Finally there is the screen version of the great mystic novel "Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov. The one that exists in reality, not on archive shelves of some polish TV station. I watched two first episodes of it today and am happy with what I saw, very strong actors, good montage, laconic screenplay. Wonder what the Satan Ball will look like in further episodes.

Some figures are somewhat questionable, like Basilashvili playing Woland, but I guess there can't be a total agreement on everything when it comes to Master & Margarita. At first, TV persona Dmitry Nagiev wanted to play Woland, that would be awful for sure.

The book iself is definitely worth reading, and it's translated into many languages. It was banned in the Soviet Union and I saw photo copies of typewriter pages of the book - my mom read it this way.

Many people like to present Master & Margarita as Bulgakov's protest against Stalin or whatever - it was not (yeah, and Ligeti's Musica Ricercata from Eyes Wide Shut OST was not a "knife in the heart of Stalin" either - Ligeti was so full of moronic bullshit in that interview!). M&M is a strictly personal story of feeling and understanding, as I see it. Look at who Bulgakov was - a son of well-known conspirologist - what else to expect from him? Whereas Ligeti is a just a moron, Beavis and Butthead are Einsteins comparing to him.