Thread: UPDATED: Greatest Hits of Russian Cinema +100 Films / Movies

A list of highly recommended Russian-language films made in Russia or USSR / Soviet Union.
The original Excel spreadsheet can be downloaded at Rapidshare:
http://rapidshare.com/files/282564472/rusfilms.xls.html
Please feel free to download for personal use




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Originally Posted by Johanna

--There are hardly any musicals. Actually I added some... ok (???) or are there any better?

I have no idea what is the film "Soul" you mentioned in the list.
There was a very good director Ян Фрид; all his films were musical, and they were perfect. Many of them were quite popular. Here are the titles of his most famous films:
1977 — Собака на сене
1979 — Летучая мышь
1980 — Благочестивая Марта
1981 — Сильва
1989 — Дон Сезар де Базан
1992 — Тартюф

Also, I'd say that one way or another, we can call "musicals" many Russian films, i.e. "Office Romance" and especially "Irony of Fate". There were, of course, many others. But, however, the classical musical (like "Singing in the Rain" or "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg") is not quite a Russian genre. It applies to the theater, too, and even much more than to the cinema.

--Are there any Russian language films from other Russian speaking countries that could be included?

To be honest, the word combination "other Russian speaking countries" sounds strange to me. I don't think directors in those countries would shoot any films in Russian, even if they like Russia and Russians and Russian language. There are too many geopolitical conditions about that. Some exceptions could be in Ukraine, but I don't think they have money for making movies now. All the more so about Belarus.

Talking about 90th in Russia, there are very good (i.m.o.) TV series (they are about 90th but released in 00th):

[video:2td4ynex]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsHfgQwDamk[/video:2td4ynex]

Дама с собачкой: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=17555&p=212371&hilit=%D0%94%D 0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B0+%D1%81+%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B0%D 1%87%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9#p212371
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Пёс Барбос и необычный кросс:
1/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG1tyhVX5PA

2/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueq_DEQaNiA

Самогонщики

муз. Н. Богословского сл. В. Лифшица

Без каких-нибудь особенных затрат
Создан этот самогонный аппарат,
А приносит он, друзья, доход,
Между прочим, круглый год!

Я, признаться откровенно, очень рад
Лечь под этот электронный агрегат,
Чтобы капал самогон мне в рот
Днем и ночью круглый год!

А вот люди меж собою говорят:
За такой вот хитроумный аппарат
Просидеть мы можем без забот
За решеткой круглый год!

3/3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxPbdD4KDCI
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Белое солнце пустыни
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=13104&p=212291&hilit=%D0%91%D 0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B5+%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BD%D1 %86%D0%B5+%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8B%D0%BD%D0% B8#p212291

Thanks for the recommendation of films by Ян Фрид. I'll check it later and add to the list, and update.

About "other Russian speaking countries"... well I just meant it in exactly the way that we talk about "other French speaking countries" when we talk about French language cinema. For instance, there are French speaking films made in Switzerland, Belgium, Africa.. Same thing with German and a few other European languages.

So I thought maybe there had been some good Russian speaking film made in Belarus or Kazakhstan, for instance.. If so it would have been nice to put that on the list. But if like you suggest, there is no money, then perhaps they don't have movie industries yet. Also sooner or later there will be Russian speaking films from the Baltic states, because the EU would support such a project financially (e.g. films in "minority langauges" lol)

About that film, Soul - Yeah there definitely was such a film although I haven't seen it myself. I just wanted to find a Russian film with LOTS of singing, and I knew that the singer Sofia Rotaru had been in some films. So I checked IMDB and that's how I found out about that film.

Lord, I don't know how normal honest people survived the 1990s in Russia! It seemed like such a crazy time. Every time we turned on the TV there were dramatic news about Russia. Respect to everybody who lived through that!

Originally Posted by Johanna

About other Russian speaking countries... well I just meant it in exactly the way that we talk about "other French speaking countries" when we talk about French language cinema. For instance, there are French speaking films made in Switzerland, Belgium, Africa..

Of course, I understand what you meant, Johanna. But firstly, in Switzerland, Belgium, Algeria, Canada, French language is an official language, and in some of those countries it's the principal one. And there is no any state campaign directed against French language in those countries.
Secondly, when I wrote that "other Russian speaking countries" sounds strange, I didn't actually mean that I didn't know which countries you meant. But it just really sounds strange... I'm afraid I can't explain it better. Maybe it's because all those ex-USSR countries are quite new, and we Russians are not yet used to the conception of "other Russian speaking countries". And also because people in those countries know Russian only because they lived in the USSR, that is the older generation is meant; but young people in the majority don't know good Russian or don't know it at all, so those countries stronlgy tend to stop being "Russian speaking" in time. It doesn't apply to Belarus and Ukraine, though.

Also sooner or later there will be Russian speaking films from the Baltic states, because the EU would support such a project financially (e.g. films in "minority langauges" lol)

Well, obviously you guys have no idea about relations between Russia and Baltic states... Russian language is being fervently exterminated in Baltic countries, and if you ask something in Russian in a shop, you can get no answer, and it would be at best. They shoot social TV clips there, and Russian speaking people look negative in those clips. All that is done to cultivate hostility to Russian language. To imagine that some director would start to shoot there a film where characters would speak in Russian, is just impossible.
Actually, I don't think all those new countries have its own cinema in the full sense of the word, at least. Time is needed for that, and much of time, and a lot of good, gifted, talented directors. For this, good schools and institutes are needed (the best ones were in Russia during Soviet times, and everyone strove to Moscow if they wanted to achieve something). Those institutes can't be created and become the best if you have only five or ten years. Also, money is needed, and many other conditions.

Originally Posted by Johanna

Lord, I don't know how normal honest people survived the 1990s in Russia! It seemed like such a crazy time. Every time we turned on the TV there were dramatic news about Russia. Respect to everybody who lived through that!

Well, it were hard times, but I feel myself in real danger only once, then this mess took place:

[video:24znf6o0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hCJjfXZ_7M[/video:24znf6o0]

I was stupid 16 y.o. who was wandering along the Moscow streets and drinking beer with several friends when all this started. At first it was "cool", but when we saw several wounded people and even corpses, our only wish was to get out of there as fast as possible. Luckily my mom didn't know that I was in Moscow that day, in that case she could get a heart attack.

Gosh, you were near that!
The failed "revolution". I guess you can tell your mother now!

Haha, well at that same time I was at university... Studying political philosphy among other things. It sure felt strange to read Marx and Althusser, and write essays on Socialism as the USSR was literally falling apart in every sense of the word... (I did not love the USSR, but I had a lot of respect for it, and I had been hoping that it would reform to become more social democratic and less oppressive.)

In retrospect it seems that so many things were done wrong in the 1990s. For starters it seems you guys (all Russians) got ROBBED by the oligarchs in full view of your government. It's no wonder people got upset at Gorbachev'. I can't remember what triggered the revolution attempt. But it's hard to understand in retrospect why people liked Yeltsin so much. He seems to have allowed some seriously bad things to happen while he was president.

I am going to write a comment about the Russian language problems in the Baltic States that Olya mentioned. But I'll put it in the Political Discussions section.

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"Soul" Film that Olya hadn't heard of...
Gosh absolutely everything can be found on Youtube!!
Funky synth music from 1982 -- yeah baby! Very retro!!

[video:2hlenu85]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57X8xPb7mqE[/video:2hlenu85]

Originally Posted by Johanna

[Personally I noticed the following:
--There are hardly no films from the 1940s or 1950s.. Very few 1990s.

It would be nice to get a few more titles - that way the list could be:
"101 Greatest Hits of Russian Cinema"

.

You may often hear these days, at least from people of older generation, that today’s films are, to say the least, no good and there were days when they were good, meaning right the 50s that you noticed as neglected in the list and maybe the 40s too. Personally I pretty much share their disapproval of what’s being done in the field today, but for very few exceptions. I can’t put my finger on it, but I can’t watch today’s movies, as simple as that, I can’t stomach them. Sperk was curious early on as to the meaning of the expression “душа не принимает”, this is just the case – it doesn’t. But whereas I could watch the old movies back in the Soviet times and they seemed very good to me then, now I suddenly find it I can’t watch them either. I didn’t notice then but now I see there’s no step a character makes that’s not ruled by the soviet ideology. There’s no place there for simple human emotions, if you love somebody you have to remember that your priority is to love your motherland and the Communist Party, when someone dies on a battlefield he cannot die without taking his comrades’ word to consider him a communist and before you go to bed you have to make sure you have done everything you could for the five-year plan to be successfully fulfilled ahead of schedule. So the films left for me to watch are the ones that ideology touched but lightly, comedies of the 60s – 70s. That was where producers through sarcasms and innuendoes could more or less express their true feelings.
Here are some additions to the list. They must be comedies too or somewhere close.
Добро пожаловать, или посторонним вход запрещён. 1964г. Элем Климов.
Золотой телёнок. 1968г. Михаил Швейцер.
Начало. 1970г. Глеб Панфилов.
Забытая мелодия для флейты. 1987г. Эльдар Рязанов.

And one more thing - Здравствуйте, я ваша тётя is the stupidest film ever, in my point of view of course.

Originally Posted by alexB

Начало. 1970г. Глеб Панфилов.
Забытая мелодия для флейты. 1987г. Эльдар Рязанов.

Oh yes, I second that! I LOVE these two films! (only "Начало" is not a comedy, no...)
I also have recollected another very good Russian film, "Чучело".

P.S. And another one! "Дом, в котором я живу". It was shot in 1957, but I don't think "there is no place there for simple human emotions", as alexb wrote; I believe quite the contrary. Another film shot in the very same year, "The Cranes Are Flying" also doesn't seem to be an ideological film. Oh, and also "Судьба человека" that was shot in 1959! I don't remember if there is any piece of Soviet ideology there - maybe there are some... which is doubtful, anyway - but I only remember true poignant human emotions there, and fantastic acting... This is very true that there were many ideologocal Soviet films at that time; but most of them are forgotten now.

I noticed Andrei Rublev (1966) was not on the list.

There's a Ukrainian film I enjoyed quite a bit called Friend of the Deceased (1997). It has a little bit of Ukrainian in it but the rest is in Russian.

Also, Akira Kurasawa made a very good film entirely in Russian: Dersu Uzala (1975).

I'm sure this one has been brought up in other discussions, but I just recently enjoyed watching Eastern Promises. It's a film about the Russian mafia in London. It is not a Russian film in any sense, but it has a good amount of Russian language in it.

Thanks for the tip about "Friend of the deceased" sounds interesting. I'd like to know more about Ukraine, but I don't want to watch any film where the speech is in Ukrainian, for fear of confusing myself... (since I am struggling with the Russian as it is...)

I saw Eastern Promises on cable TV - I didn't like it too much.

Akira Kurasawa - Japanese?? In 1975 that's surprising! Has anyone seen this film?

Thanks for the tips from AlexB and Olya!
Those will go on that list. I will update in and re-upload.

It was very interesting to read Alex' view on Russian film making past and present.

Добро пожаловать, или посторонним вход запрещён. 1964г. Элем Климов.
Золотой телёнок. 1968г. Михаил Швейцер.
Начало. 1970г. Глеб Панфилов.
Забытая мелодия для флейты. 1987г. Эльдар Рязанов.

Brilliant, thanks!

Several people have mentioned political /ideological messages in Soviet films..
I honestly don't think it's a problem in the films I've seen from the 1960s and onwards...
I think the directors were simply avoiding politics as much as they could.

And as a comparison, if you watch Hollywood films there is also politics in it. It's just more subtle and woven into the film in such a way that people don't instantly notice it.

The 1980s were prime for films with a pro-US political messages. I don't know if you have watched such films post 1991 in Russia - but if not, believe: Many of the big hits of the 1980s were pure politics... Of course with a good story and good music.

Back in school, in Sweden, we did a review of popular current films for a "citizenship skills". The idea was to look for political messages in films from East and West. That was a very good exercise.

Even today there is plenty of politics coming out of Hollywood. Consumerism, general pro-US worldview and plenty of national stereotyping.

Personally I enjoy independant films (lower budgets) for this reason.

Originally Posted by Johanna

...Akira Kurasawa - Japanese?? In 1975 that's surprising! Has anyone seen this film?

Thanks to our friend Birubir ( http://www.youtube.com/user/birubirFilms ) it's all on the Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... type=&aq=f

Originally Posted by Johanna

Броненосец Потёмкин 1925 Battleship Potemkin I don't remember it well, but maybe "historical"
Чапаев 1934 Chapaev
Летят журавли 1957 Cranes are Flying one of The Great Patriotic War films
Дама с собачкой 1960 The Lady with the Little Dog drama
Пес барбос и необычный кросс 1961 Barbos and the Extraordinary Cross a comedy; a short film
Я шагаю по Москве 1964 Walking the Streets of Moscow
Тридцать Три 1965 Thirty Three
Неуловимые мстители 1966 The Elusive Revengers Adventures
Фильм, Фильм, Фильм 1968 Film Film Film! cartoon
Двенадцать стульев 1971 The Twelve Chairs comedy
Бег 1972 Flight drama
17 мгновений весны 1973 17 Moments of Spring
Здравствуйте, я ваша тётя 1975 Hello, I'm Your Aunt! comedy
Дни Турбиных 1976 Days of the Turbins drama
Не может быть 1976 Impossible! comedy
Служебный роман 1977 Office Romance Romantic comedy
Собака на сене 1977 The Dog in the Manger Musical comedy
Про Красную Шапочку 1977 About the Little Red Riding Hood Children's
Труффальдино из Бергамо 1977 Truffaldino from Bergamo Musical comedy
Место встречи изменить нельзя 1979 The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed Detective
Пять вечеров 1979 Five Evenings Drama
Осенний марафон 1979 The Autumn Marathon Comic drama
Жил-Был Пёс 1982 Once Upon a Dog Cartoon
Чародеи 1982 Magicians Romantic Tale / Comedy
Дом, который построил Свифт 1983 The House That Swift Built Mark Zakharov film (c)
Формула любви 1984 Formula of Love Mark Zakharov film (c), comedy
Человек С Бульвара Капуцинов 1987 The Man from Kaputsinov Boulevard
Собачье сердце 1988 Heart of a Dog
Дежа вю 1988 Deja Vu
Убить дракона 1988 To Kill A Dragon Mark Zakharov film (c)
Паспорт 1990 Passport
Утомленные солнцем 1994 Burnt by the Sun drama
Американская дочь 1995 American Daughter
Особенности национальной охоты 1995 Peculiarities of National Hunt comedy
Звезда 2002 Star War film, drama
Возвращение 2003 The Return Drama
Прогулка 2003 The Stroll
Ночной дозор 2004 Night Watch Fantasy
Граффити 2005 Graffiti
Волкодав 2006 Wolfhound
Дневной дозор 2006 Day Watch Fantasy

Also, I don't know why it stands in your list that "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is a Mystery.

может быть добавить фильм “Сказ про то, как царь Пётр арапа женил” (мелодрама, 1976 г.) ? Владимир Высoцкий играл главную роль, он играл дедушки Пушкина. мне это ужасно понравилась.

Maybe, add the film "How Peter the First Married Off His Moor" (melodrama, 1976)? Vladimir Vysоtsky played the leading role, he played Pushkin's grandfather. I enjoyed it immensely!

To be honest, the word combination "other Russian speaking countries" sounds strange to me. I don't think directors in those countries would shoot any films in Russian, even if they like Russia and Russians and Russian language. There are too many geopolitical conditions about that. Some exceptions could be in Ukraine, but I don't think they have money for making movies now. All the more so about Belarus.

I've been in Bishkek for the last 2 months. I work with Kyrgy Nationals everyday and we watch a lot of TV in our downtime.

I can tell you there are quite a number of Movies and TV shows that are made in Russian though, a lot of them have Kyrgyz language mixed in as well. I don't think thats grounds to disqualify the movies though, since there are thousands of movies that have foriegn languages spoken in them. Does Arnold saying "hasta la vista" in terminator make it a non-english movie?

I think the situation is just one that, outsideof Kyrgyzstan, nobody really cares. When I was living in America, you never really heard about Canadian or Australian movies. You had to go out and find them. So I doubt that movies from other Russian speaking countries would have a lot of distribution
inside of Russia when you can just watch a Russian movie instead.

Anyways, long story short, they do exhist.

Also, Ilya Muromets, director: Alexander Ptushko, 1956


Тоже Илья Муромец, режиссёр: Александр Птушко, 1956 г

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Muromets_(film)

Thanks Olya for helping with the categories!
I'm going to update that spreadsheet so that the finnished version is the first thing that people see when they open this topic.

That summary is probably very obvious to most Russian people...
But to those who don't speak Russian this information would be very hard to find out... So it's a very useful list. I'll make sure that the latest version is available on Rapidshare.

@Winifred - I'm adding the film that you mention, thanks!

@Dogboy- ur British right? What are you doing in Kirgistan?? I'm very curious!