Gorky Park, 1983.
Directed by Michael Apted.
Starring William Hurt, Lee Marvin, Brian Dennehy, Ian Bannen, and Joanna Pacula.
SYNOPSIS:
Gorky Park didn’t light the box office on fire when it was released in 1983, but it has its fans, so Kino Lorber has issued it again on Blu-ray. This time, they used a disc with more capacity, which gives the visuals more of a chance to shine, although an interview with director Michael Apted remains the only extra found here.
Kino Lorber previously issued Gorky Park on Blu-ray in 2014, but the renewal of their licensing deal with MGM has allowed them to bring the film out again, this time on a larger-capacity disc that gives this thriller some more digital breathing room. I don’t have that previous disc, so I can’t compare it to this one, but the transfer found here is suitable. It’s not great, and it has some trouble with scenes that have a lot of heavy blacks, but it’s good enough.
And “good enough” could probably also sum up this Michael Apted-helmed movie, based on the best-selling novel of the same name. Set in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Gorky Park stars William Hurt as detective Arkady Renko, who has been tasked with determining who murdered three people and left them nearly unidentifiable.
The story is a pretty taut police procedural, with Arkady going about his business at a brisk pace as he uncovers leads and interviews possible suspects and witnesses. Unsurprisingly, he soon learns that the KGB has some kind of connection to the crime, and he encounters an American business man, Jack Osborne (Lee Marvin), who has some kind of role to play too.
Another American, detective William Kirwill (Brian Dennehy), has a personal connection to the crime and shows up in Moscow too. At first, he and Arkady are adversaries who are naturally suspicious of each other, but they soon learn that they need to join forces to succeed at their goals.
Arkady also encounters a woman named Irina Asanova (Joanna Pacula), who eventually proves to have a connection to not only one of the victims but also some of the suspects. Their relationship is likewise fraught with tension, with the two of them drawing close and splitting apart multiple times. I’ll have to say I wasn’t a fan of the multiple times Arkady slaps Irina when he becomes suspicious of her motives, although I realize that was more acceptable among men of older generations. (And perhaps it was more common in the Soviet Union too.)
While the story has some nice twists and turns, it also becomes overly complicated during its second act, which led me to think a few times, “Oh, wait, why’s he doing that?” I’m sure the goal was to show how hard it was even for Russians to operate within the Soviet Union of that era (although I’d imagine it’s still not easy today), but the story also felt needlessly convoluted at times.
I also wasn’t a fan of Apted’s decision to have all the Russian characters use British accents, except Irina. Many of the actors playing Russian roles were British, including Ian McDiarmid (Palpatine and Darth Sidious from the Star Wars movies), but Hurt had to adopt an accent that fell away sometimes. Still, Hurt was an incredible actor, and he’s fun to watch in Gorky Park, even when his motivations don’t seem to make sense and you keep thinking he’s investigating a murder in London.
The lone bonus feature found on this disc is an interview with Apted, who apparently watched the movie before the discussion, given the moments when he says things like, “I forgot about that part” (paraphrasing). He addresses the British accents, as well as Irina’s lack of one, but his reason for going that route doesn’t quite hold up, in my view.
The film’s trailer is included here too, along with trailers for other movies also available from Kino Lorber.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
Originally published June 12, 2023. Updated April 22, 2024.
