Start Again

Start Again (Start From The Beginning also known Start Again; Russian: Начни сначала; English: Start Again) is a Soviet musical film in 1985 directed by Alexander Stefanovich with Andrei Makarevich in the title role.

Plot
The talented bard adored by youth Nikolay Kovalev hardly breaks through the obstacles of officials from culture. Thanks to a friend, Sergei Kholodkov (Igor Sklyar), he occasionally succeeds in speaking at official events (once even during a television recording of a concert in the Khimik recreation center), but these are rare cases that do not bring serious career dividends. The girl Lera (Alexander Yakovleva) throws Nikolai, he seriously thinks about how to strengthen his life status, and decides to get a permanent job at the philharmonic.

A new stage in life begins in the life of Nikolai with the advent of Lisa (Mariana Polteva) - a lover of fans from the provinces, where he once performed. She pursues him, trying in every possible way to protect him from attacks by ill-wishers, sets up scandals, defending the right to freedom of creativity and expression. Nikolai avoids Lisa, but at the same time constantly faces the results of her activities. Sergey Kholodkov’s attempt to gather the right people at Nikolai’s apartment also ends in a scandal, partly initiated by Lisa.

After the song “Conversation on the Train” was performed at the Arts Council, Nikolai was correctly advised to be simpler and more accessible, citing Sergei Kholodkov as an example, performing Igor Nikolayev's Komarovo song “everyone understands”: “How much? For a week! To what? Until the second! Who! I AM! What will i do? I'm leaving! Where to? In Komarovo! ”

However, this criticism is not too worrying for Kovalev, he considers himself a poet, rightly believing that the main thing is creativity, and ironically replies to criticism that “stones are thrown only at the fruiting tree, but no stones are thrown at dry”, however getting casual jobs is getting harder.

Meanwhile, clouds of officialdom are gathering over the protagonist’s head - in the central newspaper there is an article by the main (in the story) critic of the informal art Zuev (Rolan Bykov) “Bards from the gateway. About the problems of amateur songs. " Kovalev was unpleasantly surprised by such harsh measures, in addition to the editorial office of the newspaper where the article was published, collective letters began to arrive in large numbers on behalf of students, workers, scientists with the words of defense and criticism of the critic Zuev in retrograde. The letters are written in the same style, they are written by Lisa secretly from her idol, but the editorial board believes that it was Nikolay who organized public opinion in his support, and promised to make Kovalev a hero of the feuilleton about self-promotion.

Nikolai begins a creative and life crisis. He begins to search for new forms, seems to find them, writes a new song, but it even less meets the wishes of the customer (directors of the variety show, the song "Ah, variety show, variety show"). One night, Kovalev was called from the police and asked to help establish the identity of Tsarenkova Elizaveta Vladimirovna. It turns out that Lisa, desperate to cope with the persecution of Nicholas and make him believe in the sincerity of her feelings, decided to act radically. Having tracked down where critic Zuev lives, she painted the door of his apartment and the walls in his staircase with denouncing inscriptions “Here lives a retrograde and a borosopisets”, “Everything is for the defense of Nikolai Kovalev”, and also scratched Zuev himself when he tried to detain her. Nikolai at first rejoices at the opportunity to put an end to fan persecution, but realizing that the girl did her best and that she could suffer almost undeservedly, she goes to bow to the critic Zuev with a request to collect the statement from the police. After the conversation, Zuev agrees with the condition that the inscriptions be erased. Lisa is released, but when she finds out that her idol has humiliated before the persecutor, she realizes that she will no longer be able to respect such a person, but he tries to open her eyes to the truth.

Nikolai remains alone before a difficult life choice: to remain himself for the sake of art, but in poverty, or to be like everyone else, to create according to the decisions of the artistic councils, to be popularly known, but not to have the most important thing - respect for individuals. Impressed by the incident, Kovalev writes the song “While the Candle Burns”, which sounds in the finale.

Cast

 * Andrey Makarevich - bard Nikolay Kovalev
 * Maryana Polteva - fan of Nikolai Lisa Tsaryonkova
 * Igor Sklyar - pop star Sergey Kholodkov
 * Alexandra Yakovleva - girl of Nikolai Kovalev Lera
 * Rolan Bykov - music critic Zuev
 * Svetlana Nemolyaeva - member of the artistic council Maria Nikolaevna
 * Alla Mochernyuk - Diana
 * Michislav Yuzovsky - editorial staff Mitya Yuzov (in the credits - Dmitry Yuzovsky)
 * Ivan Agafonov - captain of the police
 * Vyacheslav Spesivtsev - Director
 * Alexander Rosenbaum - cameo
 * Maxim Leonidov - cameo
 * Tatyana Vedeneeva - cameo
 * Mikhail Svetin - actor (vocals: Alexander Kutikov)
 * Zoya Vasilkova - actress
 * Igor Kashintsev - television worker
 * Nikolay Kornoukhov - an alcoholic detained in police
 * Alexander Litovkin - guest of Nikolai Tol
 * Alla Maykova - guest of Nikolai
 * Yan Yanakiev - sound engineer
 * Alexander Inshakov - guest of Nikolai