A young Russian filmmaker becomes an unlikely advisor to Vladimir Putin as he rises to power in post-Soviet Russia, navigating the new era’s complexities and chaos.

Based on the novel of the same name by Giuliano da Empoli, ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’ is an interesting but ultimately flawed look at the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the rise of a man we now know all too well in Vladimir Putin. Told with a satirical edge, the film introduces us to its narrator Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano), a fictionalised spin doctor based on Vladislav Surkov, who becomes a key figure behind the scenes as Putin consolidates power. The story is framed through Baranov recounting his experiences to an American journalist, played by an underused Jeffrey Wright, with the film moving back and forth through key moments in Russia’s recent history. It’s an approach that allows it to cover a lot of ground in just over two hours, but that comes at a cost, with the narrative often feeling a little scattershot as it jumps from one significant event to another without always fully digging into them.

There are strong elements within it. Jude Law is surprisingly excellent as Putin, capturing both the calculated control and underlying menace of the man, and giving the film a real focal point whenever he’s on screen. By contrast, Paul Dano feels somewhat miscast in the central role, never quite convincing as the man pulling strings behind the scenes, which is an issue given how much the film relies on his perspective. It feels like bad timing to criticise a Dano performance after Tarantino’s nonsense, and Dano is generally pretty good, but I can’t overstate how ‘wrong’ he feels in this particular part and it does detract from the rest of the film.

More broadly, I felt that the film struggles under the sheer weight of the subject it attempts to cover. Trying to condense over two decades of political manoeuvring and significant change which has had far reaching effects into a single film means it can feel rushed, touching on major developments without fully exploring them (the Kursk tragedy is introduced as a topic, then brushed past very quickly as one example). That said, it does succeed in conveying a general sense of how power has been built and maintained over Putin’s time in office. As a piece of political storytelling ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’ is engaging in parts, but uneven overall, with flashes of insight that don’t quite come together into something more cohesive. I found it interesting nonetheless, despite its flaws.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Olivier Assayas

Starring: Paul Dano, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander, Will Keen, Tom Sturridge and Jeffrey Wright

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt32386654/