The Spy
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlexey Andrianov
Written byNikolay Kulikov
Boris Akunin
Vladimir Valutskiy
Based onThe Spy Novel (ru)
by Boris Akunin
Produced by
  • Leonid Vereshchagin
  • Sergey Shumakov
  • Maria Ushakova
  • Aleksandr Utkin
Starring
CinematographyDenis Alarcon-Ramirez
Edited by
  • Yaroslav Mochalov
  • Luca Paracels (TV version)
Music byYuri Poteyenko
Production
companies
Distributed byCentral Partnership
Release date
  • April 5, 2012 (2012-04-05) (Russia)
Running time
99 minutes
164 minutes (TV version)
CountryRussia
LanguageRussian
BudgetRUB 192 million
$60 million
Box officeRUB 274.2 million
$4.903.665[1]

The Spy (Russian: Шпион, romanized: Shpion) is a 2012 Russian spy film, an adaptation of Boris Akunin's novel The Spy Novel (Шпионский роман). 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.[2][3][4]

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 Adolf 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.

Cast

Crew

  • Director - Alexey Andrianov
  • Producer - Leonid Vereshchagin, Sergey Shumakov
  • Screenplay by Vladimir Valutskiy
  • Production designer - Viktor Petrov
  • Cinematographer - Denis Alarcon-Ramirez
  • Stunt Coordinator - Valeriy Derkach
  • Editor (TV version) - Luca Paracels

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.[5]

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:[6]

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:[7]

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:[8]

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.

References

  1. ↑ "The Spy (2012)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb.
  2. ↑ "Состоялась премьера долгожданного фильма "Шпион"" [The premiere of the long-awaited film The Spy]. Russia-K (in Russian). April 3, 2012.
  3. ↑ Kichin, Valeriy (April 6, 2012). "Командир танцует танго" [Commander dancing tango]. Rossiyskaya Gazeta (in Russian).
  4. ↑ "Шпион / The Spy". KinoPoisk (in Russian).
  5. ↑ "Шпион, выйди вон, или Как Минск в очередной раз превратили в Москву" [The Spy, get out, or How Minsk was once again turned into Moscow]. Onliner.by (in Russian). June 16, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Миссия российского "Шпиона" в США оказалась успешной" [The mission of the Russian The Spy in the United States was successful]. Izvestia (in Russian). November 9, 2012.
  7. ↑ Sinyakov, Sergey (April 5, 2012). "Другие сороковые" [Other forties]. Gazeta.Ru (in Russian).
  8. ↑ Sergeeva, Zhanna (April 6, 2012). "На экраны выходит фильм Алексея Андрианова "Шпион"" [The film is released by Alexei Andrianov The Spy]. Trud (in Russian).
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