''Tycoon: A New Russian'' (russian: Олигарх, Oligarch) is a 2002

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n movie directed by Pavel Loungine (or Lungin). The movie is based on the book The Lion’s Share (Bolshaya Paika) by Yuli Dubov, who later went on to work for oligarch,

Boris Abramovich Berezovsky Boris Abramovich Berezovsky (russian: link=no, Борис Абрамович Березовский; 23 January 1946 – 23 March 2013), also known as Platon Elenin, was a Russian business oligarch, government official, engineer and mathematic ...

Plot

During the Mikhail Gorbachev years, Platon Makovsky and four buddies of his are university students who jump on the private

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

movement. Fast-forward 20 years, Platon finds himself the richest man in Russia. But as such, he and his friends are drawn more and more into relations with suspect organizations. They also have to face ever more brutal attempts to subjugate them by the Kremlin. Makovsky attempts to compete with this ever-present political power, by becoming as "creating a Kremlin" himself. Londongrad: From Russia with Cash: The Inside Story of the

Oligarchs Oligarch may refer to: Authority * Oligarch, a member of an oligarchy, a power structure where control resides in a small number of people * Oligarch (Kingdom of Hungary), late 13th–14th centuries * Business oligarch, wealthy and influential bu ...

. Mark Hollingsworth, Stewart Lansley Published May 5, 2009.

Characters

* Platon Makovsky -

Vladimir Mashkov Vladimir Lvovich Mashkov ( Russian: Владимир Львович Машков; born 27 November 1963) is a Soviet and Russian actor and director of cinema, known to Western audiences for his work in the 2001 film '' Behind Enemy Lines'' and 2 ...

Mariya Mironova Maria Andreyevna Mironova (russian: Мари́я Андре́евна Миро́нова; born 28 May 1973) is a Soviet and Russian actress. People's Artist of Russia (2020). Biography Mironova was born on 28 May 1973 in Moscow, to actors Andre ...

Background

The film is based on "Bolshaya Paika" ("The Big Slice") - a novel by Yuli Dubov, depicting the real biography of Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky and his partners. Dubov was Berezovsky's partner himself, and a president of his LogoVAZ company. The novel is claimed to be historically precise in many aspects. The names of the characters were changed from their real life counterparts, though keeping resemblance (e.g. Boris Berezovsky, who changed his name to Platon Elenin in exile in 2004, to Platon Makovsky,

Badri Patarkatsishvili Arkady Shalvovich "Badri" Patarkatsishvili ( ka, ბადრი პატარკაციშვილი 31 October 1955 – 12 February 2008) was a Jewish-Georgian businessman who also became extensively involved in politics. He contested th ...

to Lari Teishvili, etc.) In June 2009, Dubov and Berezovsky were convicted in absentia (at that time, they were both living in exile in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) in a Russian court for the events that served as the basis for the book to 9 and 13 years of imprisonment respectively. The book served as one of the pieces of evidence against them.

Reception

Critical response

''Tycoon'' has an approval rating of 46% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 35 reviews, and an average rating of 5.60/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Wants to be ''The Godfather'', but the movie's ''Citizen Kane''-style narrative limits its effectiveness". It also has a score of 49 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed of average". The

New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * '' The ...

stated: "Once a freedom-loving idealist, Platon used his genius to become a monster, unhesitatingly sacriﬁcing his ideals and his closest friends. This is the tragedy of this super- talented individual who embodies all that is most creative in the new Russia and, at the same time, all which is worst for the country that he privatized for his own proﬁt."http://www.newyorkerﬁlms.com October 2002.

References

External links

* 2002 films Russian crime drama films Films about businesspeople Films about the Russian Mafia Films directed by Pavel Lungin Films set in the 1980s Films set in the 1990s Films set in Moscow Films set in Siberia Films shot in Russia Films scored by Leonid Desyatnikov {{Russia-film-stub