White Nights cooks up a fairly lukewarm dish out of some top shelf ingredients: The synopsis is unique and interesting, soundtrack contains multiple tracks from the contemporary chart-topping artists and the movie pictures its Russian locations credibly, thanks to the footage shot actually in location by the Finnish 2nd camera crew. And most importantly, even if watching dancing isn’t your thing – it for sure isn’t mine – there’s no denying that Mikhail Baryshnikov’s seemingly effortless movement on the stage is pretty darn impressive.

Problem is that I felt really indifferent for all the characters in the film. The golden cage they were locked in felt something of a third world problem as they were still better off than 99,9% of the population – and knowing know that CCCP was only a few years away from collapse, the drama in White Nights did not catch me at all.

I could’ve also lived without Gregory Hines’ tap dancing defector character that added absolutely nothing to the story.

80s-o-meter: 33%

Total: 61%