Soviet and Russian Movies in English

Category: Arthouse

  • A Woman Heats the Sauna

    A Woman Heats the Sauna

    —

    by

    zizi
    in ,

    is a 1979 Soviet (Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic) movie directed by Arvo Kruusement. Mari takes on the task of heating a traditional Estonian sauna in a remote rural village. As she prepares the sauna for the weekly gathering, the film explores the interactions and subtle dynamics between the villagers who come to cleanse themselves, revealing…

  • Five Bottles of Vodka

    Five Bottles of Vodka

    —

    by

    zizi
    in , , ,

    is a 2001 Russian movie directed by Svetlana Baskova. “Five Bottles of Vodka” is an intense, raw portrayal of post-Soviet Russia’s underbelly, where the lines between legality and lawlessness are blurred. The film centers around a group of friends in a small Russian town, who make a pact involving five bottles of vodka, setting the…

  • Tchaikovsky’s Wife

    Tchaikovsky’s Wife

    —

    by

    zizi
    in , ,

    is a 2022 Russian biographical drama film written and directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, starring Alyona Mikhaylova and Odin Biron. The film is a participant in the competition program of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. In the opulent backdrop of 19th-century Russian aristocracy, emerges the poignant tale of Antonina Miliukova, a woman of beauty and intellect.…

  • Georgian Ancient Songs

    Georgian Ancient Songs

    —

    by

    zizi
    in ,

    is a 1969 documentary film directed by Otar Iosseliani. “Dzveli qartuli simgera” (Georgian Ancient Songs), a short film by Otar Iosseliani, delves into the captivating realm of Georgian religious chants, a unique form of vocal music deeply rooted in tradition and passed down through generations. While the film’s surface objective appears to be the preservation of…

  • The Long Farewell

    The Long Farewell

    —

    by

    zizi
    in ,

    is a Soviet film drama directed by Kira Muratova. It was filmed in 1971, but it was put on a shelf and was only released on the screens in perestroika in 1987. “The Long Farewell,” directed by Kirill Muratov, is a cinematic masterpiece that weaves a delicate tapestry of human emotions and connections. Set against…

  • Mother and Son

    Mother and Son

    —

    by

    Eisenstein
    in ,

    is a 1997 Russian film directed by Aleksandr Sokurov. A slow and poignant story of love and patience told via a dying mother nursed by her devoted son. The simple narrative is a thread woven among the deeply spiritual images of the countryside and cottage.

  • Ashik Kerib

    Ashik Kerib

    —

    by

    Eisenstein
    in ,

    is a 1988 film by the Soviet- Georgian and Armenian filmmakers Dodo Abashidze and Sergei Parajanov based on the short story of the same name by Mikhail Lermontov. It was Parajanov’s last completed film and was dedicated to his close friend Andrei Tarkovsky, who had died two years previously. The film also features a detailed…

  • The Geographer Drank His Globe Away

    The Geographer Drank His Globe Away

    —

    by

    Eisenstein
    in , , ,

    is a 2013 Russian drama film, directed by Alexander Veledinsky, based on the novel of the same name by Alexei Ivanov. The action of the film, as opposed to the novel, has been transferred from the “dashing nineties” to the present day. The film participated in the XXIV Open Russian Film Festival “Kinotavr” in Sochi…

  • The Man Who Surprised Everyone

    The Man Who Surprised Everyone

    —

    by

    zizi
    in , , ,

    is a Russian film-drama directed by Aleksey Chupov and Natasha Merkulova. Egor Korshunov is a Siberian forest guard who works in a local environmental company, fighting fearlessly against poachers in taiga. Egor is a great family man, respected by his fellow villagers. He and his wife Natalia are expecting a second child. Unexpectedly, Egor finds…

  • Shopping Tour

    Shopping Tour

    —

    by

    zizi
    in , , ,

    is a 2012 Russian horror movie directed by Mikhail Brashinsky. A group of Russian tourists go on a shopping spree to the neighboring Finland – only to be attacked by Finnish cannibals. We focus on a middle-aged woman and her teenage son who is shooting the film, as we watch it, on his cell-phone.

  • Gerda

    Gerda

    —

    by

    zizi
    in , ,

    is a 2021 Russian drama film directed by Natalya Kudryashova. During the day, Lera studies humankind and its needs through opinion polls, which are an educational practice at the institute; at night, she dances under the pseudonym Gerda in a club to support herself and her mother. The people she meets are as unfortunate as…

  • DAU. Katya Tanya

    DAU. Katya Tanya

    —

    by

    zizi
    in , ,

    is a 2020 Russian-language internationally co-produced drama film directed by Jekaterina Oertel and Ilya Khrzhanovsky. Katya, a young librarian, believes in love, but her ideals are crushed by reality. After a string of disappointing affairs, Katya finally finds tenderness and understanding in the arms of her colleague, a journalist called Tanya. But then the First…

  • Happy Days

    Happy Days

    —

    by

    Eisenstein
    in ,

    is a 1991 Soviet drama film directed by Aleksei Balabanov. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. An unnamed hero roaming the streets of St Petersburg is befriended by a beggar with a donkey and a slightly deranged prostitute.

  • The Parade of Planets

    The Parade of Planets

    —

    by

    Eisenstein
    in , ,

    is a 1984 Soviet sci-fi movie directed by Vadim Abdrashitov. In a surreal puzzler, this story of a fantasy lived by a disparate group of four men captures the visual imagination with its images and leaves a large question mark in the meantime. The men first get together when called up for military maneuvers in…

  • Mister Designer

    Mister Designer

    —

    by

    Eisenstein
    in , , ,

    is USSR Russian horror film made in 1989. Directed by Oleg Teptsov, based on a short story by Alexander Grin. A famous artist strives to find the secret of eternal life through the beautiful mannequins he creates. The movie perfectly conveys the atmosphere of Russian Decadence, the cultural phenomenon, which is also called “The Silver…

  • Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari

    Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari

    —

    by

    Eisenstein
    in , ,

    is a 2012 Russian comedy-drama directed by Aleksei Fedorchenko. The film won the main prize at the 12th New Horizons Film Festival, WrocÅ‚aw, and was screened in the Vanguard section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. This is a collection of portraits: 23 short stories about the Marij women, a sort of Decameron suspended…

  • Nostalghia

    Nostalghia

    —

    by

    Eisenstein
    in ,

    is a 1983 Soviet/Italian film, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and starring Oleg Yankovsky, Domiziana Giordano and Erland Josephson. Tarkovsky co-wrote the screenplay with Tonino Guerra. The film won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, the prize for best director and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. Tarkovsky also shared a special prize…

  • Compartment No. 6

    Compartment No. 6

    —

    by

    zizi
    in , , ,

    is a 2021 internationally co-produced drama film co-written and directed by Juho Kuosmanen, starring Seidi Haarla and Yuri Borisov, based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Rosa Liksom. A young Finnish woman escapes an enigmatic love affair in Moscow by boarding a train to the arctic port of Murmansk. Forced to share…