Russian

  • Andrey Zvyagintsev – Vozvrashchenie AKA The Return (2003)

    2001-2010Andrey ZvyagintsevDramaRussia

    Quote:
    The Russian film “The Return” is a stunning contemporary fable about a divided family in the wilderness – a simple, riveting film that almost achieves greatness.

    In this hypnotic, stark movie, which won the Golden Lion (grand prize) of the last Venice Film Festival, we see a family strangely reunited: a father and his two sons traveling by car through the countryside after a 12-year separation. One of the boys, Andrei (the late Vladimir Garin), is obedient. The other younger son, Ivan (Ivan Dobronravov), is surly and rebellious.Read More »

  • Sergei Parajanov – Pervyy paren aka The First Lad (1959)

    1951-1960ComedyMusicalSergei ParajanovUSSR
    Pervyy paren (1958)
    Pervyy paren (1958)

    Also know as “The Top Guy” and “The First Lad” , “Pervyy paren” is Sergei Paradjanov’s first solo film made for Dovzhenko studios! A musical comedy in the tradition of Russian propaganda films (very much in the tradition of Dovzhenko actually), with beautifully lush cinematography, colors and “mise-en-scene” – Not to be missed!Read More »

  • Aleksandr Sokurov – Odinokiy golos cheloveka aka The Lonely Voice Of Man (1987)

    1981-1990Aleksandr SokurovDramaUSSR

    Sokurov’s first full-length feature film, filmed in 1978 and restored in 1987 at Lenfilm. The plot is based on the motives of Andrey Platonov’s works “The Potudan River” and “The Origin of the Master”.
    The picture has become today a film classics, but in 1978 Sokurov was not allowed to defend his diploma at VGIK. Moreover, the film was sentenced to destruction by the cinematographic authorities. The authors miraculously managed to save the negative. In this picture, Sokurov formed an alliance with screenwriter Yuri Arabov and cameraman Sergei Yurizditsky.Read More »

  • Abram Room – Strogiy yunosha AKA A Strict Young Man (1935)

    1931-1940Abram RoomExperimentalPoliticsUSSR
    Strogiy yunosha (1935)
    Strogiy yunosha (1935)

    Two heros are placed face to face in this film; a famous medical professor who has kept his bourgeois lifestyle intact and a young man engaged in the Komsomol, an ardent enforcer of mankind’s new moral code for the construction of communism. But the severe young man falls in love with the professor’s wife.Read More »

  • Dziga Vertov – Entuziazm (Simfoniya Donbassa) AKA Enthusiasm (The Donbass Symphony) (1930)

    Dziga Vertov1921-1930DocumentaryExperimentalSoviet montageUSSR
    Entuziazm (Simfoniya Donbassa) (1930)
    Entuziazm (Simfoniya Donbassa) (1930)

    PLOT:
    Vertov and his Kino group produced this lyrical documentary on the lives of Coal miners in the Donbas who are struggling to meet their production quotas under the five year plan. Enthusiasm is most noteworthy for it’s creative use of the new sound medium. Vertov liberated the recording equipment from the studio and shot sound on location. He also used common everyday sounds and wove them into what can only be described as a symphony. In fact, after seeing the film Charlie Chaplin wrote: “Never had I known that these mechanical sounds could be arranged to sound so beautiful. I regard it as one of the most exhilarating symphonies I have heard. Mr. Dziga Vertov is a musician.”Read More »

  • Aleksandr Sokurov – Uzel AKA The Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn (1999)

    Aleksandr Sokurov1991-2000DocumentaryRussia
    The Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn (2000)
    The Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn (2000)

    This is a two-part video portrait of the outstanding Russian writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of famous novels about the Russian revolution and the acclaimed study of the Soviet concentration camps, “The Gulag Archipelago”. Solzhenitsyn is of more interest to the filmmaker for his attitudes, thoughts and present life, than for his legendary past. Rather than interviewing some important person, Sokurov creates a monumental image before our eyes.Read More »

  • Adilkhan Yerzhanov – Laskovoe bezrazlichie mira AKA The Gentle Indifference of the World (2018)

    Adilkhan Yerzhanov2011-2020DramaKazakhstan
    Laskovoe bezrazlichie mira (2018)
    Laskovoe bezrazlichie mira (2018)

    After her father’s untimely death, Saltanat is forced to trade her idyllic countryside life for the cruel city. She has to find money to pay off the large family debt that her father left behind, in order to save her mother from jail. Friends since their village childhood, her loyal, but penniless admirer Kuandyk follows her just to make sure his sweetheart is safe. Saltanat’s uncle introduces her to a possible groom, who promises to pay off her family’s debts. But Saltanat’s hopes are dashed, when she discovers that the men in this city don’t keep their word. When Kuandyk tries to help Saltanat get the money through other ways, he ends up finding himself in more trouble than he bargained for. Although life keeps dealing them bad hands, Saltanat and Kuandyk never give up, no matter what the odds.Read More »

  • Vasili Levin – Petlya Oriona AKA The Orion Loop (1981)

    1981-1990Sci-FiUSSRVasili Levin

    A strange phenomenon has been noticed on the outskirts of our Solar system that quickly approaches the Earth. It’s called “Orion’s Loop.” A spaceship with a crew of people and androids identical to them is sent to intercept the anomaly. But strange events start happening as the spaceship approaches the mysterious loop.Read More »

  • Kira Muratova – Dolgie provody AKA A Long Goodbye (1971)

    Kira Muratova1971-1980DramaUSSR

    A single mother is confused by the changes in her teenage son, who has become distant since spending summer vacation with his father.Read More »

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