Moscow on the Hudson (Comedy) ( 1984) © 2002 by Raymond Weschler Major Characters Vladimir Ivanoff..................Robin Williams A charming and frustrated Russian musician who decides to defect to the United States after traveling to New York City with the Russian circus ("To defect" is to ask to become a member of a new country, after fleeing an old one, often because of political repression). Lucia Lombardo.....................Maria Conchita Alonso A very cute Italian immigrant living in New York, who becomes romantically involved with Vladimir after he defects to the US. Lionel Witherspoon.................Cleavant Derricks An African-American security guard at a New York Department Store who becomes good friends with Vladimir. Orlando Ramirez.....................Alejandro Rey A Cuban-American immigration lawyer who helps Vladimir start the process of becoming a citizen of the United States. Anatoly Cherkasov...................Elya Baskin Vladimir’s Russian friend, a circus performer, who dreams of living in the United States because he hates life so much in the Soviet Union. Boris................................Saveli Kramarov A KGB (Soviet police) agent who travels with the Russian circus to New York, and who is always making life difficult for Vladimir. Plot Summary This film is an interesting look at what it is like to be an immigrant in modern America. It is the story of Vladimir Ivanoff, a sweet and talented but frustrated Russian saxophone player who feels the despair of living in the Soviet Union during the early 1980s. In Moscow, one is forced to stand in line to buy virtually anything, from toilet paper to shoes, and what is available is often of poor quality and very expensive. Worst of all, there is no freedom to protest the conditions of life. Vladimir is not political, but he feels suffocated, and desperately wants a better life for himself (The movie takes place about 1983, just a year or two before Mikhail Gorbachev came to power). Even at the height of the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union, the Soviets would occasionally send ballets, circuses and other artists to perform for American audiences. It is during one of these "cultural exchanges" that Vladimir finds himself in New York City, and even though he speaks little English, knows no one in the States, and risks never seeing his family or friends again, he suddenly decides to defect to the United States, while shopping at the world famous Bloomingdale’s Department Store. For the news media, it is "another chapter in US-Soviet relations," and for Vladimir, it is the beginning of a very different life in America. Soon after defecting to the US, Vladimir becomes involved with three very different people; Lucia, a very cute Italian woman who sells perfume at Bloomingdale’s, Lionel, a black责任编辑:yechenglu
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