Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: MASHA [Miami Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]

"Masha" is a tale of circumstance but especially enviironment. It is a unique crime story as it is seen through the teenage eyes of a niece of a Russian crime lord after the fall of the Soviet Union. The social and authority order is in chaos which allows the Darwinism to kick in. Pops, Masha's uncle, runs a crew who is involved in nefariously dealings. He keeps his niece Masha under protection but beyond some of the thugs treating her like their younger sister, she doesn't see the darkness beneath. As the story goes on, she begins to see the influx of what his power can do but also its harm...but it never really sticks to her. The film is bookended with Masha as her older self and in all honesty, that is the one that is more interesting if it was told in a linear fashion (ala "Goodfellas") but that is not the end game that the story is telling. This story is showing how lies that family tells even under the best protection can cause trouble, even when accidents happen.

There is a bit of gallows humor that runs throughout but it is Masha's love of either singing or watching America standards being sung gives her a glimpse of a sunnier life, even though in her ignorance she seems to be enjoying her youth with this gangster existence. The use of Etta James "At Last" has interesting relevance as many of the Russian characters sing it in earnest but also it comes off as a reflexive metaphor. One sequence as Masha sings "Fever" slightly out of key frames a sequence that both shows the protection of her, a certain adrenalin but also her total acceptance of the business her uncle is in. Eventually this leads to a revelation in the third act involving the bookend. The film does feel alive without feeling compartmentalized or hung up on itself. The characters are who they are and are respective to their environment however imbalanced it becomes. B

By Tim Wassberg