Kirill in love with Nikolai?
What do you think? I believe so.
shareIt was the clear intention of the filmmakers. I think the director may even have commented on it on the DVD. The real question was: was Nikolai attracted to him, or just teasing him? You never quite get an answer.
Watch the scene in the basement, where Kirill clearly expects/hopes he is going to get kissed. Or when he watches the scene in the brothel, when his wish to be the girl is written all over his face and actions. Both actors tried hard to make the interplay plain, in those two scenes and elsewhere. Watch how K invades N's private space, over and over.
Thank you, Samantha.
shareI agree with your view. That is the impression that I got.
The real question was: was Nikolai attracted to him, or just teasing him?
As far as that question goes. I think an absolute no. His whole relationship with Kirill doesn't mean anything. He is simply using him to get into the organization and in the end to get rid of his father. There is no love, romance, or even friendship at all. To Nikolai, Kirill is just a means to an end, a pawn in his undercover operation. share
"The real question was: was Nikolai attracted to him, or just teasing him?"
Come come now... not only was Kirill a male specimen, he was also a boorish, ugly-as-hell alcoholic psychopath. Simpatitchnoi takoi...
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
He was pathetic, too, and there is no accounting for tastes when it comes to sexual attraction. Lots of women seem to find the actor attractive, so why can't people find the character attractive? And many males find "male specimens" quite attractive.
In other words, franz, don't be naive. I didn't say N did, but it is certainaly possible. Both actors, in fact, said that was part of the idea they were playing with. One more ambiguity for the story.
Me, I don't find VC attractive, but I do thik he's a pretty good actor. His roles are just limited because of his cruel face.
I just think that IF Nikolai's gay (hardly likely - especially considering his macho ways), surely he would find someone better than that vermin to latch onto. I mean, next to him, Kirill almost seems like some lower life form. And I would also give Vincent Cassell a little benefit of a doubt here and assume that, unlike his character, he's not boorish, psychopathic or pathetic. Maybe he ain't even an alcoholic! Definitely a good actor though.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
"...surely he would find someone better than that vermin to latch onto."
Well, look at the pool of choices. And as I said, no acounting for tastes. I don't understand gay men's sexual choices myself -- that is, I know what some of them say, but it doesn't resonate with me. I can see, though, that Kirill's pathos -- N shows a kind of exasperated tenderness for him at times -- might make him a possible choice. I'm not sure what a lonely, isolated person in such a situation might feel. N is certainly isolated.
But as I say, the actors both said they worked on the ambiguity. Think of it as another of the director's explorations of identities. And don't forget that this film is partly about different kinds of love. You can practically count them on your fingers. (In fact, I think DC said someone did just that when talking to him about the film. He said, anyway, that the critic missed a couple. Maybe this was one of them.)
It's usually safe to assume that if you see complexity and ambiguity in any aspect of one of DC's later films, he intended for you to find it. And he isn't especially interested in saying why people might behave the way he has them behave. He asks questions and leaves you to play with the possiblities.
As we are doing here.
I just think that IF Nikolai's gay (hardly likely - especially considering his macho ways)
You really don't know a lot of gay guys, do you?
For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco share
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About the "personal space" and "interplay" - that's just how "brothers" in Russia (and other formerly Soviet states) interact with each other.
I'm pretty sure Nikolai is no queer, and I'm not sure about Kiril either. The only clue that Kiril would have been gay is that his killed friend allegedly said so. However, I didn't see any clear gay behaviour. Also, when Kiril's father talked ferociously about the needle and blood and that he could get the "queer disease", it didn't seem to bother Kiril.
So I'm saying that Kiril just loved Nikolai as a "brother".