I´m truly in love with this cinema. I´ve already saw all tarkovsky and parajanov, bondarchuk´s war y peace, sibiriada, the return, the cranes are flying, ballad of a soldier, soy cuba, moskva slezam ne verit y kin-dza-dza.
Can anybody tell me about more worthwhile russian films? thanks!
The Thief
Burnt by the Sun
Railway Station for Two
for sheer silliness Rooslan and Lyudmila
plus the most famous Russian movie of all time S Lyohkim Param
Looks like you already have a pretty good handle on Soviet/Russian cinema. My recommendation is that you continue reaching further back into the past. You definitely need to familiarize yourself with the great silent masters:
Sergei Eisenstein (especially "Battleship Potemkin" and the later talkies "Alexander Nevsky" and "Ivan the Terrible");
V. Pudovkin ("Mother," "End of St. Petersburg," and "Storm Over Asia");
A. Dovzhenko ("Arsenal" and "Earth" were both major influences on Tarkovsky);
Dziga Vertov (the documentary "Man with a Movie Camera");
A. Room's "Bed and Sofa" (a sharp comedy of the sexes);
B. Barnet ("Girl with the Hatbox" and the early talkie "Outskirts");
and the silent sci-fi "Aelita."
If you're not used to silent films, don't be afraid to spend a little time getting used to the rhythm, etc.
There are also a few more recent films you haven't mentioned:
1985's "Come and See" is a remarkable war film
and Bondarchuk's directorial debut "Destiny of a Man" isn't bad either.
Vladimir Bortko's "Heart of a dog" is an acceptional film and one of the best novel to film adaptations I've ever seen.
Other title worth viewing are:
Bakenbardy (Sideburns)
Brat (Brother)
Prisoner of the Mountains
Sluzhili dva tovarishcha (Two Comrades were serving)
Comissar (starring R. Bykov and N. Mordukova)
The Red and the White ( a film about the Hungarian involvement in a Russian Civil War. Most of the movie is in Russian)(Dir:Miklós Jancsó)
I guess you should watch at least few musical films. Like for example films of
Yan Frid: Sobaka na sene, Don sezar de bazan, blagochistivaya Marta. These films are really great. Can watch them again and again. Also you may watch Solomennaya shlyapka, Obiknovennoe chudo. In these two you will for sure enjoy Andrey Mironov works.
Russian old fairy tales are also very good. Suggest you to watch films of Alexandr Rou. Start with Morozko (Father frost), for my opinion it's one of the best.
If you like to watch comedies I can recommend you Brilliantovaya ruka, Kavkazskaya plenica, Karnavalnaya noch, dzhentelmeni udachi...
Russian most loved adventure films are D'Artanyan i tri mushketera and Gardemarini vpered. They are the best!
also russian sherlock holmes is really the best
well. really there are so many great films, hard to remember all. if have any question feel free to email me.
"Father of a soldier" - Soviet (Georgian) masterpiece.
shareTwo Tarkovsky masterpieces: Solaris and Stalker. Both Sci-Fi, so not everyone's cut of tea. Just wondering; has anyone seen The Vij? Trying to get a line on this movie as I've heard its a masterpiece, but very hard to find (as a rental).
sharePro urodov i lyudey (Of Freaks & Men, 1998)
Brat (Brother, 1997)
Both of these by Aleksei Balabanov. Fun, in a matter of speaking.
Has anyone mentioned Aleksandr Sokurov? Mats i syn (1997) and Otets i syn (2003) are both experiences, though everyone talks about Russian Ark (2002).
I second whoever nominated Dziga Vertov's Man With A Movie Camera. And if you haven't seen Eisenstein's Oktyobr or Aleksandr Dovzhenko's Earth, I recommend the troika of films as a good foundation to Russian cinema.
I also recommend Tenghiz Abuladze's 1987 Repentance, though this is a Georgian film, which may interfere with your taxonomy.
Finally, "East Side Story," a Western-made documentary on Iron Curtain musicals. Mucho fun, if a little dated and curiously heavy on leather-clad Ilse She Wolf of the SS fetishes.
"east-west" is an amazing movie suprised noone mentioned it.
shareDoes "East-West" count as a Russian movie? It takes place in Russia, but was directed by a Frenchman, made with French money, and has a primarily Francophone cast.
If you're going to merely count movies that feature a Russian theme, I nominate Warren Beatty's "Reds" and "Good-Bye Lenin."
Solyaris. Solaris was the abbreviated remake with George Clooney. I was not aware that anyone else but me had seen Solyaris. Great Science fiction film.
shareHave you seen the Soviet film Amphibian Man? It's basically James Bond combined with Aquaman. It's incredible. Funny thing is that it predated the first James Bond picture by a couple years. James Bond copied the Villians Lair from this movie. All these Soviet Movies are now free to watch in HD on Youtube now. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.
shareAscent - Larisa Shepitko (1976)
Checkpoint - Aleksei German (1971)
The Snow Queen - Lev Atamanov (1957)
Gamlet - Grigori Kozintsev (1963)
Asthetic Syndrome - Kira Muratova (1989)
I'm a Russian, and I'm not about to go on a rant of how good Russian films are, just here to say, to this day, all Russian movies, are pure cow *beep* in comparison to 1968's War and Peace, probably the greatest film ever made, however, it's not unquestionable, there's also The Godfather, Casablanca, Taxi Driver, Spartacus, Citizen Kane and The Lord of the Rings ( if you count the entire trilogy ).
The point is that 1968's War and Peace is so great, and if you trully regard it for its time and what it is worth, few, and I mean FEW, films can be discussed around it.
Battleship Potemkin is good too.
See more Russian movies .. you're a disgrace to Russians if that is how you truly feel.
Dude, I watch a lot of films, I can't stress that enough, I've seen
Ozore Zdes Tiheye
Well, I don't have Russian typing on this computer, but the Russian black and white film about the group of girls in WWII, and some more WWII films, I don'r remember the names, I've seen a lot of Russian comedies like the Jeweled Hand, I'm not mocking Russian films, I'm saying most films are crap compared to War and Peace, as for Russian films, the quality is not good, you can admit that, and so compared to War and Peace, there is no epic Russian films, that's all I'm saying.
Thanks for the laugh.
Watch some Klimov/Shepitko/German work and then we'll talk.
Dude, War and Peace is an Epic, okay, an Epic, you can't compare many films to an Epic, that's just cold hard fact, and quality matters, some poorly made film with a great plot doesn't beat an FX raging action blockbuster, this movie however is both, for it's time.
shareI'm sorry you feel this way, comrade.
Well, what can I say, I'm an amateur film maker who watches films to learn more about how to make them, and the plot is only worth paying attention to when the quality is at a certain high, that's just me though.
shareAre you Uwe Boll?
WTF?
shareIn my opinion plot and direction always trump SFX.
'Burnt by the Sun' is a horribly moving and poignant Russian film based on the life of the late Comrade Kotov and his immediate family. The scenes in which he secretly says goodbye to his five or six year old grand-daughter are just heart breaking. Their collective screen presence was inspiring. Certainly the best film with large tracts of child acting that I have ever seen.
Agree on you about Taxi Driver and Battleship Potemkin. However the lord of the rings are pathetically overrated and terrible. If you want great Russian films that will beat War & Peace, watch Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, or pretty much anything by him.
shareyou´re right, War and peace is GREAT (I´m Czech and I can watch it in Russian) And fantastic is Tarkovskij, he has no comparison!
shareJust wait and see Jackson's The Hobbit. You'll be vomiting your popcorn.
my vote history:
http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27424531
"Blokada: Luzhskiy rubezh, Pulkovskiy meredian",
"Blokada: Leningradskiy metronom, Operatsiya Iskra".
Many great movies here. No doubt Russia is THE country when it comes to films (and novels, and maths, and chessplaying, and classical music, and...)
But you have all forgotten one of the big ones; yes, one of the greatest ever made: The 41st (Sorok pervyy), by Grigori Chukhrai (1956).
This movie is unfortunatly not easy to get hold of. I watched it on the local artfilm-club (Bergen). They used a 50 year old copy...
(So if anyone knows where to get a copy; yell out.)
Well, that's all... and to you saying Tarkovsky is the one and only; your right! Kurosawa is the only one worthy of comparation (and Chukhrai. And maybe Andrej Mikhalkov-Kontsjalovskij; the Dom Durakov movie was amazing. And since I'm scandinavian, I have to mention Ingmar Bergman.)
Everytime i read IMDB comments i laugh, people arguing and calling each other names and fighting and blah blah blah... HAHAHA
anyway here are also russian recent successful films:
1. BRAT 2 (brother 2) not many americans know this one cz the main character kills americans in the movie, i enjoied it :P
2. 9-aya rota (9th company)
3. SVOLOCHI (bastards) although not the best russian or war movie but worth watching it!
4. Turetskii Gambit (Turkish Gambit) excellent film!
many more really. what i like about russian cinema is that it is more to real life rather than Hollywood *beep* one-man-saves-world or one-woman-sleeps-with-all type of movies unfortunately i can't say that about the new films which starting to look more like American crap... and yet the acting school si different so. for example fighting scenes are more realistic in Russian films.
anyway i know there's gonna be people writing back about my comment and calling me names and telling me to Sht the **** up and all. to all them i say this: *beep* YOU !!! ahahaha. i am russian and love my country but living in canada and love canada too hate americans jews and chinese (not asians but only chinse and japs! koreans are ok and the rest) what are you gonna do about it??????? hahahahahahahahaha
Privyet, Alex!
Thanks for your appreciation, Alex.
What do you think of the film "Stalingrad"
(the version with Jude Law) ?
[deleted]
Sokurov's "Mother and Son" 1997. This is a haunting piece of art, literally. There has NEVER been cinematography like in this movie.
shareHere is a few that I have not seen mentioned:
Beloe solntse pustyni/Sun of the White Desert
Korolevstvo krivykh zerkal/Kingdom of the Crooked Mirrors
Raba lyubvi/Slave of Love
Krylya/Wings
And for the taste of 'Epic':
Tikhiy Don/Quiet .Flows the Don (Sergei Gerasimov)
--I have not seen the Bondarchuk version. For some reason Rupert Everett as a
Cossack makes me a little queasy!
I know there is so much more, but I cannot remember.