Cold War gay romance 'Firebird' lacks spark | movie review

Firebird tells the true story of a hidden romance between a private in the Cold War-era Soviet military and a star fighter pilot

The best queer cinema lives in the silences and the subtext. In the looks and the touches. In the underlying messages. That’s because the lives of queer people are often lived in these spaces out in the world — in the present, but particularly the past. It is a defense mechanism for living in a society where safety is a privilege we aren’t often afforded. And it doesn’t get more dangerous than the Cold War-era Soviet Union.

That’s where the love story at the center of Firebird, the feature debut of Estonian director Peeter Rebane, takes place. The film, based on Sergey Fetisov’s memoir The Story of Roman, focuses on young private Sergey (Tom Prior, who also co-wrote the screenplay) and fighter pilot Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii) as they strike up a secret romance in the shadows of their Air Force base.

Matters are complicated by the base’s second-in-command Major Zverev’s (Margus Prangel) all-seeing eye and his secretary Luisa’s (Diana Pozharskaya) budding interest in both Roman and Sergey. That’s where much of the movie’s dramatic tension lies, largely because the central romance feels too easy. Unlike the great period-set queer romances — Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Call Me By Your Name, Maurice — Firebird doesn’t focus on the smoldering tension between Sergey and Roman.

There are moments when Rebane understands the needs of the story. At times he focuses on those passing touches, quick glances, and underlying meanings that underline so much of the communication between queer people. The problem is Firebird is afraid of living in the silence of those moments and fills them with often clunky dialogue — “I search for something deeper, but I can’t quite grasp it.” In that way, the directing far surpasses the screenplay, which feels overwrought and overwritten.

However, the biggest failure of the movie is its inability to give reason to root for the central couple. It gets so distracted by its plot — and desire to be a war thriller — that it forgets to make its characters characters. In the final text epilogue, it’s hinted that Sergey lived a much more complex and rousing life than what is portrayed. It’s as if Rebane and Prior wrote their screenplay by connecting various plot points rather than journeying their characters through them.

Sergey Fetisov has a story worth telling. One that I imagine is filled with emotional complexity and gives insight into the hardship of queer life in a specific time and place. The movie fails to mine any deeper than surface-level and opts for melodramatics rather than reality. The premise promises great love. But like any great love, it has to be earned. Unfortunately, Firebird doesn’t try to earn it.

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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Karl Delossantos

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Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.