Assa

One of the first films of the perestrojka age, Assa may open a luminous window on what Gorbachev's new cinema may look like. This stylish rock-thriller is crammed with a wealth of invention. Technically innovative, with a fresh approach to thesping and explanation-less storytelling, this film is watchable and surprising.
Yalta in winter, covered in snow, Brezhnev's 1980 is the setting for the arrival of Andrei Krymov. This gentleman-mobster, who's swindled millions and murders with regret, has come to meet his young mistress Alika. The snowstorm gives Alika time to get acquainted with Bananan, irrepressible singer in a rock band and burgeoning composer. She likes his style, but has other things on her mind. Without false moralizing, film depicts her relationship to the gangster as deeper than just an attraction to the luxuries he showers upon her. (Yung. in Variety, 18.5.1988)