My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow

While filmed months before the February 2022 invasion, the documentary is described as capturing a 'moment of immense change and anxiety.' The tension and foreboding of that period are undoubtedly central to the film's mood. Viewers will watch with the painful knowledge of what comes next, seeing the documented anxieties of the journalists through the lens of subsequent history, which adds a layer of profound dramatic irony and tragedy to the viewing experience.

The provided context describes the work as 'an extraordinary vérité document.' This indicates a fly-on-the-wall, observational style of filmmaking. Loktev likely prioritises immersion over narration, allowing the actions, conversations, and environments of her subjects to tell the story. This method generates a powerful sense of immediacy and authenticity, placing the viewer directly inside the tense, uncertain atmosphere of Moscow's independent media circles during this pivotal time.

Absolutely. Beyond its specific Russian context, the film is a universal study of press freedom, disinformation, and civic courage. For Australian viewers concerned with the health of democracy and independent journalism globally, it offers profound, real-world insights. It also provides essential background to understanding the media landscape that preceded a major geopolitical conflict, making it highly relevant for anyone seeking to comprehend the modern world's complex political currents.

Structured in five distinct chapters, the film avoids a simple linear narrative. This approach allows director Julia Loktev to explore different facets of the media environment and the personal experiences of her subjects thematically. It creates a more nuanced and layered portrait than a conventional timeline might, building a comprehensive sense of the systemic pressures and the collective anxiety that defined this period, making the viewing experience more analytical and immersive.

The title 'Last Air in Moscow' poetically suggests a final breath of free expression before an era ends. Its 2025 release allows for historical perspective on the events it captures from late 2021. For audiences, especially outside Russia, it serves as a crucial time capsule, documenting the final months of a certain kind of public discourse and professional journalism in Moscow before the landscape was irrevocably altered by the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The film's focus is on a group of Russian journalists and media figures, including Anna Nemzer, Ksenia Mironova, Sofya Groysman, Olga Churakova, and Irina Dolinina. They are the 'undesirable friends' of the title, representing the brave individuals who continued to operate independent news outlets amidst growing political pressure. The documentary provides an intimate, ground-level look at their work, their anxieties, and their determination in the face of a closing civic space.

The film is a vérité documentary capturing a critical moment in recent history. American filmmaker Julia Loktev, who was born in the Soviet Union, returned to Moscow in 2021 to chronicle the precarious state of independent media under Putin's regime. The project was filmed just months before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, making it an unplanned, urgent document of a society on the brink of immense and violent change, framed through the lives of journalists fighting to tell the truth.