Tycoon: A New Russian (Not rated, probably R) (128 min.) - These days, the Russian mafia is Hollywood's most reliable source for pulp thriller villains, followed closely by neo-Nazis. It's no surprise that a movie profiling a Russian mobster should turn the tables by showing his empire built along the same lines as America's godfathers and goodfellas.
Platon Makovski (Vladimir Mashkov) is the embodiment of capitalist spirit gone wrong after the Cold War's end. A former mathematics professor, he seizes the opportunity to fleece the eager masses. The character is reportedly based on Russia's first billionaire, Boris Berezovsky. "Plato," as Makovski is called, concocts complex feats of economic sleight-of-hand, building a fortune on investment capital that wasn't there to begin with.
Director and co-writer Pavel Lounguine takes plenty of cues from U.S. mob flicks, although the violence factor isn't nearly as high and the sexual encounters seem oddly naive. Plato's forte for white-collar chicanery isn't exactly pulse-pumping, so Lounguine tries shuffling chronology to spice things up, to minor effect. Mashkov does have a certain charisma in a role that mimics Michael Corleone's blossom and wilt.
Tycoon: A New Russian is most interesting when other powerbrokers are establishing themselves in a frontier as wide open as the Old West. We're never sure if the tough mobsters contrasted with Plato's elan are truly dangerous or a different style of con artist. Either way, they're not as intimidating as American filmmakers make them out to be.
