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.

2.74GB | 1h 39m | 1024×436 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/BF7DD54D943288F/Byelorussia_Station_(1971)_–_Andrey_Smirnov.mkv

Language(s):Russian
Subtitles:English (muxed)

The post Andrey Smirnov – Belorusskiy vokzal AKA Byelorussia Station (1971) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

During the most liberal period of the Khrushchev regime, Grigori Chukrai, director of the classic Ballad of a Soldier, presided over an “experimental studio” dedicated to nurturing new talents. The studio was closed after it produced the three-part Beginning of an Unknown Era, conceived as a memorial for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. The film was shelved and to this day the negative is reported lost. However, a print of Andrei Smirnov’s episode Angel and Larissa Shepitko’s Homeland of Electricity survived – both films were premiered at the 1987 Moscow Film Festival. It is understandable that the authorities might have considered Angel and Homeland of Electricity inappropriate for trumped-up celebrations of the Revolution. Both show an exhausted, famished Russia, enduring fratricide and deprivation in the aftermath of the Revolution. Angel is taken from the first published story by Yury Olesha. A small masterpiece, Angel pays stylistic homage to early Wajda and Tarkovsky in dramatizing the fate of a small group of fleeing Reds caught behind White lines. Just a minor incident in an enormous conflict, but the sense of Russian tragedy conveyed in this short film is indelible. Shepitko’s film is taken from a story by Andrei Platonov, one of Russia’s greatest writers. Even more than Angel, Homeland of Electricity is a startling succession of black-and-white images – withered peasants on a parched land-recalling the most expressive cinematography of the silent days. A worthy tribute to Shepitko’s film school mentor, Alexander Dovzhenko.

— Tom Luddy, Pacific Film Archive,

source:bampfa

1.64GB | 1h 11m | 768×576 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/2D060FB7A861704/Nachalo_nevedomogo_veka__Beginning_of_an_Unknown_Era__(Andrey_Smirnov_&_Larisa_Shepitko,_1967).mkv

Language:Russian
Subtitles:English

The post Andrey Smirnov & Larisa Shepitko – Nachalo nevedomogo veka AKA Beginning of an Unknown Era (1967) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
A sympathetic, emotionally persuasive drama describing the friendship of four World War II veterans, their sudden reunion after 25 years and the subsequent effect of this occasion upon their thoughts and evaluations of the past and present. In a way, The Byelorussian Station is reminiscent of the poignant, realistic look at the returned soldier remembered in Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives. In this film, however, the sentiments are leavened by reminiscence and a touch of remorse, and the spectator must be prepared for a deeply moving cinematic adventure. Four friends, former front-line soldiers, meet again at the funeral of their old commander. Their shared mourning mingles with the joy of seeing one another again and, for a time, they forget the years of separation. However, the years soon make themselves felt as the men notice their age and changes in character, the different sorts of lives they have led. One has become the director of a large factory, another works as a repair fitter, while the other two are an accountant and a journalist, respectively. Gradually, the film illustrates what common bond exists between them besides memories. The director, Smirnov, concentrates intently upon his myriad personalities, and the reactions of these masculine, emotionally restrained characters illuminate, with humor and humane recognitions of universal behavior, the flexible boundaries of comradeship-in-battle and the rarity of sustained friendships kept alive by choice rather than by chance. An unexpected incident occurs that brings the four men together, working toward a common purpose—a young worker has an accident, receiving an electric shock while on a utilities job. The old veterans are reminded of their aid to each other’s wounds during the war, and the film reverts to the dreams they held just as they were returning home. The conclusion is spellbinding, including some documentary footage showing the welcoming of soldiers of the Byelorussian Station by their families—the whole truth is in these images, the truth of recollected pain and joy felt by anyone who has waited, searching for one face in a military crowd, not knowing which of these emotions will last forever.

1.37GB | 1:35:22 | 720×328 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/F109E05F0C0D3FA/Belorusskij.Vokzal.(Rus).avi
https://nitro.download/view/02E5E884990BA4E/Belorusskij_vokzal.eng.srt

Language:Russian
Subtitles:English

The post Andrey Smirnov – Belorusskiy vokzal AKA Byelorussia Station (1971) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

A 7-day trip with a city couple that is struggling to get it’s relationship straightened up. She is single, he is married. The rain never stops, leaving them inside the country shack for days to make love and talk in between. It is called “The Fall (Autumn)” as the season signifies the gloomy days of their love.

https://nitro.download/view/EF3D9337FBD2476/Osen_1974_DvdRip.avi
https://nitro.download/view/E5184E6D39F5F20/Osen_1974_DvdRip.srt

Language(s):Russian
Subtitles:English

The post Andrey Smirnov – Osen AKA Autumn (1974) first appeared on Cinema of the World.