USSR

  • Aleksandr Sokurov – Kamen aka Stone (1992)

    1991-2000Aleksandr SokurovArthouseUSSR

    Quote:
    “If ever a film replicated the state of dreaming, Stone does. Which is not to say it is, in the classical sense, surreal; but it has the flow and fugitive feeling of a half-remembered reverie, full of mysteries, portents, inexplicable happenings, and chimerical objects. Set in (and filmed in the actual) Chekhov museum, Stone centers on the relationship between a young museum guard and an older visitor who seems at different times to be a lover, a doctor, or a surrogate father. Shot in evanescent black and white with a sound track of silences, breathing, natural sounds, and fragments of classical music, Stone is haunting and enigmatic” (James Quandt)Read More »

  • Mark Donskoy – Foma Gordeev (1959)

    1951-1960ArthouseDramaMark DonskoyUSSR

    Synopsis
    Gordeev Thomas is the son of a wealthy bourgeois tsarist. He enjoys all the privileges of his condition but can not bear the sight of social misery. He falls in love with a married woman, broke with her when he discovers his frivolity and indulges in debauchery. On the death of his father, he became head of a major grain trading. But it does not handle his affairs. He is only interested in human relations. His background, which scorns the Mavericks, rejects. He chose to break with his peers to live with the poor.

    Awards :
    Award for best director at the Locarno Festival, 1960Read More »

  • Viktor Ivchenko – Lisova pisnya AKA The song of the forest (1961)

    1961-1970DramaFantasyUSSRViktor Ivchenko

    Quote:
    Mavka, a water nymph, loves Lukash, a country youth. Their brief happiness ends when Lukash is forced to marry the shrewish Kilina. The Spirit of the Forest turns Lukash into a wolf as punishment for his infidelity. The strength of Mavka’s love breaks the spell, but Kilina curses the nymph, transforming her into a weeping willow.Read More »

  • Edmond Keosayan – Novye priklyucheniya neulovimykh AKA New Adventures of the Elusives (1968)

    1961-1970ActionAdventureEdmond KeosayanUSSR

    A sequel to the film “Elusive Avengers”, recounting the adventures of the magnificent foursome of brave teenagers assigned by their commanders to get the operational map of an important area’s fortifications. Having learnt that this top-secret map is being kept in the Counterintelligence Chief’s safe, one of “the elusives”, Danka, pretends to be a bootblack and puts up an observation post by the Counterintelligence Headquarters. By staging a distracting operation, the friends steal the map from the safe. The Counterintelligence people go to great lengths in order to recover the operational map. Are they going to succeed?Read More »

  • Giorgi Shengelaia – Pirosmani (1969)

    Drama1961-1970ArthouseGiorgi ShengelaiaUSSR

    Quote:
    his film is about the great Georgian painter – primitivist Niko Pirosmanashvili (1862-1918). An unknown, self-taught painter roams the streets of a city, painting his pictures. The local people only know that his name is Nikola Pirosmani, that he is a kind and honest person, but nobody takes his painting seriously. To make his living and be able to buy paints, Nikola opens up a food shop. But very soon he goes bankrupt, for he is giving away butter and cheese to anyone who got no money. Already gravely ill, he paints his last picture, imbued with light, joy and love for life.Read More »

  • Nikolay Khodataev & Zenon Komissarenko & Youry Merkulov – Mezhplanetnaya revolyutsiya AKA Interplanetary Revolution (1924)

    1921-1930AnimationNikolay KhodataevShort FilmUSSRYoury MerkulovZenon Komissarenko

    Quote:
    A tale about Comrade Kominternov, the Red Army Warrior, who flew to Mars and vanquished all the capitalists on the planet. The film is a parody on the famous SF film “Aelita” from the same year.Read More »

  • Vasili Pichul – Malenkaya Vera AKA Little Vera (1988)

    Drama1981-1990RomanceUSSRVasili Pichul

    In 1988 the first Soviet erotic film appeared as a symbol of perestroika. The scenes rather moderate for the genre were shocking for the domestic audiences. On the day of premiere the crowd around Moscow Film House was held back by the police.

    The film enjoyed international commercial success. Natalia Negoda toured half of the world with the film, she co-starred the Oscar Awards ceremony, and was the first Russian actress to appear in Playboy. The slogan “From Russia with love” became known ever since.Read More »

  • Nina Agadzhanova & Lev Kuleshov – Dva-Buldi-dva aka Two-Buldi-Two (1929)

    Drama1921-1930Lev KuleshovNina AgadzhanovaSilentUSSR

    “A father and son, both clowns, are to perform together for the first time, but the civil war separates them, and the elder Buldy, tempted for a moment to acquiesce to the White forces, casts his lot with the revolution. At the climax Buldy Jr. escapes the Whites thanks to flashy trampoline and trapeze acrobatics; the gaping enemy soldiers forget to shoot. Even Kuleshov’s more naturalistic films show flashes of kinetic, stylized acting. A partisan listens to a boy while draping himself over a door. A Bolshevik official answers the phone by reaching across his chest, twisting his body so the unused arm can hike itself up, right-angled, to the chair.”
    by David BordwellRead More »

  • Sergei Solovyov – Sto dney posle detstva AKA One Hundred Days After Childhood (1974)

    1971-1980RomanceSergei SolovyovUSSR

    A group of Russian teenagers spend their summer at a summer camp. Mitia falls in love and gets so occupied with his own problems that he forgets the others.

    L’action se situe dans un camp de pionnier appartenant visiblement à quelque administration ou organisation de bon niveau social. L’un des éducateurs est un sculpteur fort en littérature classique, grand amateur de Lermontov. Le héros principal Mitia Lopoukhine, surnommé Lopoukh, va subir l’influence du sculpteur qui lui fait découvrir la valeur et le sens de l’art. Il devient amoureux d’une jeune fille, Droubitch, qui lit des livres en trois langues… La mise en scène de la pièce de théâtre Mascarade de Lermontov doit permettre aux adolescents de mieux comprendre sentiments, passions et valeurs morales.
    Read More »

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