MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS part II: EXILE (2026)
(Saw this at the great FILM FORUM theater in NYC) (Some mild Spoilers ahead just fyi) (Parts 1 to 3) (Paraphrasing) "I will go back to Russia... why should Putin make me? I love Russia more than he ever will." (Elena Kostyuchenko, who is braver than I ever will be in all my life) How else would you get by in Russia in September of 2022 without Xanax though? First notes: Part 2 is still just as intimately observed, so many moment where Julia's friends are just trying to get their bearings, bewilderment and sadness... and also a lot of joking for their loved ones' expense, and that need to continue reporting and being a journalist - even (especially) as several of these women would be arrested as soon ss they set foot on Russian soil. Heck, one of them wants to go report in Mariupol (because that is what she does) but cannot as she hears from so many sources she will be *killed* if she is seen at a checkpoint. Yikes. One particularly mortifying and almost surreal hig...
