i recently saw come and see,
and man, i dont think i’ve seen a war film quite like it. i thought it was quite moving.
i also really enjoyed The Color of Pomegranates, directed by Sergei Parajanov
wikipedia says antonioni, fellini and godard all considered it a masterpiece.
“Color of Pomegranates” is not a Russian film, but undoubtly one of the most shamefully neglected masterpieces of the 20th century. I don´t think that any other director (with the possible exception of Andrei Tarkovsky) came as close as Parajanov did to cinematic poetry.
@ Spartak—what are your opinions of Aleksandr Sokurov? I’m conflicted over “Russian Ark.”
@ Drew Kelly
The only thing I can say about “The Russian Ark” is that I’ll never be able to get back the 2 hours that I spent watching it. Of course that is true for any movie that you watch but in this case it actually makes me angry. “The Russian Ark” is an empty, pseudo-intellectual excersize in style. It certainly does not explore the Russian history or the national character as it claims to do, it has absolutely no entertainment value and its gimmicky premise has all the audacity of a high school science project. What was the purpose of this movie?! Unless this was Sokurov’s misguided attempt to become an answer to a trivia question, I see none.
Well, i’ve long wanted to see Chapayev which is still very popular in Russia isn’t it, though less well known in the West? Too many top Russian films are hard to get hold of here. Must see White Sun of the Desert, Trial on the Roads and Khrustalyev, my Car. I like the 2 parts of Ivan the Terrible about equally, the fiery colour jewel section in part 2 and the groundbreaking audacity of part 1.
Russian Ark is not only a film of incomparable technical ambition; a sinuous, languorous, labyrinthine ramble, achieved in a single, astounding 96 minute digital take, that glides stealthily through the gilded splendours of the Hermitage at St Petersburg, guided by an 18th century French diplomat, with audience and a mumbling off-screen “spy” joined as spectators to a sumptuous array of paintings and sculptures (Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Canova..), classical concerts, a grand ball, historical pageants and figures, including a now young, now aged Empress Catherine II; it is also a self-indulgent, pretentious, preposterous virtuoso display of costumes and choreography (marshalling a cast of almost a thousand); an extraordinary, painstakingly rehearsed theatrical performance, replete with lugubrious longueurs, that renders editing redundant; a refined examination of the links between past and present, various art forms, Russian and European civilisation, illusion and reality; a culmination of certain arthouse aspirations that also serves as a beautiful eulogy of cinema history, recalling Last Year at Marienbad, Celine and Julie go Boating, The Leopard, Bondarchuk’s War and Peace, Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, Ophuls, Von Sternberg, Kubrick et al; a noble, elegiac testament to celluloid and the prodigious ten minute take; an allusive celebration tinged with melancholy; a closure, an opening; a deliciously sensuous surreal journey from within a disturbed mind; a Carrollian wander through a cultural warren; an ego trip for director and viewer alike, with camera as eye for an I; an eyes wide shut meditation on vision, voyeurism, identity; an intimate space odyssey of 2002, an ethereal exploration of Time, a graceful, ghostly reflection on transience and the echoing footfalls of history, a remembrance of things past, a Proustian sentence; a floating repository; a dream, death, eternity…and none of the above.
Good post, Kenji. I cannot wait to see it as part of the WC this week.
a post indebted to Gilbert Adair’s long sentence on Rope in his brilliant book Flickers
I want to see some Balabanov. Will start with Cargo 200. Thanks for the post!
I’m between a rock and a hard place on this one.
@the world… my kin… my twin…
Watch at your own risk. Cargo 200 is a very dark and graphic movie. Balabanov is best known for “Brother” which is probably the most famous Russian gangster picture ever. If you like Mellville’s gangster films or Takeshi Kitano’s yakuza pictures then “Brother” is something you should definetely check out. It is an interesting take on the genre and is Russian to the core, which is probably why it is so massively popular there.
My favourites:
“The Meeting Place Can Not Be Changed” – Absolute Classic, amazing russian police/gangster drama.
“Assa” – the perestroika film, cult-movie
“Andrey Rublev” – no explanation needed
“Brother”, “War”, “Cargo 200”, The Best films my Balabanov in my opinion
“The Return”, "The Banishment – Zvyagintsev is an amazing talent, I can’t wait for whatever he tries next
“Paper Soldier” – Aleksey German Jr. latest film, greatly inspired by the old masters
“Mne Dvadsat’ Let/ Zastava Ilyicha” – generation defining film of the 60’s
“Irony of fate or enjoy your bath” – essential when talking about popular russian film. Great classic, traditionally watched around New Year.
Other Great ones:
The Needle
Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the future
Little Vera
i probably forgot some
@Fandorin-San
Great point about “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”, an excellent multi-part tv production from the 70s with the iconic russian actor, poet and singer Vladimir Vysotsky in the main role. This epic adventure film covers roughly the same thematic territory as German’s “My Friend Ivan Lapshin” and is one of Soviet television’s greatest achievements. Another famous Soviet tv film that has long engrained itself into the national consciousness is the mammoth “17 Moments Of Spring” which is the story of a Soviet military spy working in Germany at the height of World War II.
Yes: I forgot about My Friend Ivan Lapshin, great film!
I haven’t seen 17 Mngnovenij Vesny, which is a crime I know, but I plan on seeing it very soon.
BTW, The White Sun Of The Desert, Heart Of A Dog, The Commissar, Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed, 17 Moments of Spring and many other Russian movies are available on youtube with english subtitles. In case anybody is interested, here is a link.
I’m looking for some Russian action movies made in Russia, written by Russians and starring russian actors that depict Russia saving the world, being the hero by saving another country and even better, saving America. Please help me in my search.
I’m looking for some Russian action movies made in Russia, written by Russians and starring russian actors that depict Russia saving the world, being the hero by saving another country and even better, saving America. Please help me in my search.
I am not an expert on Russian action films but I believe you just described the vast majority of Soviet WWII movies ever made. Alternatively, you can take a look at Fyodor Bondarchuk’s “The Inhabited Island” where the Russian protagonist does one better and saves a whole another planet.
Mymosh the Selfbegotten
“Ivan the Terrible, Part II”, Sergei Eisenstein, 1944
What is it? The unruly, undisciplined, magnificent second part of Eisenstein’s unfinished historical trilogy
I’d watch this rather than… “Ivan the Terrible, Part I” by Sergei Eisenstein
I do love Part I as well but Part II is an apocalyptic madcap miracle of a movie.
Joseph Stalin liked part I better though. You decide which camp you are in.
“Chapayev”, the Vasilyev brothers, 1934
What is it? An antique adventure film of civil war heroics that cannot contain its own awkward brilliance within the boundaries of its ideology
I’d watch this rather than… anything made by Dovzhenko, Pudovkin or any other scary old man of the Russian Cinema
BTW, the Vasilyev brothers weren’t actually related.
“The Outskirts”, Pyotr Lutsik, 1998
What is it? A bizarre, haunting and hilarious snail-pace action film that violently explores the archetypes of the Russian psyche.
I’d watch this rather than… anything else produced by the Russian film industry in the last 20 years.
“Trial on the Roads”, Alexei German, 1971
What is it? The most complex and significant Russian war film in history and a deep and merciless portrayal of imperfect people facing moral dilemmas in times of crises.
I’d watch this rather than… “The Ascent” by Larissa Shepitko, which is improbably and unexplainably better known in the West
“Andrei Rublev”, Andrei Tarkovski, 1966
What is it? A brutal and spectacular epic of the Middle Ages and a thoughtful meditation on the nature of art and the creative process
I’d watch this rather than… the rest of Tarkovski’s output
This is easily his best work as far as I am concerned.
“The Commissar”, Alexander Askoldov, 1967
What is it? A cerebral, gritty historical masterpiece and a thought-provoking exposition of human nature, misery and folly
I’d watch this rather than… “The Shop on the Main Street” by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos
Both deal with the Jewish question but “The Comissar” avoids the simplistic moralising that pervades the Slovakian Oscar winner.
“The White Sun Of The Desert”, Vladimir Motyl, 1970
What is it? An ironic, self-aware, wildly entertaining eastern with a cult following
I’d watch this rather than… “Once Upon a Time in the West” by Sergio Leone
“Heart of a Dog”, Vladimir Bortko, 1988 and “The Golden Calf”, Mikhail Shvejtser, 1968
What is it? Wild, clever, masterful screen adaptations of iconic Russian satires
I’d watch this rather than… “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” by Stanley Kubrick
“Come And See”, Elem Klimov, 1985
What is it? A nightmarish, surreal reimagining of the realities of war.
I’d watch this rather than…
Can’t watch this one too often. No other war film I’ve seen goes this far.
“Cargo 200”, Alexei Balabanov, 2007
What is it? A macabre piece of Soviet era nostalgia and a gruesome little comedy of horrors from the director of “Brother” and “Of Freaks And Men”.
I’d watch this rather than… any Romanian abortion movies that are currently out there
“Our Own”, Dmitriy Meskhiyev, 2004
What is it? A savage revisionist war melodrama
I’d watch this rather than… “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” by Stanislav Rostotsky
Don’t miss out on “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” either though – a heartbreaking, unconventional narrative and a classic example of the ecstatic mythologizing of the Great War that is the cornerstone of Russian war cinema
“Kin Dza Dza”, Georgiy Daneliya, 1986
What is it? An inventive and hilarious dystopian sci-fi comedy
I’d watch this rather than… “Brazil” by Terry Gilliam
“Khrustalev, the Car!”, Alexei German, 1998
What is it? A grotesque and terrifying epic-scale examination of Soviet society under Stalin. Think “Eraserhead” meets “Gulag Archipelago”…
I’d watch this rather than… “Burnt By the Sun” by Nikita Mikhalkov
We can’t all get an Oscar. Or a Region 1 DVD release…
“The Fountain”, Yuriy Mamin, 1988
What is it? A bitter and intelligent comic allegory of life in the Soviet Union
I’d watch this rather than… “The Fountain” by Darren Arronofsky
I’d watch almost anything rather than “The Fountain” by Darren Arronofsky