House of Fools Movie Review 2002

Janna (Vysotsky) is a young psychiatric patient in an old mansion located near the border of Chechnya. The cheerful Janna believes herself to be the fiancee of Canadian singer Bryan Adams (who appears as himself in the young woman's fantasies). The everyday activities of the childlike patients are disrupted when the fighting between the Russians and the Chechens comes closer. The staff flee and the doctor (Bagdonas) leaves to find buses to evacuates his patients. Meanwhile, the inmates are left to fend for themselves--and are soon joined by a group of Chechen soldiers, including handsome Akhmed (Isalmov) who Janna falls in love with. The film was inspired by an incident that happened in 1996. Russian with subtitles.

Distribution

Paramount Home Video, 5555 Melrose Ave., 5555 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038, Phone: (323)956-5000, URL: http://www.paramount.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 104 minutes.
Originally from Russian, French.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Russia/USSR, Sanity Check, Mental Hospitals, War, General

Screenplay

Andrei Konchalovsky

Cast

Julia Vysotsky, Sultan Iskamov, Bryan Adams, Vladas Bagdonas, Stanislav Varkki, Marina Politseimako

Cinematography

Sergei Kozlov

Director

Andrei Konchalovsky

Music

Eduard Artemyev

Other

Vladimir Orel, Eugeny Terehovsky, Olga Grinshpun, Svetlana Volter, Lubov Skorina

Producer

Andrei Konchalovsky, Felix Kleiman, BAC Films Ltd., Hachette Premiere et Cie, Persona, Paramount Classics