{"id":632381,"date":"2026-10-16T11:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T11:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/632381\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T11:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T11:48:08","slug":"my-undesirable-friends-part-ii-exile-review-journalism-under-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/632381\/","title":{"rendered":"‘My Undesirable Friends: Part II \u2014 Exile’ review: Journalism under fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last year\u2019s best documentary never left us because Julia Loktev\u2019s epic \u201cMy Undesirable Friends\u201d is back for a similarly excellent follow-up we need now more than ever. If you saw \u201cPart I: Last Air in Moscow,\u201d<\/a> which tightly followed fierce, dedicated dissident Russian reporters pushing against the lies and violence of Putin\u2019s dangerous rule, you\u2019ve surely been on pins and needles for \u201cPart II: Exile,\u201d which is no less engaging, if more emotionally intense. And if you haven\u2019t seen \u201cPart I,\u201d which is currently on the streaming service Mubi, what are you waiting for?<\/p>\n

Waiting, of course, is what none of Loktev\u2019s featured Muscovites had time for when \u201cPart I\u201d ended with the news of Putin\u2019s horrific invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A crew of one, Loktev had fortuitously been in Russia\u2019s capital off and on for months, training her iPhone on a coterie of young, primarily female journalists, many of them working for the country\u2019s last independent TV channel, TV Rain. They\u2019d been declared \u201cforeign agents\u201d by Putin as a vise-tightening scare tactic, yet that hadn\u2019t cowed these online-savvy, deeply sourced correspondents, as \u201cPart I\u201d unforgettably showed through grit, humor and an after-hours camaraderie that bestowed an intimate, sustaining vibrancy, like a meaningful hang with your coolest, smartest, bravest pals.<\/p>\n

But with the onset of war entrenching their status as perceived enemies of the state, safety demanded they vacate Russia immediately, while their sense of mission compelled them to keep mining truth from the outside, wherever opportunity and necessity led them. Still, rootlessness takes its toll, along with isolation and national guilt (could they have done more?), plus the creeping sense that as long as Putin\u2019s far-reaching vengeance persists, they are imperiled anywhere.<\/p>\n

With the same rhythmic fleetness, chatty intelligence and empathy that Loktev made so enveloping before, \u201cPart II: Exile\u201d hews to its original sisterhood of protagonists: TV Rain host and mom Anya (also a co-director), up-and-coming reporters Sonya and Ksyusha (whose fianc\u00e9 is a political prisoner), acclaimed longform writer Lena and investigative besties Ira and Alesya.<\/p>\n

As they scatter, regroup and break off again, the work never stops, even when sources don\u2019t want to trust them, the ground under their feet keeps shifting and the cloud over their homeland gets darker. And the Russia they knew? More distant than ever. Loktev also picks up a few more intrepid souls: cross-border marrieds Petya and Natalka (he\u2019s Russian, she\u2019s Ukrainian), a formidable reporting pair with a joyful, teasing bond; and bold 20-something TV Rain host Lera, whose old-soul expressiveness beneath her on-air glam is the stuff of silent movies.<\/p>\n

With the travel itinerary of a James Bond film (Istanbul, Kyiv, Prague, Tbilisi, Riga, New York), yet the sweeping existential suspense of \u2014 what else? \u2014 a big, fat Russian novel, \u201cPart II: Exile\u201d is a nomadic, turbulent odyssey of determination and doubt. On these shores, viewers dismayed by our dictator-friendly, reality-warping regime will continue feeling an uneasy kinship with these heroic oppositional women who experienced the poisoning of truth and liberty up close, and needed to prioritize survival before getting back into the arena.<\/p>\n

Still, with the breadth of everyday detail, and the women\u2019s sharply observant wit \u2014 whatever the circumstance, they\u2019re still funny \u2014 the six unpredictable, twisting hours of \u201cMy Undesirable Friends Part II: Exile\u201d memorializes the deeply human spirit coursing through those who tirelessly fight to expose this autocratic era\u2019s cruelties. Across an itinerant urgency of walks, drives, embraces, laughs, threats, nervy meetings, shared meals, phone calls and tearful testimony, Loktev\u2019s immersive portrait of roving defiance is as necessary as nonfiction gets.<\/p>\n

‘My Undesirable Friends: Part II \u2014 Exile’<\/p>\n

In Russian and English, with subtitles<\/p>\n

Not rated<\/p>\n

Running time: Chapters 1-3 (3 hours, 11 minutes); Chapters 4-5 (2 hours, 44 minutes)<\/p>\n

Playing: Opens Friday, Oct. 16 at Laemmle Royal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year\u2019s best documentary never left us because Julia Loktev\u2019s epic \u201cMy Undesirable Friends\u201d is back for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,107148,5856,5844,112268,98669,167411,310088,409,111,139,69,310086,211167,8217,762,8105,39023,310087,310089],"class_list":["post-632381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-exile","tag-istanbul","tag-journalist","tag-julia-loktev","tag-kyiv","tag-laugh","tag-mining-truth","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-part-i","tag-part-ii","tag-putin","tag-review","tag-russia","tag-sense","tag-tv-rain","tag-undesirable-friend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}