USSR

“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 »

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.

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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.
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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. Read More »

IMDB says:
The brave soldier Schweik helps the Yugoslav partisans and tries to choose the execution for Hitler.Read More »

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This movie was originally filmed in 1962 as Zastava Ilyicha (The Ilyich Gate). It was one of the first films that reflected the younger generation’s resentment of the older generation’s ways. The original title referred to Lenin’s paternal name (his full name was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin). Even after the decanonization of Stalin, Lenin still remained the icon for the old generation. “Ilyich” was often used as an affectionate term in Soviet iconography. The film invoked Soviet premier Nikita Khruschev’s sharp criticism. Meeting the studio members, he said: “Do you want us to believe in the scene where a father doesn’t know how to answer his son’s question “how to live?” At the censor’s insistence the movie was re-cut and released under the “apolitical” title Mne Dvatdsat Let (I’m Twenty) in 1964. In 1991, the film was re-released and shown at the London Film Festival with ninety minutes of the original footage restored, resulting in a film which was 175 minutes long.Read More »

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Lena is about to marry when she finds out her fiance is a bad person. After leaving him, she seeks for a sense in her life through adventures with artists who are also searching their own identity. When raining, she meets Zhenya.Read More »

From Under the Vaults of the Mosque (Rus. Iz-Pod svodov mecheti) by Kazimir Gertel’ (Uzbekkino, 1927)

The action takes place in Turkestan at the end of the imperial period. Oberuchev (L. Lazarev), a cotton manufacturer from St. Petersburg, goes to Moscow to sign a delivery contract with the army before going back to Turkestan, his “homeland.” Together with his assistant Yastrebetskii (A. Poliakov), Oberuchev exploits the local population with the connivance of the local bais. An old man, Pir Nazar (A. Khojaev), is one of his victims and has to sell his belongings to pay off his debts.Read More »

Summary:
Platon Ryabinin, a pianist, is traveling by train to a distant town of Griboedov to visit his father. He gets off to have lunch during a twenty minute stop at Zastupinsk railway station. He meets Vera, a waitress, after he refuses to pay her for the disgusting food he doesn’t even touch and misses his train due to police investigation of the incident. His passport is then accidentally taken away from him by Andrei, Vera’s fiancé, and his money is stolen as he waits for the next train to Griboedov. Vera learns that Platon is about to get sentenced and sent to prison in the Far East for a car accident he isn’t guilty for. During the few days that Platon has to spend in Zastupinsk he and Vera develop feelings for each other…
– Written by Denis ChebikinRead More »

King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear’s loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.Read More »