Russian

Andrzej Zulawski’s take on Mussorgsky’s opera. Conducted by Rostropovich.

Quote:
This is the best opera-inspired film I have ever seen. It’s not what we frequently see: a filming of a theater performance. This is a masterpiece of its own, with the force and drama of Mussorgsky’s music, but added with the insight of a professional film-maker. You will see wonderful scenes and color, with some artistic freedom to achieve cinematographic characters that really makes you understand the inner drama of a complex and appealing historic personage.Read More »

A young Russian woman asks a Red Army soldier to spend the night with her in the wake of the Nazi invasion. Fearing she may soon perish, the woman hopes for one night of romance before what could be a horrible demise. Black-and-white photography is mixed with color as moods change in the film. Women are captured and sent off to concentration camps or to work in brothels for the pleasure of the sadistic Germans. A Russian woman places a noose around her own neck rather than let a Nazi touch her. Some of the victims manage to escape and they try to return to their war-torn home in the Ukraine to join the defense.Read More »

Laika, a stray dog, was the first living being to be sent into space and thus to a certain death. According to a legend, she returned to Earth as a ghost and has roamed the streets of Moscow ever since. Following her trace, and filmed from a dog’s perspective, SPACE DOGS accompanies the adventures of her descendants: two street dogs living in today’s Moscow. Their story is one of intimate fellowship but also relentless brutality, and is interwoven with unseen archive material from the Soviet cosmic era. A magical tale of voyagers scouting for unknown spaces.Read More »

The original Russian title Podranki can be translated as War Orphans. The protagonist is an adult writer who undergoes a flashback at the drop of a hat. He recalls how he was orphaned when his father was killed in World War II and his mother committed suicide. He remembers the appalling treatment afforded him by a sadistic orphanage official. And he muses over his losing contact with his brothers and sisters. This is why the grown-up writer is currently involved in lobbying for better treatment of Russian orphans. Orphans caused a minor stir in 1977 when it became the first Russian film in nearly two decades to be chosen for the Cannes Film Festival by the festival judges, rather than being submitted by the Soviets. The film did not see the light of a carbon arc in America until 1980.Read More »

The main character of the film is a Chukchi teenager who fell in love with an American girl from erotic video chat and decided to swim across the Bering Strait to meet her.

“The Whale Boy” is a Russian feature film directed by Philip Yuriev, released in 2020. Filmed in the village of Lorino, Chukotka region with the participation of real residents of the village. The two main roles were played by non-professional actors.Read More »

Several short films about love.
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A poor woman without a job struggles to raise her child.

Ayka is a 2018 drama film directed by Sergey Dvortsevoy. It was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes, Samal Yeslyamova won the award for Best Actress. It was selected as the Kazakhstani entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, making the December shortlist.Read More »

Quote:
Just like the Russian poet of the film 1983 ‘Nosthalgia’, who, accompanied by his Italian guide and translator, traveled through Italy researching the life of an 18th century Russian composer, Andrey Tarkovskiy, accompanied by his Italian scriptwriter, Tonino Guerra, travels through Italy in order to find the locations for their common filmed effort. During this journey, Guerra constantly induces Tarkovskyi to reflect on his work and on his past as a filmmaker and a poet. The result will be ‘Nostalghia’, a masterpieceRead More »

Synopsis:
“My little son, it’s me, your father…” The narrator tries to communicate with his unborn son and takes off on a journey were you see faces of apparitions of those outcasts, who find their solace of living only in the shadows; outside, but beside, the political and economical system; system that kills the individual and creates masses instead. These outcasts are bums, cripples, madmen, lunatics. They, in the eyes of the narrator, are the only ones, that know what it means to be human. They are not corrupt by the masses or the system; they are so overwhelmed by their madness or dreams, that they have lost the relationship with the world. They live in a world of their own, thus enabling freedom from the system. What they do, is wait. They quietly wait for the day the kingdom of God will descend upon earth.
— DrStrangelife (IMDb)Read More »