#master and margarita 2024

[grumpyoldhag]

hands down - best scene in the whole movie... I forgot how to breathe at this moment..// translation: Master: "And what makes you so sure that Pilate looked exactly like this?" Woland: "Because I've seen him... with my own eyes. Just like I see you right now.." I'm o b s e s s e d with this movie already going to the cinema for the second time and if I'm lucky enough - even in the third one soon… best thing I've seen on a big screen in y e a r s. three hours of pure pleasure ♥

#master and margarita #master and margarita 2024 #mikhail bulgakov #мастер и маргарита #михаил булгаков #woland #master #воланд #мастер

[anaki-boo]

Our dear foreign consultant got punched in the face, but he is still glad for a new intercultural experience.

Moscow is really a special place

#master and margarita #woland #woland x master #мастер и маргарита #воланд #воланд х мастер #august diehl #yevgeny tsyganov #master and margarita 2024 #sketch #art #artwork #fan art #artist #digital art #sketchbook

[bedbabayka]

Interesting fact. In January of this year, "Hazbin Hotel" was released. And in January, the film "The Master and Margarita" based on Bulgakov's novel was released at the Russian box office.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin lucifer #lucifer morningstar #hazbin hotel fanart #hazbin art #master and margarita #master and margarita 2024 #woland #mikhail bulgakov #ruslit #my art #artists on tumblr

[meri-l]

My Roman empire is Woland, who sat/lying down in the most pretentious pose on the Master's sofa. And a Master who doesn't comment on it, as if it's normal

#master and margarita #master and margarita 2024 #woland #august diehl #evgeny tsyganov

[yourdadisagoodkisser]

obligatory drawing of ur ship having a homoerotic staring contest

#master and margarita #master and margarita 2024 #woland #august diehl #мастер и маргарита #мастер и маргарита 2024 #массир #воланд #suggestive #(?) #art #drawing #digital art #digital drawing

[notes-of-the-behemoth]

#master and margarita #master and margarita 2024 #мастер и маргарита #mikhail bulgakov #мастер и маргарита 2024 #koroviev #art #коровьев #behemoth 2024 #behemoth #кот бегемот

[agentnico]

Master and Margarita (2024) review

Oh when in Soviet Russia…

Plot: Based on Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "Master and Margarita". 1930's, Moscow. A famous writer is censored by the Soviet state: his novel is banned, and the theatrical premier of his new play about Pontius Pilate - canceled. In just a few days he becomes an outcast. Inspired by these misfortunes the writer conceives a new novel in which the devil, named Woland, satirically revenges all those responsible for the writer's downfall. He knows this novel can never be published in the USSR, but Margarita - his muse pushes him to write it no matter what.

I truly believe Master and Margarita is one of the most powerful pieces of literature to come out from Russia. Yes I am aware War & Peace is more talked about, but look, I read all of its 1000+ pages and though it is an epic in every sense of the word, it does drag quite about. As for Master and Margarita, Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov created a satirical, quasi-biblical allegory that represents themes that are crucial to the human experience, such as struggle between good and evil, corruption in government and high society, human fragility, religion and prophecy, and the endurance of love over all. It’s a masterfully written piece of work, and one that is truly hard to adapt to screen, due to how much happens through its pages. However I’m all for directors giving it a go, with Michael Lockshin taking the challenge with a motion picture that was originally a co-production between Russian studios and Universal Pictures, though the latter pulled out following the Russo-Ukrainian War, even though most of the filming was already complete. Nevertheless after multiple delays the final product is here, so let’s digest.

Let’s talk through the positives first. It’s nice to see a Russian production of such grand scale, that even gives Hollywood a run for its money. There are some truly spectacular set pieces, and also interesting visuals, especially of a futuristic post-modern take of the Soviet Union, that reminded me a little of the recent Atomic Heart video game. Also the inclusion of August Diehl who plays the central Satanic figure Voland. This casting choice was a truly inspired one, as Diehl both looks and feels as if he came out straight from the pages of Bulgakov’s novel. There’s just this presence to him, as you can tell the power behind his eyes, yet he can also be really charming and witty. Whenever he was on-screen, the movie fully came to life, as he managed to perfectly balance the damning mocking tone with a deep inner understanding of things beyond the human mind. Look, there’s a great reason why they casted an actor outside of Russia for this part, as Diehl honestly was incredible. Funny how this is the same guy who got his testicles shot off in that WW2 Tarantino flick. Evgeniy Tsyganov as the titular Master too felt perfectly apt for the role, in some ways personifying Mikhail Bulgakov himself. The Master is a character that can so easily come off as dull, as he’s generally very stoic and constantly deep in his own thoughts, so it was a nice interpretation with Tsyganov breathing more life into him.

Unfortunately this is where the positives end. Look, I think it is truly impressive for the entire novel to be transferred into a 2hr 30min film, and of course I expected certain parts to be rushed. However the movie shoots itself in the foot by trying to approach the source material in a different way. Messing with various realities and reorganising the events of the novel in a completely different order, the result is messy and all over the place. I can say with full certainty that if I haven’t read the book before that I’d be so confused as to what the hell was going on in this movie. From the way it jumps from one place to the other in non linear fashion made it so difficult to be engaged and feel connected with the characters. There was a lot of extra narrative elements added to an already overstuffed plot (with a lot of creative choices being outright baffling) as such causing the movie to need to rush even more certain other key plot points that again, it was really disorganised and jarring.

Also, I know that ever since Batman it’s now cool to go dark with everything, but The Master and Margarita is a novel that doesn’t shy away from raising a few eyebrows. In fact it goes out of its way to be as weird and ridiculous as possible, with the inherent horror and tragedy that befalls each of its characters being felt only later, after the laughs have died down. The humour in the book, especially the dark stuff - that’s sort of famously the Russian novelists’ coping mechanism against, uh, being a Russian novelist. Yet this new 2024 film hardly allows a single joke, and instead tries to cover everything with a dark dramatic tone, and I feel that really takes away from the charm of Master and Margarita. Heck there are even sequences in the film that are supposed to be played for laughs, like the Behemoth cat’s shootout with the KGB cops that screams for physical comedy potential, yet the movie kind of glosses over it in a very monotonous way.

Aside from August Diehl and Evgeniy Tsyganov, the casting left a lot to be desired. Yulia Snigir made for a really bland Margarita. Voland’s entourage of demons, who in the book are a cause for some truly entertaining if silly shenanigans, here are completely wasted, and in fact are borderline annoying. Yuri Kolokolnikov as Korovev, the main member of his entourage, was actually horrendous. In the source material Korovev is a trickster, yet there was still wiseness within his madness. Here however Kolokolnikov plays him as if he were some kind of deranged clown, screaming every single line and maniacally laughing for absolutely no reason. The talking cat, who is one of the book’s best characters, in here is just a CGI cat who says maybe only two lines of dialogue in the whole film, and even then it’s a lazy mumble courtesy of actor Yura Borisov. Claes Bang as Pontius Pilate looked bored out of his mind. To be fair, the whole biblical side plot of Pilot and Jesus suffers the most here by being downgraded to maybe 5 minutes, which at this rate I feel like they should have cut the whole thing out entirely as the 5 minutes added nothing to the overall film. But yes, Claes Bang was evidently there to collect a pay check, and part of me wishes that instead we just had James McAvoy reprise his comedic take of Pilate from The Book of Clarence that came out earlier in the year.

It was never going to be an easy feat adapting Bulgakov’s epic into a movie. The narrative lends itself so much better to a TV series format, and in fact there is a wonderful 2005 limited series adaptation from Vladimir Bortko, and now that right there is how you make Master and Margarita work! That series featured great music, amazing performances, and plenty of breathing room to give every nook and cranny detail of the book its proper time. 2024’s Master and Margarita doesn’t come anywhere close to it, and though I do admire Lockshin’s ambitions, in the end it all falls flat on its face. August Diehl however is truly phenomenal in this, and honestly I really need to watch more of his acting work. I hear A Hidden Life with him is supposed to be good. Adding that to my watchlist as we speak.

Overall score: 4/10

#master and margarita #movie #movie reviews #film #film reviews #cinema #fantasy #drama #master and margarita 2024 #august diehl #claes bang #evgeniy tsyganov #yulia snigir #michael lock shin #Russia #mikhail bulgakov #master and margarita review #2024 #2024 in film #2024 films #yuri kolokolnikov #voland #woland #romance #soviet union #soviet aesthetic

[literal-loco-with-romantic-soul]

This is my wallpaper now 😁

#the master and margarita #master and margarita 2024 #koroviev #hella #behemoth

[swedish-meatballs]

Satan and his little meow meow

#master and margarita #the master and margarita 2024 #woland #мастер и маргарита #массир #digital art #artists on tumblr #fanart

[sosooley]

домашний чилл

можно почесать котика за ушки. а можно сатану за рожки

#мастер и маргарита #массир #воланд #the master and margarita #woland #august diehl #the master and margarita 2024 #throuple #ot3 #my art

[ershebet]

I have no idea how to adapt the wordplay into English...

"Get off the needle of social approval and sit on the devil's face" in Russian, "sit on a needle - сесть на иглу" is exactly to become addicted to the use, so here is a pun: sit on a needle = sit on the face

and actually the original image was a Reebok commercial :0

Woland: I'll be by your side until this nightmare is over

Master: But all this shit is happening because of you

the moment from the book where Woland trolled the barman

(12:05 a.m.)

Woland: Come on in! Don't be shy! Can I help you? :)

And again background information. In Slavic mythology people can not go into the banya after 12 o'clock at night, because at this time the banya is occupied by all the evil to wash themselves. Usually the main in the banya spirit-Bannik, which just and summons all the evil around. But there are variants, where instead of him in the bath sits the Devil. "You can even hear fascinating stories about how a man steamed in the banya at midnight and encountered a stranger there. And when this stranger left the banya, he left hoof prints on the ground after him, instead of the usual human footprints. "

#the master and margarita 2024 #The Master and Margarita #woland #мастер и маргарита

[grumpyoldhag]

when you arrive in Moscow and meet both your future wife and husband♥

#master and margarita #master and margarita 2024 #mikhail bulgakov #мастер и маргарита #мастер и маргарита 2024 #михаил булгаков #мим #woland #master #margarita #воланд #мастер #маргарита

[anaki-boo]

It’s just raspberry jam

#august diehl #woland #master and margarita 2024 #master and margarita #август диль #мастер и маргарита #воланд #sketch #art #artwork #fan art #artist #sketchbook #digital art

[masochismustango]

August Diehl’s Woland is a babygirl and that’s that ✨

#marie tells things #моя дьяволическая сосочка-девочка #мастер и маргарита #воланд #август диль #аугуст диль #мастер и маргарита 2024 #the master and margarita #the master and margarita 2024 #august diehl #woland

[meri-l]

I like the Master and Margarita fandom because it didn't argue about whether Master and Margarita, Margarita and Woland, or Master and Woland were better. The fandom just decided that the three of them were a kick-ass polyamorous family.

#master and margarita #master and margarita 2024 #woland #august diehl #evgeny tsyganov #julia snegir

[blackbird5154]

August Diehl as Woland (the Devil) in "The Master and Margarita 2024"

#August Diehl #the master and margarita #woland #Воланд #мастер и маргарита #мастер и маргарита 2024