You and I
You and I
R | 03 February 2011 (USA)
You and I Trailers

Janie Sawyer, an American teenager, is forced to live in Moscow because of her father's job. Janie is trying to escape her lonely life in Moscow through her deep love of music and the internet. Janie and Lana Starkova meet on a fansite for the pop-band t.A.T.u. Trapped in a small Russian town, Lana wants desperately nothing more than to flee her mundane life causing the two girls to develop an instant connection through their love of t.A.T.u.'s music.

Reviews
Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
jonathanruano The trailer proudly announces that "You and I" was directed by "two-time academy award nominee Roland Joffe." Indeed, as unbelievable as this may sound, Roland Joffe used to be a great director back in the 1980s, whose credits include the masterful Killing Fields. Yet over the past twenty-five years, Joffe has directed one bad film after the other and "You and I" is just the latest in the litany of his travesties.To be sure, the beginning of "You and I" did intrigue me. Two wild young women, Lana (Mischa Barton) and Janie (Shantel VanSanten), embark upon an endless night on the town (which lasts for days) amidst Moscow's high society and underground criminal world. They take a devil may care attitude to their colourful surroundings and, as one may expect, Janie in particular gets mixed up with the wrong kind of people and becomes thoroughly immersed in the dangerous world of illicit substances. Only love - in this case a lesbian relationship - can save Lana and Janie from their own self-destructive urges.Unfortunately, the lesbian relationship is neither believable nor is it explored. Mischa Barton and Shantel VanSanten do share a lesbian sex scene in the middle of this picture which takes place largely beneath the bed covers. But this scene remains a loose end, since neither girl acknowledges that they had sex with each other nor there is anything in their body language to suggest that they are physically attracted to each other -- to say nothing about being in love. Mischa Barton's performance illustrates the challenges of speaking Russian (with a Russian accent) and creating a character simultaneously. Although she is a British actress, Barton speaks Russian very well and her Russian accent is quite convincing. Unfortunately, she has not been able to create a character who could hold our interest. Shantel VanSanten, who kept her American accent, has also failed to do anything fresh with her own character. But the film's biggest problem is that the relationship between the two girls is neither plausible or interesting. If neither girl finds the other attractive, why should we care about whether their love triumphs over adversity? In fact, even if you approach this film as a guilty pleasure where the love story is obviously absurd but you are moved by it anyway (as is so often the case with romance novels), even on that level "You and I" fails. Roland Joffe and the producers must have recognized the serious flaws in their own film, because towards the end "You and I" introduces the TATU girls, Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova, who are charming and charismatic enough to blow the two previous women, VanSanten and Barton, right out of the water. But there is no logical reason for the TATU girls to be inveigled into the plot, which suggests to me that they were introduced at the end of "You and I" so that the film-makers could salvage something out of the wreckage. Instead of using them to hedge his bets, Roland Joffe perhaps should have made Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova the stars of his own picture.
punkfish999 The acting between the two lead ladies are brilliant, Barton in particular adapts to the Russian accent flawlessly, had I not been aware previously that she was an American I would have thought she was Russian, and I can honestly say that I've never seen a film like this before. The plot is loose at times, highly unbelievable for one and poorly constructed for two. The script is probably what I am most ashamed of, in places it's dull, not needed and slightly childish. After waiting since 2008 for this to come out I cannot say it was worth it. A delay of 5 years warrants a better end product i'm afraid. Not to mention the DVD I was sent refused to play audio until I spent the good part of an hour tampering with the settings.
BreakawayDaily Been waiting for this movie for a while. Ever since I heard they were making a movie revolving around the popular Russian act T.A.T.U. I have always really enjoyed their music so I was stoked to see the movie. The movie was really good, I was really impressed by all the actual Russian dialogue and the actors (especially Misha Barton) did amazing at speaking the language and speaking with an accent. For the T.A.T.U fans, it is great that the girls actually appear in the film, too bad it wasn't longer. The plot was different too. It is not just a "lesbian" film, which was what I was expecting but a story of overcoming the tough road you have been dealt and making your way in the world. Both girls were living a difficult life. One rich but addicted to drugs, the other, poor with no future. Through music and finding each other they eventually ended up living a dream.Breakaway Film http://breakawayradio.ca/film
Matt Davis Two girls, totally unlike each other and are real. We can find these on the street every day. Lana - provincial, dreams of escape from the city to become famous and Janie - troubled teen, whose lack of parental love. United on the basis of love tATu they go for a beautiful life, but get in big trouble. And each in her own. Thus the film is divided into two story lines.In her "adventures" Lana discovers the true face of the fashion business, and it is far from perfect, but instead is covered with ugly pimples and sores. Lana realizes that in order to become a model you have to pay either in cash or in kind. "What's the difference: a slut or a model?" However, Lana is a difference. Refusing to become a litter for Edward, she goes to look for money, but even then she will be a complete fiasco.As for Janie, she strikes up a close friendship with drugs. It would seem that her life is now a solid holiday: woke up, pricked, flew, etc. However, suicide is one of the drug abusers made ​​her think again. In fact, a very powerful scene. Probably my favorite of the film.As for the movie, I watched it in one breath. Never got bored and wanted to yawn. There are moments where you laugh, cry, being scared. Actors, too, did not disappoint. It fit perfectly into the picture. Especially pleased with Shantel VanSanten in her drug-image and a deputy in the performances of Aleksandr Byelonogov and Anton Yelchin. And all of this is pumped by a great soundtrack.Incidentally, the film is not about lesbians, same-sex love is there shown in very small doses, but rather some hints. But more about that immature child psychology (heroines 16 or 17 years) is open to all new, young people are searching for themselves in the world, fighting for their place in the sun, trying everything.10/10 I say check it out.