USSR

Synopsis:
Little moments in the course of a very brief romance make up the bulk of this tender, lyrical film, the only one ever directed by Gennady Schpalykov, better known as a screenwriter. On a bus filled with young people going for an outing to the theater, Victor (K. Lavrov), a scruffy geologist, and Lena (I. Gulaya), a young factory worker, strike up a conversation. He has traveled to many interesting places, she is young, recently divorced, and has a child. When she invites him to join the group at the theater, he says that he’s too grungy to go there. However, after he gets off the bus, he rushes around getting himself cleaned up, somehow manages to make it into the sold-out theater, and finds Lena. They leave during intermission, and he walks her home. The next day, she brings her daughter along to meet him where he has been staying, and they share a nice lunch together, until he abruptly leaves.Read More »

The Russian POW joins the partisan guerrillas and proves his loyalty fighting the Nazis.Read More »

Tanya Tyotkina is a nurse in a hospital train taking the wounded soldiers from Civil War battle fields. The plain, shy and semi-illiterate young girl sincerely believes in world revolution. She does not realize the importance of the events she is taking part in but wants to express what she sees around her in drawings. Tanya has a rare gift of a true original artist and that makes her death even more tragic.
“Golden Leopard” and Award to I. Churikova for Best Female Lead at the 22nd IFF in Locarno, Switzerland (1969).
Source www.lenfilm.ruRead More »

Proshu slova (1977)

Quote:
The title is a Russian expression meaning “I wish to speak”. This is one of my three favorite Panfilov films which I consider masterpieces, the other two being “Nachalo” and “Tema”; Panfilov wrote this script by himself it seems. It shows, this film is genius. For me, this is honestly one of the most thought-provoking films of my life. Perfectly written. It is about a family woman who was made the mayor of a town. I am mystified by this film. Not since Tarkovsky have I felt this strange spiritual energy, and that’s saying something. This is the last Panfilov film I saw, I’ve seen five others. The incredible world of the characters is what reminds me of a Tarkovsky movie. This movie is about a family. It could be said to be about a lot of things.Read More »

Belorusskiy vokzal (1971)
Moscow, the Soviet Union. Summer of 1956 – eleven years after Hitler Nazis were defeated and buried. Four red army veterans met again at another comrade’s funeral. Aleksei, a writer. Viktor, a factory boss. Nikolai, an accountant. And Ivan, a mechanic. All graying and coping with post war life as best as they could. After the funeral, Nikolai invited his friends to go to his place. They experienced quite a few unexpected adventures on their way, including a bit of time in police custody…and ended up getting another comrade involved in the unplanned reunion. Reference of Belorusskiy Railway Station doesn’t happen until the last minute of the film. That’s where the victorious soldiers returned from war in the Spring of 1945.Read More »

A screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. The film portrays the life of Russian landed gentry in the 1840s. After a long travel in Europe, nobleman Lavretsky returns back home. Everything in his estate is so familiar and dear to his heart. On his first visit to his neighbors, the Kalitins, he meets Lisa. He forgets his wife, left in Paris, forgets all his past. He desires only one thing – to always be with Lisa who is so unlike the women he used to know.Read More »

A former aristocrat Ippolit Vorobyaninov leads a miserable life in Soviet Russia. His mother-in-law reveals a secret to him – she hid family diamonds in one of the twelve chairs they once had. Vorobyaninov in cooperation with a young con artist Ostap Bender start a long search for the diamonds.Read More »

A retired professor has returned to his estate to live with his beautiful young wife, Yelena. The estate originally belonged to his first wife, now deceased; her mother and brother still live there and manage the farm. For many years the brother (Uncle Vanya) has sent the farm’s proceeds to the professor, while receiving only a small salary himself. Sonya, the professor’s daughter, who is about the same age as his new wife, also lives on the estate. The professor is pompous, vain, and irritable. He calls the doctor (Astrov) to treat his gout, only to send him away without seeing him. Astrov is an experienced physician who performs his job conscientiously, but has lost all idealism and spends much of his time drinking. The presence of Yelena introduces a bit of sexual tension into the household. Astrov and Uncle Vanya both fall in love with Yelena; she spurns them both. Meanwhile, Sonya is in love with Astrov, who fails even to notice her. Finally, when the professor announces he wants to sell the estate, Vanya, whose admiration for the man died with his sister, tries to kill him.Read More »

Quote:
As the clouds of war spread over Russia during Germany’s surprise invasion in 1941, the fervent young lovers, the sensitive Veronika and the stalwart Boris, are parted when the patriotic lad secretly volunteers for the war effort. During the following hard years, Veronika who serves her country as a wartime-nurse will lose communication with Boris, moreover, when a devastating air raid destroys her house and Boris’ father takes her in to live with the family, unexpectedly, things will take a turn for the worse. Before long, the worried fiancée will find herself dealing not only with the dark thoughts of Boris’ potential loss but also with the burden of an unwelcome decision. Once, the star-crossed lovers swore eternal devotion under a flock of flying cranes, still, a war is always cruel and eternally disastrous.Read More »