An intriguing caper movie, filmmaker Ilkka Jarvilaturi's City Unplugged (1993) is set during 1991, a time when the Baltic country of Estonia was liberated from Soviet control and the national treasury of gold bullion was returned to the capital of Tallinn following a half-century of safekeeping in Paris. The heist plot—hatched by a bunch of gangsters—involves collecting all of the flashlights, candles, and batteries in the city, cutting off the electricity, and then breaking into the central bank while it's dark to steal the gold, which will then be transported to a factory, melted down, and spirited out of the country. The execution of the scheme has a darkly comic tone (the main plotters come off as older versions of the characters in Reservoir Dogs), but there's also a more intimate subplot focused on one of the conspirators, a rather naïve fellow enlisted to cut off the electricity at the source, whose pregnant wife is rushed to the hospital by a neighbor during the heist, where both her life and that of the baby are threatened by the power failure. The juxtaposition of the film's two narrative strands doesn't completely work, as the husband-and-wife story seems terribly sentimental compared with the coarse but funny (and sometimes quite violent) backdrop of the theft. But the sheer energy of City Unplugged—as well as the fact that most collections aren't exactly overflowing with Estonian films—makes this a worthwhile addition. DVD extras include an interview with Jarvilaturi, who also shares duties with fan Danny Boyle (director of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later) on the audio commentary. Recommended. (F. Swietek)
City Unplugged
IndiePix, in Estonian w/English subtitles, 95 min., not rated, DVD: $19.95 Volume 23, Issue 3
City Unplugged
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