Russian language version of film with has a different edit and score, it runs 1:42:33 versus the English version at 1:44:45 and is presented with 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Russian audio, English subtitles and an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.37.1. Note that, not surprisingly, McDowell’s performance is dubbed in this version.
Inside the keepcase alongside the disc is a booklet containing a new essay by film critic and historian Walter Chaw titled ‘Time And Tides.
The Assassin Of The Tsar - The Final Word:
The Assassin Of The Tsar is an interesting and fairly captivating film with solid acting and excellent production values. The Blu-ray edition from Deaf Crocodile presents this underseen gem in very nice shape with some strong extras as well. Recommended.