“My Undesirable Friends: Part I” Is a Staggering Portrait of Russian Journalists in Dissent

“My Undesirable Friends: Part I” Is a Staggering Portrait of Russian Journalists in Dissent

Justin Chang reviews Julia Loktev’s documentary “My Undesirable Friends: Part I—Last Air in Moscow,” about the plight of Russian journalists in the period surrounding Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Not Enough Time: Julia Loktev on My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 — Last Air in Moscow

It’s always fortuitous for a documentary filmmaker to find themselves able to capture seismic historical shifts as they are happening. But of course, this is a double-edged sword. Sometimes those events are felicitous, such as the Maidan Revolution in Ukraine that unfolded around Sergei Loznitsa’s cameras. In other instances, the filmmaker is on the ground [...] The post Not Enough Time: Julia Loktev on My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 — Last Air …

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – The Last Air in Moscow Review: Julia Loktev Reveals the Real World Horrors of Anti-War Russian Journalists

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2024 NYFF coverage. My Undesirable Friends: Part I – The Last Air in Moscow opens in theaters on August 15. “The world you’re about to see no longer exists. None of us knew what was about to happen.”  Writer-director Julia Loktev––whose 13-year hiatus from filmmaking has left cinephiles in a curious stupor––has returned, and it was worth the wait. My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air…