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

Originally Posted by Hanna

I have seen most of the episodes of the TV series. (yeah... admit... )
It is TERRIBLY materialistic, decadent etc but also fun and entertaining.

Nothing wrong about it. Since I haven't seen a single episode and can't judge I can readily believe it's entertaining. But yeah, materialistic is not something I enjoy first and foremost... Though you could say "Shopaholic" was quite materialistic and yet fun.

Originally Posted by Hanna

They sleep with a new guy in almost every episode.

That's... nice. But I suppose they are still searching for "true love" all the time.

Originally Posted by Hanna

The other point is to show off a lot of fashion, particularly shoes... A lot of women I knew got pretty stressed out about feeling that they ought to have clothes by the same designers as Carrie in the series. Many womens magazines here in the UK ran a feature on the fashion featured in the latest episode.

Ouch.

Johanna, you've totally freaked me out with your new nickname! I thought we've got a new member with a similar name!

I just realised that I have been sharing some opinions and even professional comments... The net (and the world) can be very small and I don't want anything I say here to haunt me at a later date. It's particularly complicated for work really, that's all. This is a nickname for my regular name, but I don't use it in England.
Hope it doesn't sound strange or something in Russian?

Originally Posted by Hanna

I just realised that I have been sharing some opinions and even professional comments... The net (and the world) can be very small and I don't want anything I say here to haunt me at a later date. It's particularly complicated for work really, that's all. This is a nickname for my regular name, but I don't use it in England.
Hope it doesn't sound strange or something in Russian?

Is this because of my PM ??

No, no! It was silly of me to sign up with my own name, hardly anyone is stupid enough to do that. Some people don't even want to say where they live. That said, those who i consider to be friends here already know my real name and I'd be more than happy to meet up with any of them in real life... But it's quite a different thing if some colleague or friend happened to stumble in on this forum and thought "hey I know her, I can't believe she is saying xyz". I just seriously dissed my job and even their hospitality gifts (movie premiere tickets and such... )

Originally Posted by Hanna

No, no! It was silly of me to sign up with my own name, hardly anyone is stupid enough to do that. Some people don't even want to say where they live. That said, those who i consider to be friends here already know my real name and I'd be more than happy to meet up with any of them in real life... But it's quite a different thing if some colleague or friend happened to stumble in on this forum and thought "hey I know her, I can't believe she is saying xyz". I just seriously dissed my job and even their hospitality gifts (movie premiere tickets and such... )

I totally understand that. I never disclose much about myself online (I dont even have social networks accounts) as in my field (academia) things you say might haunt you for a long time and will hurt your job prospects.
I guess it was a coincidence (my PM and your name switch).

Too funny Spanish with Russian subtitles!!! I can't win!!! http://www.megavideo.com/?d=2MMYXGNN

I saw a great show which I want to recommend to sci-fi fans:

"Caprica"

It's a spinoff of "Battlestar Galactica" and very cleverly done in my view. It raises some issues which are relevant at present, but set them in the future, on the planet "Caprica" prior to the events that are shown in "Battlestar Galactica".


It shows the birth of artificial intelligence in form of the Cylons; what motivates the creation of them.. and it features a sort of alternative online world, like a 3D/holographic internet, and the teen culture that springs up around it.

Basically if you like sci-fi, you'll enjoy this series!

Women will like it, because some of the most interesting characters are female.

I think it was made by a channel called "Syfy" (USA) - In Europe it's showing on the Scifi channel and of course, available to download. Recommended.

An obscure review: I saw a Swedish TV film by SVT (state TV) called "Ryska dörren" (The Russian door). This film had some funny moments, but on the whole, I give it only 1 star out of 5.

Allegedly it is based on a true story.
Trailer:http://www.framestation.se/drd.swf



The film is from last year, but it is supposed to take place in 1990 or perhaps 1989. The plot is that a Swedish man from the North is a bus driver on a long distance coach from Kiruna (Sweden) to Murmansk (Russia/USSR). During his stopover in Murmansk he meets a Russian woman (guide/interpreter) whom he falls in love with. However her mother is suspicious towards him, because he is a foreigner. The guide lives with her son, at her mothers' place.

The bus driver learns that the guides' mother needs to replace the front door to her flat, but is having trouble finding a replacement and getting it installed. He makes a promise to her that he will deliver a first-class door to her, and install it himself (so that she will realise that he is a good person...)

However the delivery of the door gets delayed due to bureacracy in Sweden, Finland and Russia (this bit is quite funny). In order to meet all the necessary bureacratic requirements, he has no choice but to make the door himself, from scratch.

Meanwhile the alcoholic and corrupt manager of the bus company fires the bus driver, and he is no longer able to travel to Murmansk due to travel restrictions of the time - it requires a special permission.

In order to be able to get back there, only one option exists, he needs to get on a workers' cultural exchange. For this, he first needs to get involved in a local socialist organisation. He is not a serious socialist, but fakes it... (this part is also funny, particularly a scene where some USSR citizens visit Sweden on an exchange going the other way.)

The bus drivers' efforts at getting on the cultural exchange pays off. He ends up actually smuggling the door with him into Russia, while on the cultural exchange...

Against all odds, with plenty of drama, he is able to deliver and install the door, and that's the end of the film.

The topic of the film is a bit strange to say the least. Two things seriously irritated me about it:

1) The bus driver could only speak very rudimentary Russian and frequently switches to English when he can't find the words in Russian.

2) How could there have been a coach to Murmansk while the USSR existed..! And who precisely would have used it??

3) The bus driver has a totally lame personality. Why would the smart and pretty Russian guide fall for him?! Makes little sense.

All and all, this film was interesting insight into how people lived in Northern Sweden and in Murmansk in the 1980s.
The extreme boozing culture in all three countries is realistic for sure... All the scenes from Murmansk were filmed there, so far as I could tell.

Originally Posted by Hanna

3) The bus driver has a totally lame personality. Why would the smart and pretty Russian guide fall for him?! Makes little sense.

Russian proverb: "Любовь зла - полюбишь и козла".

I have a question to Hanna here, tell me, please, does he speaks real Swedish or just rubbish?

http://video.mail.ru/mail/aitova077/803/809.html

It's rubbish!!

Well actually, it is some "German" words, basically says "I am sent by the Swedish king...", then mostly nonsense, or maybe my German is not the best... What's the name of this film? I have seen it ages ago (198x) and remember thinking how silly it was that in all of Russia they couldn't find anyone who could say a few simple sentences in Swedish... Replacing our beautiful language for mock German??!! But it happens in American films to...

Plus, can we have that area back please? Didn't *really* mean to declare war on Russia.. it was just a misunderstanding.... Is Kemsk the Russian name for the area that Vyborg is in?

Originally Posted by Hanna

Is Kemsk the Russian name for the area that Vyborg is in?

No, the city of Kem (Kemi in Finnish) is located almost on the shores of the White See, and Vyborg, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. Vyborg belonged to Sweden once, but I am not sure about Kem (I know that the lands around Kem were raided and ravaged by Swedish troops at one point, but I am not sure if they managed to keep the area for long)

Oh ok.. Gosh you really know your history! Sweden actually built that castle there in Vyborg; it was a big deal in school history, because it's located at a strategically important point -- whoever holds it controls the whole area.

I am a bit hazy on exactly what happened around that time, but to sum it up; Sweden declared war on Russia because it wanted some lands somewhere in Western Russia. And because the king at the time was about 18 years old and really wanted to fight Russia... (there is a very famous poem about that..)

But Russia won the war and took Finland and part of the Baltic states from Sweden. Can't remember the exact details.

EDIT: I just checked this... Apparently Russia took 1/3 of Sweden's entire territory at the time!! This was 1809.

All this is considered a great tragedy in Sweden, although some people also say it's good, because we haven't really been in any major wars since then, which has been good for the country.

I read in Swedish papers that there is a recent Russian film about the major RU-SE battle that took place 100 years before that. (Narva)

We should stick to playing icehockey with Russia, I think..........

Originally Posted by Hanna

It's rubbish!!
[...]
I have seen it ages ago (198x) and remember thinking how silly it was that in all of Russia they couldn't find anyone who could say a few simple sentences in Swedish... Replacing our beautiful language for mock German??!! But it happens in American films to...

It's a (slapstick) comedy, so they probably did not even try to be authentic. I won't be surprised if they have invented this gibberish purely for comic effect. Цигель, цигель, ай-лю-лю. ))

Originally Posted by Hanna

I read in Swedish papers that there is a recent Russian film about the major RU-SE battle that took place 100 years before that. (Narva)

I'm guessing it's The Sovereign's Servant (English title) or Слуга государев. Swedish wikipedia lol

I've been meaning to see this for a while. Is it any good, anyone? I heard it was pretty bad.

Originally Posted by Hanna

I read in Swedish papers that there is a recent Russian film about the major RU-SE battle that took place 100 years before that. (Narva)

I didn't watched the film but reviews says it's rather bad so I haven't a big desire to watch it. If you want a really good stuff about Geart Northern War from the Russian point of view I highly reccomend you to read the epic novel by Alexey Tolstoy "Peter I". It's one of my favorite books and I read it about 10 times. The last part of it describes early years of Northern War, including big chapters about Karl XII, his court and even his everyday life. The novel was translated in English in case you feel it's hard for you yet to go though this really BIG thing in Russian. The book was "filmatised" several times, but I didn't exactly liked the films comparing to the book.

Wow, thanks for the tip!
I am so impressed by the history skills of many people on this forum, including you...

I did not actually know about this book, but now I'm really intrigued. It's got to be exceptional if you have read it that many times...
(edit, the book is available in Swedish actually, but hasn't been reprinted for a while. The title is Tsar Peter. Interesting author -- he writes both scifi and historical novels!)

Also I did not know that this war was called "Great Northern" in Russia.

Frankly, I have always wondered why Karl XII is considered a hero king. He should NOT have attacked Russia... I don't know the details of this precisely. Sweden had a great position in Northern Europe and I don't think Russia was even interested in challenging that. So why did he declare war? I really don't know. But because of his greed and bad judgment everything was lost.

There was practically a personality cult around this king for a while.. Nowadays extreme nationalists, skinheads, nazis etc absolutely revere him still... Don't get why... Just because there are some cheezy poems about someone does not make him great.

Sweden has had some great kings, but in my view he was NOT one of them and I really don't understand the big deal about somebody who lost an empire through bad judgment.

pointing towards his doom...

Originally Posted by Hanna

Frankly, I have always wondered why Karl XII is considered a hero king. He should NOT have attacked Russia... I don't know the details of this precisely. Sweden had a great position in Northern Europe and I don't think Russia was even interested in challenging that. [b]So why did he declare war?

Baltic Sea. That's the reason. Peter was trying very hard to establish a foothold on its banks. If you look at the map of the Scandinavian peninsula you'll see that the only naval trade route was from Archangelsk which meant moving in the extreme north around the peninsula to mainland Europe. Russia had no ports in the Baltic sea and Sweden ruled these waters. Karl XII was trying to ban Peter's access to the Baltic Sea in this war. St. Petersburg is Russia's 'window' to Europe exactly because of that - the shortest naval way to Europe starts there.

Originally Posted by Hanna

What's the name of this film? I have seen it ages ago (198x) and remember thinking how silly it was that in all of Russia they couldn't find anyone who could say a few simple sentences in Swedish... Replacing our beautiful language for mock German??!! ?

It's "Иван Васильевич меняет профессию".

The whole story was a dream of Shurik, an amateur physicists injured during an experiment. The Ambassador couldn't speak Swedish because Shurik could not do it, apparently.

Oh yes, thanks! That film is on the top one hundred in the thread "Greatest hits of Russian cinema". There are so many Russian films I'd like to watch but I decided to start with newer films.