Thread: Finding Russian films in UK?

New Moscow penfriend says: hey, here's an idea! Why don't you watch films in Russian?

My immediate response to this is: because I can't get hold of foreign language films, because we in the UK are complete and utter philistines who have no interest in films from other countries (except America, and only if Brad Pitt's in them). But perhaps I am being hasty. Is there an easy source of Russian films in the UK? What DVD region is Russia, do they use the PAL TV format?

I would need subtitles, and the chance to watch them several times. I certainly couldn't follow Russian TV on the internet. Unfortunately, that would probably be the easiest option.

No doubt this has already been asked and answered, but I couldn't find it on a forum search.

well the answer is no my friend, although you can get SOME. ive seen a few in blockbuster, mainly nochnoi dozor (night watch) and idi smorti, come and see. maybe 9th compant (9aya rota).

your best bet is to download them (outside of local internet network, i cant find them for free). you will probably have to pay tho, but not much i wouldnt think. or you could order them from russian stores that are in the states. when i was in england i used to order movies, books and music (before zayets and hotcharts mwhaaa) from www.russianbeat.com, never had a problem.

you can check torrents too, but there arent really enough seeders. i started bumer 2 but it would have taken like a week
also, have a look at http://suharik.com/

hope that helps!

oh and russia follows both PAL and NTSC. you just have to choose the right one, although if you play it on your comp it should play both formats.
and if you did download a film you can easily download the subs for it

I use Ebay and have had no problems so far. DVDs with English subs have reached me from Hong Kong, Moldova, Russia at very reasonable prices and fairly promptly. Mind you, the English subs on a set of Shrafbat had obviously been done by a Japanese with a very limited command of English - and probably Russian too! Do a worldwide search for the titles you are interested in, check for English subs, and PAL format if necessary, & you will probably be surprised at the choice of suppliers. Choose one with a good feedback record and maybe order multi DVDs at once to save on postage.
After many more viewings, I will put my DVDs on Ebay too.

rainbowworrier, you can download many Russian film from the Internet (as avi-files). You can also download the subtitles for them.

There is a movie called "The Return" or Возвращение, it's intense but well worth the watching. I believe you can get ahold of it, I found it in Blockbuster in America, so England is bound to have it.

Originally Posted by strawberryfynch

There is a movie called "The Return" or Возвращение, it's intense but well worth the watching. I believe you can get ahold of it, I found it in Blockbuster in America, so England is bound to have it.

Yes, it's worth watching. By the way it's the only film ever (Russian or non-Russian) wich got two "Golden Lions" in Cannes.

I use Ebay and have had no problems so far.

Ah, eBay, what did I do without you? Got out more, probably.

OK, eBay is good. Until I figure out what my new Pentium 3 is capable of (just a little bit more that the Pentium 2, I suspect) I shall stick with low-tech options.

So the next question is, is there a guide to Russian film for complete beginners out there? You know, actual Russian films and not just films with titles in Russian. I really hate getting a new foreign-language film and then finding that it stars Brad Pitt.

Can you really watch NTSC DVDs on computers with a DVD player in them? How about DVDs from other regions?