USSR

  • Sergei M. Eisenstein – Stachka AKA Strike (1925)

    1921-1930PoliticsSergei M. EisensteinSilentUSSR

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    Russia, 1912. Sick of the conditions under which they have to toil for a meagre salary, the workers at a factory are on the brink of rebellion. The flashpoint comes when one of their number hangs himself after having been unjustly accused of stealing a tool by his foreman. The workers walk out on mass, refusing to return until their managers have agreed to their terms. The factory owners, fat industrialists with a taste for luxury, are infuriated by this illegal revolt and resolve to bring the workers to heel – by any means possible… Read More »

  • Sergei M. Eisenstein – Aleksandr Nevskiy [+Extras] (1938)

    Classics1931-1940Sergei M. EisensteinUSSRWar

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    From Criterion Collection:

    Eisenstein drew on history, Russian folk narratives, and the techniques of Walt Disney to create this broadly painted epic of Russian resilience. This story of Teutonic knights vanquished by Prince Alexander Nevsky’s tactical brilliance resonated deeply with a Soviet Union concerned with the rise of Nazi Germany. Widely imitated—most notably by Laurence Olivier’s Battle of Agincourt re-creation for Henry V —the Battle on the Ice scene remains one of the most famous audio-visual experiments in film history, perfectly blending action with the rousing score of Sergei Prokofiev.Read More »

  • Levon Grigoryan – Andrei Tarkovsky & Sergei Parajanov – Islands (1988)

    1981-1990Andrei TarkovskyDocumentaryLevon GrigoryanSergei ParajanovUSSR

    Description: A 40 minute documentary discussing the friendship of Tarkovsky and Parajanov and their contrasting filmmaking styles and personalities, including interviews with friends and associates.Read More »

  • Larisa Shepitko – Rodina Electrichestva aka The Homeland of Electricity (1967)

    1961-1970DramaLarisa ShepitkoShort FilmUSSR

    Quote:
    Shepitko graduated from VGIK, where she had studied in the workshop of Alexander Dovzhenko (whom she always referred to as her mentor) and Mikhail Romm in 1963. Her diploma work was Znoi / Heat (1963), made for Kirgizfilm from “The Camel’s Eye”, a story by the Kirgiz writer Chingiz Aitmatov, about a clash of generations in which a middle-aged woman, director of a civil engineering school, yearns for her days as a pilot during World War II and struggles to understand her daughter’s generation. Shepitko’s next project was the short film Rodina elektrichestva / Homeland of Electricity (1967), from the story by Andrei Platonov about the coming of electricity to a Russian village after the Revolution. Frequently compared to the work of her master Dovzhenko, this film, like Andrei Smirnov’s Angel, was shot as part of a portmanteau film, Nachalo nevedomogo veka / The Beginning of an Unknown Century, made to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Revolution. But the films were banned for twenty years, and Rodina elektrichestva surfaced only in 1987, long after Shepitko’s death.Read More »

  • Boris Barnet & S. Mardanin – U samogo sinego morya AKA By the Bluest of Seas (1936)

    1931-1940Boris BarnetBoris Barnet and S. MardaninDramaRomanceUSSR

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    Synopsis:
    The sea is at first quite dark for the sailors Aliosha and Yussuf. Adrift, they reach an island where they meet Mashenka, a beautiful girl they both immediately fall in love with…

    seagullfilms.com

    One of the films revered by French filmmakers such as Godard and Otar Iosseliani, this marvelous picture, a spontaneous and joyful romantic comedy shot at eye-popping locations, stars the delicious Elena Kouzmina as a bouncy island beauty wooed by two young shipwrecked Caspian fisherman. And it’s more fun than Alexander Nevsky.Read More »

  • Ivan Pyryev – The Idiot (1958)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaIvan PyryevUSSR

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    SYNOPSIS: Upon Prince Myshkin’s return to St. Petersburg from an asylum in Switzerland, he becomes beguiled by the lovely young Aglaya, daughter of a wealthy father. But his deepest emotion is for the wanton, Nastasia. The choices all are forced to make lead to great tragedy.

    IMDB wrote:
    In the period 1955-60 some absolutely incredible movies were made in the Soviet Union. This is no exception. Based on the classic novel, the script of course holds masterpiece quality. Visually, it’s also a masterpiece. The music is one of the most dramatic soundtracks I’ve heard. And not least, Yuliya Borisova in the role of Nastasia Philippovna gives the most charismatic acting performance I’ve ever seen. Throughout the movie I simply couldn’t wait for her to get into the frame again whenever absent. I’ve never ever been this hypnotised by an actor or an actress before (and I’ve actually given that careful thought). The other actors also give stellar performances. As the events unfolded, I felt this movie pushed the script to its ultimate limits. At the end, you will find yourself filled up with uncontrolled emotions that you don’t even know the name of. The movie is so dramatic that some people may find it unrealistic, but I assure you: these characters are out there in the real world, and this play may have relevance to anyone’s life. At some point, most people with brains will seek out this story. My tip is, don’t read the book. Don’t see any theatre play or movie based on it but this one. Though the movie may take a lifetime to find – *it’s worth it*!Read More »

  • Aleksandr Sokurov – Avtomobil nabiraet nadezhnost AKA The Automobile Gains in Reliability (1974)

    1971-1980Aleksandr SokurovDocumentaryShort FilmUSSR

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    This film was created by Sokurov before or during his VGIK student years for the regional TV of Gorki. He does not consider it a part of his filmography. For its creators, it was just a TV program, and the people who worked on it most often were being given no distinction in the credits. This document of the very origins of Sokurov gives us a notion of his “pre-stylistic” period, where the personality of the future great filmmaker reveals itself in spite of means and circumstances. [from the catalog of Torino Film Festival]Read More »

  • Aleksey German – Khrustalyov, mashinu! AKA Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998)

    1991-2000Aleksey GermanArthouseDramaUSSR

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    Quote:
    Winter is never-ending in Aleksei Guerman’s impenetrable film ”Khroustaliov, My Car!,” a nearly two-and-a-half hour absurdist nightmare of life in the Soviet Union during the final days of Stalin’s rule. Snow falls in almost every scene of this starkly grim, black-and-white movie, which follows the triumph, fall from grace and hasty rehabilitation of a hulking Red Army general and brain surgeon named Yuri Glinshi (Yuri Tsourilo). Processions of black government vehicles are forever materializing like ominous phantoms through the curtains of snow that drift over a dilapidated town decorated with gleaming white statues of the beady-eyed, mustached Soviet dictator.Read More »

  • Yuri Ilyenko – Vecher nakanune Ivana Kupala AKA The Eve of Ivan Kupala (1968)

    1961-1970ArthouseHorrorUSSRYuri Ilyenko

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    Banned by the Soviet authorities, Vecher nakanune Ivana Kupala (The Eve of Ivan Kupalo) is widely held to be one of the masterpieces of Ukrainian Poetic Cinema. Adapted from a short story of Gogol, which had its roots in Ukrainian folklore, the film depicts an almost Faustian pact, in which Piotr makes an unholy deal with Bassaruv in order that he may win the hand of Pidorka from her father. The director Yuri Ilyenko brings the same rich, vivid imagery that he lent to Parajanov’s Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors where he worked as the cinematographer. The film often makes difficult first viewing for unaccustomed viewers due to its hallucinatory nature, but its lucid tapestry renders it a mandatory experience.Read More »

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