The Needle
The Needle
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1h 16m
Directed by Rachid Nougmanov • 1988 • USSR/Kazakhstan
Part Pulp Fiction, part Betty Blue, Rachid Nougmanov’s cult punk film portrays the attempt of an enigmatic drifter (Soviet rock legend Viktor Tsoi) to free his ex-girlfriend from the clutches of a morphine-peddling surgeon. Contrasting the shadowy backstreets of Almaty with the desolation of the Aral Sea, this was the first Soviet film to break the taboo around drug addiction. With a thrilling soundtrack from Tsoi’s era-defining band Kino, The Needle is widely seen as the film that launched the Kazakh New Wave.
THE NEEDLE • ИГЛА
Directed by Rachid Nougmanov
Written by Aleksandr Baranov, Bakhyt Kilibayev
Cinematography by Murat Nugmanov
Music by Viktor Tsoi
Starring: Viktor Tsoi, Marina Smirnova, Pyotr Mamonov
In Russian with English subtitles
Up Next in The Needle
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Klassiki member Leah Collins introduc...
Klassiki member Leah Collins has chosen Rachid Nougmanov’s perestroika punk drama, The Needle as her pick for our latest community screening. Watch as Leah introduces the film’s deconstruction of the taboo of drug addiction in Soviet society and the onscreen persona of its iconic lead, r...
