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good back-story, and good acting

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

There is a usual disappointment when someone reads an ingenious work of a writer and watches the film of it after even though the screenplay is written by the writer. You feel it in this one too. Mise-en-scene and cinematography is proper, however acting of some of the actors might be much better especially the main interesting character Fandorin had to have the best acting but unfortunately he has not. The music was missing in some parts of the movie. There should have been less cuts. And the important moments should have been emphasized. Overall it is a very interesting detective to watch, but it could have been done better by Aleksandr Abadashyan.

Based on Boris Akunin's novel 'Azazel' (English title 'The Winter Queen') set in Moscow in 1876. Boris Akunin is the pen name of Grigory Chkhartishvili, who was born in the republic of Georgia in 1956; he is a philologist, critic, essayist, and translator from Japanese. I recently read and enjoyed "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" by Yukio Mishima translated by Chkhartishvili.Chkhartishvili published his first detective stories (using the pen name Boris Akunin) in 1998 and in a very short time has become one of the most widely read authors in Russia. He has written nine Erast Fandorin novels to date, and is working on two other series as well. I am an avid fan of all three Akunin's series: about Erast Fandorin; about the Nun - PI Pelagiya (three books), and the newest one - about Nicolas Fandorin, the grandson of Erast.Akunin enjoys almost legendary popularity in Russia. He lives in Moscow. In 'Azazel', the first and IMO, the best in Erast Fandorin series, a young police officer - Erast Fandorin - works on his first case - an odd suicide of a rich young man which leads Fandorin to the global and very dangerous conspiracy.The film is an interesting and very enjoyable adaptation of an excellent book. The script was written by Akunin himself and adapts very well to the screen. The film was made in Nikita Mikhalkov's Studio by Mikhalkov's long time collaborator's Aleksandr Adabashyan. Visually, "Azazel" is absolute delight, literally letting the images of Old Moscow become one of the film's main characters and attractions. The acting was good (Marina Neelova as Lady Ester was excellent; and the rest of cast all seemed to enjoy working in this project).

Based on Boris Akunin's novel 'Azazel' (English title 'The Winter Queen') set in Moscow in 1876. The novel started a long series quite popular in Russia.In 'Azazel' a young police officer - Erast Fandorin - investigates an odd suicide of some rich young man and finds a complex conspiracy, trying to take over most European countries - from Britain to Ottoman Empire - with the best intentions, of course. That may sound like a cliché, but the author made it all look and feel quite realistic, believable and compelling.The book was excellent. The script is good. One may argue that it follows the book too closely, and the film is too long. Fandorin is nothing like I imagined him, but this way he is closer to the book, so I can live with it. The actors play well. However they don't seem to agree on the exact genre: comedy, tragedy, drama, farce, detective, action or something else. That ruins otherwise good film.The biggest disappointment were the "bad guys" - especially the leader and the "mole". In the book it is possible to deduce the former fairly early, but the latter stays a mystery almost until the end. Here their intentions become obvious in a minute after they appear.

Excellent adaptaion of the first book by Boris Akunin "Azazel'". The book is the first of series of books about Fandorin, a young Russian detective. The movie was made for TV, but it was done very well, following the book to the end. Currently there are talks of making an English version movie. Unfortunatelly, this movie is entirely in Russian.