Nightwatch

(2004)

(In Russian, English, Spanish, and French,

with English Spanish and French subtitles)

A fantasy-thriller set in present-day Moscow

where the respective forces that control

daytime and nighttime do battle.

Daywatch

(2006)

(In Russian, with Russian subtitles)

This time the World happens to be on the

threshold of war between the Dark and Light

Powers... The Inquisitor steps into the limelight.

It means that stakes are very high now and all

the participants are only pawns in the big game.

Master and Margarita

(2005)

(In Russian, with English subtitles)

This satire on life under Stalin begins with two

story lines: the Devil and his retinue show up to

make mischief in 1930's Moscow while Matthew

the Evangelist attempts to uncover the truth

about the Crucifixion of Jesus in Jerusalem in

A. D. 33. Later, a third story line emerges, set

in Moscow, in which the love-stricken Margarita

bargains with the Devil to be reunited with her

lover, the Master, a tormented writer-hero who

pines away in an insane asylum.

Brother

(1998)

(In Russian, with subtitles in English, Russian,

Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Czech, Italian,

and Swedish)

Danila goes to his older brother to start a new

life in Petersburg. His brother is a gangster and

a killer, and he puts Danila into this criminal world

asking him to kill someone.

Brother 2

(2000)

(In Russian, with no subtitles)

The second installment in the Brat /Brother/

series is glitsier and the guns are bigger, as

is the body count. Danila Bagrov goes after

the killers of his war-time friend.

Heart of a Dog

(1988)

(In Russian and English, with Russian

and English subtitles)

This tale is about a doctor who transforms a dog

into a man with darkly amusing consequences.

Meanwhile, you see the soviet system closing in

around Dr. Preobrazhensky, who has no time for

it as he tries to keep his foul-mouthed new creation

reined in. 

Review by James Ferguson (www.amazon.com)

Ivan Vasilievich - Back to the Future

(1973)

(In Russian, with subtitles in English, Russian, Spanish,

French, and German)

Shurik Timofeev builds a working model of

a time machine. By accident, Ivan Bunsha,

an apartment complex manager, and George

Miloslavsky, a petty burglar, are transferred

to the 16th century Moscow, while Tsar Ivan

the Terrible goes into the year 1973.

White Sun of the Desert

(1973)

(In Russian, English, French and Arabic,

with subtitles in English, Russian, Arabic,

Spanish, French, German, Chinese,

Japanese, Dutch, Hebrew, Italian, Swedish)

A soldier of the Red Army named Sukhov has

been fighting in the Russian Civil War in Russian

Asia for many years. Just as he is about to return

home to his wife, Sukhov is chosen to guard and

protect the harem of a guerilla leader (Abdulla).

Abdulla is wanted by the Red Army and left his

harem behind because the women hindered him.

Sukhov's task proves to be more difficult than he

imagined...

East-West

(1999)

(In Russian and French, with English and French subtitles)

Shortly after the war, Alexei, his wife, Marie, and their

son travel to Russia from France to make a new life for

themselves. But the situation in Russia gets sticky and

they can't leave. Sacha is a young athlete who lives in

the same overcrowded apartment complex. Like Marie,

he wants to escape, and the two of them grow close as

Marie and Alexei grow apart.  But one of these characters

is harboring a secret that won't be revealed until the end.

Barber of Siberia

(1998)

(In Russian with English subtitles)

The film takes place during the rule of Alexander III.

McCracken and Jane, disguised as his daughter, try

to blackmail the Commission on Technical Innovations.

In the process, Jane meets Cadet Andrey Tolstoy and

his comrades. Jane’s Moscow target is to be the head of

the cadet school, General Radlov who is also Chairman

of the Commission. However, the General falls for her,

while she, on the other hand, prefers Andrey who responds

to her with passion. The showdown takes place… during a

student production of “The Barber of Seville”. Andrey attacks

Radlov directly from the stage. Unfortunately for Andrey, the

performance is attended by the Grand Duke...

Commissar

(1967)

(In Russian, English, and French, with English subtitles)

A female commissar named Vavilova has to leave

her detachment for a while. She is expecting a baby...

Staying with the Jewish family of a petty artisan, who

has many children of his own, and observing the everyday

life of those poor but always ready to help people,

Vavilova discovers a new world of human joys, the happy

pleasures of motherhood and family life. But soon she has

to return to the realities of war and leave her newborn son

with her new friends...

Vassilisa the Beautiful

(1939)

(In Russian, with subtitles in English,Russian, Spanish,

French, German, Chinese, Japanese,

Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, and Hebrew)

This film is based on a popular Russian folk tale. There once

lived a father who had three sons. His two elder sons, Anton

and Agafon, had chosen themselves regular girls for brides,

but the youngest one, Ivanushka, brought to his home a frog

from the marshes. However, the frog was actually a beautiful

girl, Vassilisa, over whom Gorynych the Serpent had cast a

spell.  Ivanushka has to overcome many obstacles to return

Vassilisa to her true form.

Eralash

(In Russian, with no subtitles)

Popular children's series.

Doctor Zhivago

(2003)

(In English with English subtitles)

This British mini-series is based on Boris Pasternak's novel of

a Russian physician-poet whose comfortable life is upended by

the Revolution. The torment of Zhivago as he must choose

between his well-bred childhood sweetheart and the tragically

beautiful Lara (Keira Knightley, from Pirates of the Caribbean)

remains compelling.

Dr. Zhivago

(2006)

(In Russian, with English subtitles)

This is the story as told on Russian T.V.

(1995)

(In Russian with English subtitles)

The year is 1936, and Stalin's purges are in full swing. Despite

his reputation and revolutionary record, Sergei Kotov seems

to be on the dictator's hit list, as indicated by the insulting arrival

of his wife's former lover, an agent of government police. The

director ingeniously understates the mounting threat until one

begins to realize that the Kotovs are only geographically distant

from the long, bloody reach of Stalin, and this is indeed the last

happy season in the life of the Bolshevik hero's family. By the time

we do realize it, the shock of change is almost unbearable.

--Tom Keogh

(1997)

(In Czech with English subtitles)

Winner of the Academy Award(R) and Golden Globe as Best

Foreign Language Film, this irresistible comedy treat was

embraced by critics and audiences everywhere! A confirmed

Czech bachelor is in for the surprise of his life when a get-rich-

quick scheme backfires ... setting off a wild set of circumstances

-- and leaving him with a pint-sized new roommate! Now, with a

mischievous Russian five-year-old named Kolya suddenly in his

care ... life in this once carefree playboy's tiny apartment changes

faster than he could ever imagine!

Set high in the imposing, isolated Caucasus mountains,

where the 20th century meets ancient lifestyles, Sergei

Bodrov's drama of the Chechyn war finds two opposing

cultures locked in conflict for so long that the reasons

seem moot. Young Russian grunt Vanya and his jaded

veteran Sergeant survive an ambush by Chechyn guerrillas

and wind up hostages of a village elder, a war-weary

widower who has lost almost everything to fighting and

wants merely to swap them for his POW son.

--Sean Axmaker

Russian Ark

(The Masterworks Edition)

(2002)

(In Russian with English subtitles)

Russian master Alexander Sokurov has tapped into the very flow

of history itself for this flabbergasting film. Thanks to the miracles

of digital video, Sokurov (and cinematographer Tilman Buttner)

uses a single, unbroken, 90-minute shot to wind his way through

the Hermitage in St. Petersburg--the repository of Russian art and

the former home to royalty. Gliding through time, we glimpse

Catherine II, modern-day museum-goers, and the doomed family

of Nicholas II. History collapses on itself, as the opulence of the

past and the horrors of the 20th century collide, and each door that

opens onto yet another breathtaking gallery is another century to

be heard from. --Robert Horton

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears

(1979)

(In Russian with English subtitles)

“This captivating love story starts with a young woman, Katya,

reporting to her Worker's Dormitory friends that she has flunked

by two points the exam to get into university. It ends with the

most incredible sweetness of life. The Moscow we see that does

not believe in tears does believe in love, and it is not a Moscow

of politics…”  -- Dennis Littrell

“I miss those times. I really do. This film was a huge hit in the

USSR when it came out in 1979. I went to the movie theater

with my parents to see it. Loved it then, still love it now. We

didn't care much then about politics, we cared about each other.

And this is what this film shows at its best - real life, real friends..."
Reviewed by www.russianwriter.net

Ostrov

(The Island)

(2006)

(In Russian with English subtitles)

Winner of 5 Nika Awards (Russian Oscars) including Best

Film. Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian

Orthodox monastery lives a very unusual man. His fellow-

monks are confused by his bizarre conduct. Those who

visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal,

exorcise demons and foretell the future. However, he

considers himself unworthy because of a sin he committed

in his youth. The film is a parable, combining the realities

of Russian everyday life with monastic ritual and routine.

Bimmer / Bumer

(2003)

(In Russian with English subtitles)

A black BMW hurtles through the night streets of Moscow, chased. A chain of events with showdowns and shootouts has brought four men, four friends outside the law, together. In a life without rules, they have no way back, and the black "Bimmer", powerful and reliable, carries them ever further from Moscow, into the wild and merciless isolation of the Russian hinterlands... There are roads that shouldn't be traveled...

Window to Paris

(1995)

(In Russian with English subtitles)

Nicely set in St. Petersburg in the early 90s, when the Soviet Union has just collapsed, it depicts how life really was during those first few hard years - the transition from socialism to capitalism.  When the people in a communal apartment find a window into Paris, the window becomes their opportunity to see the world. They take that opportunity..... - Palal