Russian Movies (1 Viewer)

[Alexey]

Is anyone interested in talking about Russian Cinema?
If you are, what are your favorite films? actors? directors?
My favorites:
about love:
Îáûêíîâåííîå ÷óäî / Ordinary miracle
Èðîíèÿ ñóäüáû èëè Ñ ëåãêèì ïàðîì! / Irony of fate or with light steam!
Âîêçàë äëÿ äâîèõ / A Railway Station for Two
Ìîñêâà ñëåçàì íå âåðèò / Moscow does not Belive in Tears
Æåñòîêèé ðîìàíñ / A Cruel Romance
Ñëóæåáíûé ðîìàí / Business romance
ß øàãàþ ïî Ìîñêâå / I am Walking Along Moscow
×àðîäåè / Wizards
Òðóôôàëüäèíî èç Áåðãàìî / Truffaldino from Bergamo

comedies:
Îáûêíîâåííîå ÷óäî / Ordinary miracle
Êàâêàçñêàÿ ïëåííèöà / Prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures
Áðèëëèàíòîâàÿ ðóêà / The Diamond Arm
Èâàí Âàñèëüåâè÷ ìåíÿåò ïðîôåññèþ / Ivan Vasilievich changes his occupation
Ïîêðîâñêèå âîðîòà / Pokrov Gates
Òîò ñàìûé Ìþíõãàóçåí / The Very Same Munhgauzen
Êèí-äçà-äçà / Kin-Dza-Dza
Äâåíàäöàòü ñòóëüåâ / Twelve Chairs
Çäðàâñòâóéòå, ÿ âàøà òåòÿ! / Hello, I am your aunt!
Äæåíòëüìåíû óäà÷è / Gentlemen of luck
Îïåðàöèÿ Û è äðóãèå ïðèêëþ÷åíèÿ Øóðèêà / Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures

dramas:
Ñîëÿðèñ / Solaris
Ìîñêâà ñëåçàì íå âåðèò / Moscow does not Belive in Tears
Çåðêàëî / The Mirror
Ñâîé ñðåäè ÷óæèõ, ÷óæîé ñðåäè ñâîèõ / At Home Among Strangers, a Stranger Among his own
Çâåçäà ïëåíèòåëüíîãî ñ÷àñòüÿ / The Star of Fascinating Happiness
Êàâêàçñêèé ïëåííèê / Prisoner of the Mountains
Âîð / The Thief
Ëþáîâíèê / The Lover

Actors:
Àëåêñàíäð Àáäóëîâ / Aleksandr Abdulov
Ìèõàèë Áîÿðñêèé / Mikhail Boyarsky
Ðîëàí Áûêîâ / Rolan Bykov
Àíäðåé Ìèðîíîâ / Andrey Mironov
Àíäðåé Ìÿãêîâ / Andrei Myagkov
Åâãåíèÿ Ñèìîíîâà / Evgeniya Simonova

Directors:
Ìàðê Çàõàðîâ / Mark Zakharov
Ýëüäàð Ðÿçàíîâ / Eldar Ryazanov
Ëåîíèä Ãàéäàé / Leonid Gaidai
Ãåîðãèé Äàíåëèÿ / Georgi Daneliya

 

[Alexey]

Few more of my favorites:
War:
Àëåêñàíäð Íåâñêèé / Alexander Nevsky
Áàëëàäà î ñîëäàòå / Ballad of a Soldier
Áðàò / Brother
Âîéíà / War
Êàâêàçñêèé ïëåííèê / Prisoner of the Mountains
Îòåö ñîëäàòà / Father of The Soldier
Ñòî äíåé äî ïðèêàçà / 100 Days Before The Command
Òîðïåäîíîñöû / Torpedo Bombers

Action:
Áåëîå ñîëíöå ïóñòûíè / White Sun of the Desert
Ä'Àðòàíüÿí è Òðè Ìóøêåòåðà / D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers

Horror:
Âèé / Viy or Spirit of Evil

 

[Brook K]

My favorite Russian film is Stalker, but I'm a big fan of all the Tarkovsky films I've seen - Andrei Rublev, The Sacrifice, Mirror, Solaris, & Nostalghia

Other favorites:
Strike!, The Man With A Movie Camera, Earth, Battleship Potemkin, Ivan The Terrible Part I & II, Ballad Of A Soldier, The Cranes Are Flying, I Am Cuba, Vij, Mother & Son, Russian Ark, The Return

Besides what I've mentioned I have seen The Thief off your list, but I only thought it was ok and wouldn't include it among my favorites.

 

[Alexey]

Brook K, very nice dramas, but how about some comedies?

 

[Alexey]

I've recently started to translate my actors pages,
so far Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Aleksandr Abdulov, Yevgeni Leonov & Nikita Mihalkov.
Tell me what you think. If you like it. I'll do my best to translate the rest.

I've created a page listing Russian films released in 2002,
that are available in America, like the one I already have for 2003.
If there is interest in those pages, I'll create more.

 

[Alexey]

Recently quite a few great Russian movies came out on DVD:
Business People / Äåëîâûå ëþäè
Welcome, or the Entrance is Forbidden to Strangers / Äîáðî ïîæàëîâàòü,
èëè Ïîñòîðîííèì âõîä âîñïðåùåí
My Friend, Kolka! / Äðóã ìîé, Êîëüêà!
Once More About Love / Åùå ðàç ïðî ëþáîâü
The Commissar / Êîìèññàð
Hussar Ballad / Ãóñàðñêàÿ áàëëàäà
The Girls / Äåâ÷àòà
Station for Two / Âîêçàë äëÿ äâîèõ
Crown of the Russian Empire / Êîðîíà Ðîññèéñêîé Èìïåðèè, èëè Ñíîâà
Íåóëîâèìûå
Elusive Avengers / Íåóëîâèìûå ìñòèòåëè
The New Adventures of the Elusive Avengers / Íîâûå ïðèêëþ÷åíèÿ íåóëîâèìûõ
The Blue Bird / Ñèíÿÿ ïòèöà

Elusive Avengers trilogy is one of my most favorite adventures series.

 

[Steven Brent]

Alexey,

You've got a nice site with tons of information on Russian films!

I studied Russian in university for six years, so I've seen some Russian movies, but they were mostly SERIOUS art films that I was forced to watch because my professors loved them. I have really enjoyed the Russian comedies that I have seen, as well as the Eisenstein films.

Steve

 

[Alexey]

Sometime ago I watched Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor), in Russia it beat both "SpiderMan ||" & "Lord of the rings |||".
I liked the film, though it's not "Matrix" or "Lord of the Rings", but there are scenes inspired by those movies, as well as "Blade" and "Prophecy".
I would not call it truly original, but the story is an interesting take on war between good and evil. This film is definitely not your usual mystic thriller.
But the ending was too sequel inspiring, as in too be continued. But then the movie is based on the first book from Lukyanenko's trilogy. All in all I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

PS: have you seen any Russian movies lately?

 

[SteveGon]

Outside of Tarkovsky and Eisenstein, I've only seen a handful of the movies mentioned thus far. :frowning:

Another flick worth mentioning is Of Freaks and Men (if you like strange movies).

 

[Rich Malloy]

The best Russian film I've seen lately is "The Return" by first-time director Andrei Zvyagintsev. I'm quite a fan of Andrei Tarkovsky, and I suspect Zvyagintsev is, as well. This manifests mostly in the cinematography and the bleached-out color timing, but Zvyagintsev also seems very attuned to the rhythms of the action within the shot, allowing the images to breathe and exist within that sense of real time that Tarkovsky achieved so well. Honestly, I was shocked to learn that this was a first film. Zvyagintsev's direction is subtle and assured, and I suspect all who see it will come away impressed.

I haven't said anything about the plot of this film, and I hesitate to do so. It's not that I feel I'd give away anything, though I would suggest that you not look to closely at the image shown on the main menu frame. It's a close-call, but if you're paying close attention it certainly constitutes a spoiler. Seriously, don't linger on this shot... it will potentially give away one of the biggest moments in the film.

That said, I didn't want to provide any synopsis because I'm afraid that it would fail to do this film justice. It's a rather simple setup, one that could lead a potential viewer to suspect any variety of cliche'd or sentimental or ginned-up melodramatic scenarios. Rather, what I'd like to say most about this film is that it's a work that's both very serious in its subject matter and execution, but which I suspect will appeal to a wide range of viewers (even those of you who don't care for Tarkovsky). It's an interior film, one that deals primarily with the psychology and emotions of its characters, but one that also plays out like a mystery-thriller. Which is not to say that it's loud, fast, and filled with things that go "boom". Quite the contrary. But it's as riveting as anything I've seen over the past year.

If you'd like a fuller review of the DVD and movie, check it out here: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=12772

 

[Brook K]

The Return has left the filmic side of my brain for only brief periods since I saw it back in May or June. I put it 3rd on my year end list behind only Dogville and The Brown Bunny.

Since my original list, the only Russian film I've seen is Sokurov's Father And Son which was mesmerizing in sections though overall I didn't find it as powerful as Mother and Son or as awe inspiring as Russian Ark. I just don't get much chance to see Russian Cinema. One of these days I'll rent some of the comedies you mentioned.

 

[Rich Malloy]

I was surprised to see "Russian Ark" broadcast on HD-Movienet recently! While still a tad softer looking than one might expect from a recent HD video shoot, it looked leaps and bounds better than the R1 DVD. If you get HD-Movienet, keep your eyes peeled for a re-broadcast!

BTW, does anyone have recommendations for Parajanov on DVD? I seem to recall that the earlier ones had some significant problems, and that perhaps Ruscico was planning to release new discs?

 

[Brook K]

I caught some of Russian Ark in HD as well. Just another reason I can't wait for an HD DVD format to get off the ground.

I've heard that Criterion will be releasing 1-2 Parajanov's, but with so many other titles rumored to be on their plate, hard telling when they will actually come out.

HDMovieNet has been showing lots of gems lately, including several Kubricks - Clockwork, Strangelove, and The Shining, plus Barry Lyndon this month. Some Like It Hot was on the other night too.

 

[Alexey]

Have any of you seen "Night watch"? (I talked about it before) It's been out on DVD for some time, but since Fox bought all American distribution rights, they have mandated to stop making NTSC formatted dvds of it. The disk has been slowly disappearing from even Russian stores in America. And Fox keeps postponing the release, while sequel "Day Watch" is already out in Russia. Ain't US movie studios great :frowning:

 

[Brook K]

I've seen the trailer a couple of times and been wondering when it's coming out. I believe SteveGon saw it.

Last summer I rented several more Russian silents - the 3 films from Evgenii Bauer DVD which was fascinating in the high quality he brought to his filmmaking in the teens

a couple of Vertov's - "Kino-Eye" and "Three Songs of Lenin", greatly preferred Three Songs

"Arsenal" and "The End of St. Petersburg", both extremely powerful, particularly Arsenal which is worthy of being mentioned alongside Eisenstein's better known work. Pudovkin has a very interesting style.

And I finally saw my first Russian comedy - "Bed & Sofa", funny, strong technically, while also portraying the male-female dynamic intelligently and managing to be quite critical of the role of women in that era of Soviet society.

 

[SteveGon]

I saw those too - highly recommended.

 

[Scott_MacD]

I saw 4 (Chetyre) and A Driver for Vera at the 2005 Edinburgh Film Festival.

A Driver for Vera is a pretty special comedy, beautifully made. I'll have to pick up the R5 DVD of it.

And 4 was disturbingly overlong, but full of interesting cinematographic ideas. I reviewed it here.

 

[SteveGon]

 

[RyanWard]

I recently downloaded and watched Kin-Dza-Dza and absolutely fell in love with it. I wish more people could see it, but the only way it can be seen with English subtitles is on the Internet. I hope that it will eventually be released on DVD with subtitles, because I would love to own it.

 

[Sami Kallio]

Only things I have watched are Kukushka (The Cuckoo) and a movie about a serial killer, name I can't remember. I was surprised to see so many Russian movies at Netflix, I will surely take a closer look at them when I have time. I do need to tell my sister to send me some more Finnish movies (can't get them over here), I have already seen a lot of the Spanish and South American movies. It is very refreshing in between all this standard Hollywood production as most of the movies that actually get here are pretty good.

I was also surprised to see this in the Scandinavian section. It stars one of my high school buddies. It's not a Russian movie but very closely related to Russia...

http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?...99&trkid=98092