Thread: Films & TV: Russian & Non - Q&As/Reviews/Links all in here!

ADDED: Aha! I've found an explanation on the other forum. They do it to blow away the fractions of tobacco, that happen to be in the "filter end" of the cigarette (and since there's no actual filter in 'papirosy', just a holllow paper tube, they can be unpleasant)

Originally Posted by rockzmom

I see that detective Gleb Zheglov (who I am really liking BTW)

If you haven't like him for some reasons, you should imideatily stop watching these series. IMHO if there wasn't Vysоtsky it would be an ordinary crime fiction movie.
About blowing into papyrosses... Sorry, I can't help you with any helpful hints, although beeing a rather heavy cigarette smoker I can't imagine why they were blowing into... Although I had seen this many times in my childhood, and even was wondering, like "why adults are blowing into the paryroses?", I still don't know for what purpose that is done for?

Originally Posted by rockzmom

what is the book at 3:33? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbkT1TUcRIk
Note to anyone who might want to make subtitles... please include these little types of details!

The book is "Криминалистика"="Criminalistics ". I'm agree with birubirFilms that it's not important.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Also, I know I have asked questions before about the habit of cigarette smokers when I was watching "Seventeen Moments of Spring"... I see that detective Gleb Zheglov (who I am really liking BTW) has a habit of blowing into the ends of his cigarettes. Why does he do this?

Gleb was smoking papirosa (cigarette with a cardboard holder). Tobacco crumbs can get to a smoker's mouth. To avoid that smokers blow or knock them out and deform cardboard holder

Originally Posted by rockzmom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6WIkIkMlZc start watching at 5:08 and then he takes out another cigarette and does it again. He has a habit of this throughout the episode so far that I have watched. And once again, as I have never smoked, I don't understand why one would do this.

He was so distressed, angry, irritated that he just blown tobacco off from his cigarette. You can see it at 5:28

Merry Christmas everyone!
С Рождеством!


Rockzmom, now I want to watch Al Bundy and 3rd Rock from the Sun! Too bad I'm at work (and hardly... uhm hard at work...) so I'll have to have some patience. Thanks for the links!

Originally Posted by devochka

Merry Christmas everyone!
С Рождеством!

From me too!
Wow it's so hard to imagine Christmas being a regular day in Russia! In my country we celebrate for 3 days in a row.... But on the other hand, that saves you the super commercialistic and rather tacky build-up to Christmas..

Yesterday when I was at the Swedish Church here in London, I ran into some Finnish people I know. I mentioned that i had partly used my break from work to study Russian, and we started to talk about Russian TV.

Somebody mentioned a series she had watched a bit of, called «Колдовская любовь». I thought sounded good, so when I got home, I found it online and watched a couple of episodes.

From my perspective it was interesting to see the Russian countryside as it looks today, just as much as the plot.

Unfortunately I simply couldn't understand enough to really appreciate the plot --- I was only able to understand the very basics.

Has anyone seen this series?

Originally Posted by Johanna

Originally Posted by devochka

Merry Christmas everyone!
С Рождеством!

From me too!
Somebody mentioned a series she had watched a bit of, called «Колдовская любовь». I thought sounded good, so when I got home, I found it online and watched a couple of episodes.
From my perspective it was interesting to see the Russian countryside as it looks today, just as much as the plot.
Unfortunately I simply couldn't understand enough to really appreciate the plot --- I was only able to understand the very basics.
Has anyone seen this series?

Merry Christmas (to those who celebrate it)!

I loved "Колдовская любовь". viewtopic.php?f=23&t=16126
I haven't watched the second season of it yet. I'll try to find it on-line.

7 невест ефрейтора Збруева / (SEVEN BRIDES OF CORPORAL ZBRUEV), 1971

I found this movie very funny when I watched it the first time, and I wanted to rewatch it since then. It still amazes me that the censors actually authorised such a script in 1971. There are no anti-Soviet sentiments, of course, but the image of the "Soviet soldier" in this movie is not what you can expect. The "proper" protagonist (especially if he/she is a Soviet soldier ) should have been helpful, modest, brave, honest etc., etc., and usually if the protagonist deviated too far from this image it was looked upon by the authorities. It doesn't mean that all the characters in Soviet movies were poster children (far from it) , but you get the idea.

What do we have here? An ordinary guy and an exemplary soldier whose face was on the cover of the "Skilled Warrior" magazine, decides to meet his 7 (seven!) penpals (read 'mail brides') to choose one and only. He's not slimy or indecent, but he's flirty in his clumsy country way (he flirts with ALL the female characters) and naively full of himself, though not disgustingly so (and we later see that he does have many hidden talents).

Just some stray thoughts:

1. CUBAN CIGARS
The first laugh I had was in the beginning, when Zbruev (a showoff that he is) buys CUBAN SIGARS (40 kopecks a piece) in an ordinary train. The cigars were always viewed as something "foreign" (a nesecassary atribute of cartoonish imperialists) and it was beyond weird, that they sold them in shabby train vagons like that.

- Do you have a last year issue of "Skilled Warrior"?
- We don't sell rubbish.
- Your loss.



2.THE DANCE
Upon seeing "Pulp Fiction" I was sure for a long time that Tarantino "borrowed" the dance that V.Vega and Mia performed from that movie!! It's an scene when Zbruev buggs a haughty conductor until she agrees to teach him how to dance.

- What dance is popular among the civilians now?
- "The Leg". It means 'a leg' in English.
- Is it any good?
- It's modern.


Now I see that their dances differ more than I thought, but some funny moments are the same. Like when they take off their shoes for some reason, and make weird hand moves.

3. BRIDES

a) A stranger.
Zbruev was so busy dancing "The leg" that he missed his station, and they've never met.



b) A naive student.
"OMG! Why has he come?" Awkward...



[VIDEO]"Zbruev!"
watch at 3:20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqb4aTKIhmI

c) A famous actress who promptly asks him to do various housework.



d) A gushing and oh-so-romantic librarian, who immediately makes wedding plans.


"I'm always dreaming, dreaming! Tell me, do you want to fly away sometimes ? Does it happen to you?"
"... Aha.. Often."

[VIDEO] "What happened?"
9:06-9:30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMHIMoNXEfo

e) A komsomol activist.
Zbruev is impressed!


Unfortunately, she has a husband and was writing to Zbruev as a part of her work "on establishing connections with army".

f) A nice village girl, who's perfect, but she tells him off when she learns that she's not the only one.


g) ** SPOILERS **
A man! Seriously.

"That was me who wrote to you"



4. Also do not miss SCARY BABOOSHKAS. Hilarious!
5:50-6:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM4HnyqvToY

5. And I love these guys who appear out of the blue throughout the film! They remind me of singing mice from "Babe".
5:45
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMHIMoNXEfo

That's all. I hope you enjoyed it.

The film seems pretty charming and a bit of a bit of a "time machine trip" back in time... Did you happen to notice if there were any subtitles?
I think I will look for it and add it to my growing collection of Russian films on my hard drive. Bittorrent is a great thing....

I don't know if I'm imagining, but in the older films the actors seem to speak both slower and more clearly. They are even using simpler words. Strange, but that's how it seems to me!

Originally Posted by Lampada

I loved "Колдовская любовь". viewtopic.php?f=23&t=16126
I haven't watched the second season of it yet. I'll try to find it on-line.

The plot is about witchcraft in a rural village in Russia, during more or less present time, i.e. 2008.

I really like the series. Good plot, and it's unbelievable how much Russia has in common with Scandinavia in terms of nature, building styles and some traditions. I have to admit that the village from the series looks very old-fashioned to me though. I wonder what it's like in the winter when it gets cold.

Sadly, I can only understand about 25% of what is said. So I don't know what's happening! I don't understand what the mysterious doll was from the first episode, or what the villagers said about the milk that had turned black. I couldn't understand why Zhenia's mother was ill (there was definitely something mysterious about her illness).

EDIT - I noticed an English mistake! Lamps, you wrote: Merry Christmas (to those who celebrates it)! There should not be an "s" on celebrate. I think it's because "those" = "they" = plural = no "s".....

Originally Posted by Johanna

I don't know if I'm imagining, but in the older films the actors seem to speak both slower and more clearly.

I agree.They really cared about enunciation during Soviet times.

Did you happen to notice if there were any subtitles?

Only in Russian:
http://subtitry.ru/subtitles/294275252/

Originally Posted by rockzmom

hehehe...as it is Christmas Eve here in the States... take a break from the traditional "It's A Wonderful Life" and enjoy "The Worst Noel" with Al Bundy and his family! http://www.megavideo.com/?v=928VTNYX

Here is the script if you need it or want it: http://www.albundy.net/marriedaniac/...ipt/0813t.html

“Where have I heard that voice?” was the question I couldn’t answer for a while after hearing the lady utter a few words. I’m not familiar with the characters, don’t know her name yet but I knew at once that I heard the voice somewhere. But then it struck me, Turanga Leela from Futurama, that’s where, right? It can’t be otherwise, I know.

Originally Posted by alexB

Originally Posted by rockzmom

hehehe...as it is Christmas Eve here in the States... take a break from the traditional "It's A Wonderful Life" and enjoy "The Worst Noel" with Al Bundy and his family! http://www.megavideo.com/?v=928VTNYX

Here is the script if you need it or want it: http://www.albundy.net/marriedaniac/...ipt/0813t.html

“Where have I heard that voice?” was the question I couldn’t answer for a while after hearing the lady utter a few words. I’m not familiar with the characters, don’t know her name yet but I knew at once that I heard the voice somewhere. But then it struck me, Turanga Leela from Futurama, that’s where, right? It can’t be otherwise, I know.

You have an great ear there Alex! Yes, that is Katey Sagal and she has been in a ton of stuff http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005408/

And her father, Boris Sagal http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0755963/ , was a Director and Producer and was born in Dnepropetrovsk, Russia (now Ukraine).

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

2.THE DANCE
Upon seeing "Pulp Fiction" I was sure for a long time that Tarantino "borrowed" the dance that V.Vega and Mia performed from that movie!! It's an scene when Zbruev buggs a haughty conductor until she agrees to teach him how to dance.

Now I see that their dances differ more than I thought, but some funny moments are the same. Like when they take off their shoes for some reason, and make weird hand moves.

Every time when I saw the Pulp Fiction's dance I did always had a feeling like I should know very well where this dance came from. But I always confessed that this dance was performed in such a cute and fantastic way that it catches a viewer from the very first frame and this gives the viewer such a feeling. But today gRomoZeka has dug the real origin out why we do think that this dance looks really familiar to us.

Originally Posted by studyr

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Note to anyone who might want to make subtitles... please include these little types of details!

I[s:1d2rbbej]'m[/s:1d2rbbej] agree with birubirFilms that it's not important.

Oh studyr... you are so wrong on this one and here is why...

In this film, the director not only shows these "clues" or little details of information just in passing by, noooooo, he then pushes the camera in on them and holds the frame. He WANTS to make certain the viewer has time to read the information, the office name, the book title, the posters, banners and so on. If it were not important, he would have done as he did with the magazine later on and just not show the cover and only show the character reading it or holding it.

So, if it was that important that the director has gone to such length, it is important that the information be translated into English or whatever language the subtitles are. The viewer NEEDS this information or at least should be able to have it just as the director wanted it.

When a film is edited, it has to flow and as this was for TV it had to be a certain length too. Imagine how much time could have been saved or how the movie could have been without the close-ups, and yet... the director still kept those scenes... they were important to him for some reason. He fought to have them left in and so, when doing subtitles, that same care should be taken to honor that and make the nonRussian viewer have as much as possible the same feel and experience as a Russian viewer.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

In this film, the director not only shows these "clues" or little details of information just in passing by, noooooo, he then pushes the camera in on them and holds the frame. He WANTS to make certain the viewer has time to read the information, the office name, the book title, the posters, banners and so on. If it were not important, he would have done as he did with the magazine later on and just not show the cover and only show the character reading it or holding it.

Sharapov just intended to refresh his knowledge of criminalistics. What an important information can be produced out of it?

Originally Posted by rockzmom

The Solomons experience their first Christmas. Merry Watching!
part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gsNNcCpUws
part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CgHUO8ANk4
part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ffLNyBJ2W0

Recently, I watched "500 days of summer". It's funny to see little Tommy again.

Originally Posted by studyr

Sharapov just intended to refresh his knowledge of criminalistics. What an important information can be produced out of it?

The title of the book cannot be unimportant, if it was demonstrated to us in such a purposeful manner.

The possible implications are:
a) He tries to educate himself
b) He relies on book knowledge more than Zeglov, who relies on his experience and street smarts.
So it's probably one more detail that emphasizes the contrast between two main characters. Their difference is a significant part of the series, if I remember correctly.

This morning, one of the TV folks used the quote "Slowly I turn, step by step, inch by inch" and then he said, "I bet most of you don't even remember that one." I realized he was right and asked my family and none of them knew the phrase.

It is funny because all you have to do is type "slowly i t" in Google and it comes up!

Here are 3 versions

Three Stooges
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yJBhzMWJCc

Abbott & Costello
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr6VBg1SiYI

I Love Lucy starts at 2:20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIhptklh53U

The girls are watching Looney Tunes, I think Pepé Le Pew, and I hear the line, "You do know how to whistle don't you?"

Of course they have NO CLUE where that comes from... one of the best scenes in all movie history....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gFpoXYAm0o

[not a real review, but my impressions. And I'd like to hear what you think about this movie and series in general]

I've just watched "Terminator Salvation", and I liked it. Liked it a lot. First I was completely unspoiled, because I even didn't know they released it yet (yes, someone needs to bring me up to date), and it was a very pleasant surprise to see Christian Bale as John Connor. He's a great actor, and he alone makes half the film. Second, I could care less about seing more Terminators or Schwarzenegger or whatever, and had no expectations about the plot. I guess it helped, because (and I'm repeating myself) I liked that movie a lot. The casting and the romatic line were probably made with female audience in mind, and it worked for me. Not sure about you, guys. I've heard, T4 was not received well. ))))

But really.. Handsome taciturn guys in artfully shredded clunky uniforms, gritty postapocalyptic atmosphere, road chases (hello, Mad Max), fights and resistance that actually looked like resistance (unlike sad longfaced mutants in "Equilibrium")- what not to like? It reminded me popular action movies from my childhood ("Cyborg", anyone?). Even an obligatory "cute kid" was not annoying, and supporting cast was not bad either. The young guy who played Connor's father shined in the "Hearts in Atlantis", and it was nice to see him again (did you know that he's Russian and was born in St.Pete?).

The only thing that could be better is the ending. I'm not talking about ressurecting a certain character or changing it altogether, but it could have been played better. The transplantation in the middle of the desert without even bothering about blood types and such was the most unrealistic part of the movie. What's even worse it felt rushed, we were not given even a couple of minutes to contemplate what had happened. Other than that - a great movie in it's genre.

Did you like it?

PS.

No, I haven't watched this Terminator film and I am not sure I even watched the originals. Well maybe one of them, the one where Sarah Connor got locked into a mental hospital. Hasta la vista baby!

Haven't seen the Cyborg film from 1989 either!

But I did watch the recent series "Terminator, Sarah Connor Chronicles". It was good because it was partly from the point of view of Sarah and a female terminator who was "good". But the series got cancelled after only one or two seasons. This seems to happen to all TV series that I like. I wish they go back to making series that run for 10 years... Or why not 20 years like English "Coronation Street" and "East Enders". Unfortunately those are very boring though.

And have of course seen Cheburashka. Apart from the Russian original, there was also a spin-off series that ran for a decade, at least, which was actually produced in Sweden. A sort of a "chat show"/"documentary" for kids, hosted by Gena and Cheburashska. Cult.