Russian Films/Themes by Title
| Title |
Call
ID # |
Description |
| ANDREI RUBLEV | DVRU
800 |
Andrei
Rublev Russian (English subtitles) 205 mins. 1973. Immediately suppressed
by the Soviets in 1966, Andrei Tarkovsky's epic masterpiece is a sweeping
medieval tale of Russia's greatest icon painter. Too experimental, too
frightening, too violent, and too political complicated to be released
officially, Andrei Rublev existed only in shortened, censored versions
until the criterion collection created this complete 205-minute director's
cut special edition. |
| ANDREI RUBLEV | VRU
306 |
Andrei
Tarkovsky: Russian (English subtitles) 185 mins.1966. The dazzling
and harrowing tale of the fifteenth century icon painter who survives
the cruelties of medieval Russia to create works of art. As bloody tartar
raids, religious brutality, and pagan rites work to quell Rublev's desires
and needs, he undertakes a spiritual Odyssey that affirm man's ability
to transcend adversity. This restored director's cut is presented in letterbox
format. |
| BLACK & WHITE | VENG
343 |
Boris
Frumin English. 96 mins. Black & White is the story of Lisa,
a young Soviet emigré studying medicine in Manhattan, Roy, an African
American building superintendent on New York's Lower Eastside, and the
bond that they form from living on the edges of Manhattan. Filled with
an assortment of fringe artists, disenfranchised immigrants, diamond dealers
and sexual surrogates, the film is ultimately about breaking down the
barriers between people. Directed by Russian emigré filmmaker Boris Frumin
(Errors of Youth, Viva Castro!), Black and White is a poignant and riveting
story of love and the quest for freedom and identity. |
| THE ANNA AKHMATOVA FILE | VRU
309 |
Semeon
Aranovitch : Russian (English Subtitles) 65 mins. (1989). A moving portrait
of the extraordinary Soviet poet, Anna Akhmatova. Although her work
was banned and went unpublished for 17 years, her poem 'Requiem' became
the underground anthem for the millions who suffered under Stalin. This
film whichses Akhmatova's diaries for contemporaries-Boris Pasternak,
Vladimir Mayakovsky, Mikhail Sostchenko. |
| BURNT BY THE SUN | VRU
308 |
Nikita
Mikhalkov: Russian (English subtitles) 134 mins. 1995. Nikita Mikhalkov
directs and stars as Colonel Serguei Kotov, a hero of the Revolution who
is spending the summer in the country with his young daughter (Mikhalkov's
real-life daughter), his wife and her eccentric family. But when his wife
childhood love suddenly appears, the idyllic summer day takes a surprising
turn. A Lyrical film filled with beauty and warmth, Burn By The Sun is
also an indelible account of a man dedicated to family and fatherland,
cruelly destroyed by political paranoia. 'Visually sumptuous, intellectually
stimulating, extraordinarily acted, the movie will burn itself into your
memory forever.' |
| THE CRANES ARE FLYING | VRU
310 |
Mikhail
Kalatozov Russian with English subtitles. 95 mins. 1996. A film that marked
a radical opening for Soviet cinema; the lighthearted, romantic, lyrical
story of a beautiful young girl (Tatiana Samoliova) caught up in the horrors
of war. When her fiancé (Alexei Batalov) goes off to war, she marries
a man whom she does not love and who raped her, is evacuated to Siberia,
and after the war, learns of her fiancé's death. But she refuses to believe
it and waits for his return. A great international success which won the
Gran Prix at Cannes. |
| DIAMOND ARM | DVRU 803 |
(THE) Leonid Gaiday Russian (English, French, Spanish, Italian,
German, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, Hebrew, Swedish, Chinese & Arabic
Subtitles) 100 mins. 1968. The plot of this eccentric comedy is based
on a newspaper article, found by script co-writer Yakov Kostyukovsky,
about the arrest on the Italian border of a criminal who had hidden "gold
and diamonds" in the plaster cast. The movie became the absolute
box-office leader of 1969 in the Soviet Union. The thrilling adventures
of Semyon Gorbunkov, a modest economist, accompanied by a swindler named
Count, have captivated several generations of moviegoers. |
| EAST/WEST (EST/OUEST) | DVRU
801 |
Réges
Warnier. French/Russian (English subtitles) 125 mins. 1993. From the director
of Academy Award -winning Indochine comes another highly acclaimed film.
Academy Award -nominated (1999) for Best Foreign Language film, EAST/WEST
(EST/OUEST) is a wonderfully imagined film that follows
the plight of a young couple and their child as they choose to go back
to the Soviet Union in 1946. At the end of the war, Stalin invited Russians
who fled the country to return. The talented young doctor Alexei Golovine
(Oleg Menchikov), accompanied by his French bride the beautiful Marie
(Sandrine Bonnaire) and their son, optimistically returns to the Soviet
Union. Their arrival is a rude one. Interrogations are followed by the
grim reality of post-war Soviet Union: shared apartments, suspicious neighbors
and lack of privacy. Marie soon starts to rebel against the circumstances,
but her husband finds that his talents are needed and appreciated by the
authorities, so he starts to get ahead. Marie meets up with a touring
French actress (Catherine Deneuve), and soon faces a terrifying choice:
to leave her husband and child for freedom, or stay and confront a grim
future. |
| THE ERRORS OF YOUTH | VRU
311 |
Boris
Frumin Russian w/ English subtitles 87 mins. The Errors of Youth was banned
in 1979 because it was found to be too close to 'real' life in the former
Soviet Union. Its director, Boris Frumin, emigrated to the U.S.A., leaving
the unfinished The Errors of Youth behind. In a historic gesture, he was
invited back to Leningrad 11 years later and asked to complete the film.
The Errors of Youth is a complex and affecting portrait of a young man
adrift in a society of diminished expectations and compromise. Dmitri
Gurianov (Stanislav Zhdanko) is a Red Army conscript stationed at a Black
Sea resort. Leaving behind the humiliations of army life, he chooses a
high paying construction job in Siberia. He starts a love affair with
a beautiful, enigmatic co-worker, but they split over the question of
parenthood. Dmitri moves to Leningrad and drifts into a life among black
marketeers and a marriage of expediency. The Errors of Youth is a remarkable,
moving portrait of an entire generation - riveting and profound.
|
| FREEZE, DIE COME TO LIFE | VRU
304 |
Vitaly
Kanevski: Russian (English subtitles) 105 mins.1989. A brilliant
Soviet film about the brutal conditions of life in and around Stalinist
labor camps as seen through the eyes of two remarkable children.
This first feature by Vitaly Kanevski, who also wrote the screenplay and
coproduced the film, is based on some of his own experiences during the
eight years he spent growing up outside such a camp. With Pavel Nazarov,
Dinara Drukarova, Yelena Popova. Awarded the Camera d'Or for the
Best Film at Cannes. |
| THE INSPECTOR GENERAL | VRU
301 |
Vladimir
Petrov: Russian (English subtitles) 130 mins. 1954. Gogol's famous play,
performed by members of the Moscow Art Theatre, filmed by Vladimir Petrov.
Gogol's work is a satire of provincial corruption in Czarist Russia. An
entire town mistakes an illiterate worker for the Czar's Inspector General,
and the corrupt officials panic as they believe the man has come to check
up on them. |
| THE LADY WITH THE DOG | VRU
300 |
Anton
Chekhov: Russian (English subtitles) 89 mins. 1960. Based on Chekov
and directed by the Russian master of Chekov adaptations, Josef Heifitz,
this bittersweet nostalgic story opens in Yalta at the beginning of the
century. A middle aged bank official on vacation encounters a beautiful
young woman named Anna who each day walks her dog along the promenade.
They drift into an affair, part, return to their homes and unhappy marriages,
but Dmitri is haunted by Anna's memory and the two arrange clandestine
meetings realizing that they are doomed to a life of brief, secret encounters. |
| MOSCOW PARADE | VRU
305 |
Ivan
Dijkhovichny: Russian ( English Subtitles) 103 mins.1993. Ute Lemper
stars in this, the first post-Sovjet film about the Stalin Era. In 1939,
she is a young aristocrat married to a hateful chief of the secret police.
His forces have murdered her family but she takes advantage of her marriage
to enjoy all the luxuries her present life style allows. When she meets
a mysterious man and learns of his plans to paint a horse black, her life
is thrown in a whirlwind of change. |
| THE OVERCOAT | VRU
302 |
Alexei
Batalov: Russian (English subtitles) 73 min.1959. Roland Bykov delivers
a moving performance as the poor degraded clerk in 18th century Russia
in this version of Nikolai Gogol's famous short story. Expressionistic
in tone, but with a strong dose of realism, it is a commendable adaptation
of the story. |
| VIY (SPIRIT OF EVIL) | DVRU 804 |
Georgi Kropachyov Russian (English & French Subtitles). 78 mins. 2000. This very eerie and stylish Russian horror film went largely unseen for decades. With this video release it should earn a loyal following. Based on a story by Nikolai Gogol, the movie follows a young theology student whose faith is tested when he meets the devil's emissary, "..stunning, with a rich color palette worthy of Mario Bava.. Moments of pure cinema here raise the hairs on the back of your neck" (R.L. Strong, Cornucopia of Film). Alexander Ptushko was responsible for the eye-catching visual effects and |
| THE SEA GULL | VRU
303 |
Alexei
Batalov: Russian (English subtitles) 99 mins.1971. A sensitive exquisitely
acted version of Checkov's great play, set in provincial Russia, a penetrating
study of the languid melancholia of the residents of an isolated country
estate. With Alla Demidova, Lyudmila Saveleyva, Yuri Yakovlev. |
| SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS | VRU
307 |
Sergei
Parajanov: Ukrainian ( English subtitles) 99 mins.1984. Based on a Georgian
legend, the first feature completed by Sergei Paradjanov after being released
from prison. The tale hangs on the self sacrifice of a young man who agrees
to be bricked up in a fortress wall in order to make it impregnable against
invaders. Paradjanov divides his film into a series of tableaux, once
again using minimal dialog and searing imagery in a film of surreal almost
hypnotic power. |
| VIVA CASTRO! | VRU
312 |
Boris
Frumin. Russian w/ English subtitles 82 mins. One of the best Russian
films of the 1990's, Viva Castro! is set in a small Russian town in 1965.
'At this time Fidel Castro was as important for the Russian people as
Elvis Presley was for the Americans,' says the director, Boris Frumin,
who returned to Russia after 16 years of exile in America to make this
film. Young Kolya is in love with his singing teacher; but his life isn't
easy. His father skips town after stealing some coins from a museum and
his mother is sent to a labor camp as punishment. When the father returns
a year later, Kolya becomes involved with the pretty young woman hired
to nurse him. Viva Castro! is a remarkable coming-of-age story which 'shows
real life in all its inexplicable mixture of farce and tragedy, cruelty,
comedy and romance.' |
| WHITE SUN OF THE DESERT | DVRU 802 | (THE) Vladimir
Motyl Russian (English, French & Arabic Subtitles) 85 mins. 1969 This
"Middle-Eastern", or rather a Central-Asian action film about
the Red Army fighting the counter-revolutionary robber bands has become
not only a cult movie, but also one of the favorites for several generations
of viewers. With Russian cosmonauts, it is a tradition to view this film
before going to outer space. The film's success paved the way for a genre
of national "Eastern". A demobbed soldier, Fyodor Sukhov, is making
his way through the desert to his home village. The band of the brutal Abdulla
intended to kill his women rather than let them go free. Sukhov's mate,
a young soldier Petrukha, dies at the hand of Abdulla. But at the decisive moment, Sukhov |
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