Thread: Russian Movies/Music

The first two Soviet movies that I ever bought on DVD (because I liked them so much on grainy old VHS tapes!) were 1973's Иван Василевич Меняет Профессию ("Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Professions") and 1967's Вий ("Viy" -- the name of a demonic monster who shows up at the end of the movie).

I definitely recommend both of these to learners because the DVD versions available through Amazon have excellent-quality subtitling in both English and Russian, so you can watch it first with the English subs to familiarize yourself with the characters and plot, then again with Russian subs for read-along practice with the dialogue. (Finding Russian movies with Russian subtitles is, alas, not always easy, so any DVD that has this feature is worth seeking out!)

Plus, they're both fun movies -- a bit campy and dated, but in a good way. "Ivan Vasilyevich" is a time-travel comedy that's set partly in 1970s Moscow (i.e., the Brezhnev era) and partly in 16th-century Moscow, and "Viy" is a wicked-witch thriller set in (I think) 18th-century Ukraine. "Viy" is also somewhat famous as the first [and only?] "horror" movie produced under Soviet censorship. (Though it's FAR from scary -- I doubt any kid older than 10 would get nightmares from it -- especially when you consider the ketchup-spattered gore films that were beginning to come out in the US, UK, and Italy in that era.)

P.S. I'm not at home right now, but I think that both of the DVD versions that I recommend (i.e., the ones with the good subtitles, and also very good video/audio quality) are distributed by the "RUSCICO" label -- you might find these films through other companies because they're so old, but I can't vouch for other versions.

P.P.S. If you want a WWII movie, Летят Журавли ("The Cranes are Flying") is definitely one of the all-time classics. Unfortunately, I don't have that one on DVD yet so I can't recommend a specific version to look for.

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

I definitely recommend both of these to learners because the DVD versions available through Amazon have excellent-quality subtitling in both English and Russian, so you can watch it first with the English subs to familiarize yourself with the characters and plot, then again with Russian subs for read-along practice with the dialogue. (Finding Russian movies with Russian subtitles is, alas, not always easy, so any DVD that has this feature is worth seeking out!)

P.P.S. If you want a WWII movie, ("The Cranes are Flying") is definitely one of the all-time classics. Unfortunately, I don't have that one on DVD yet so I can't recommend a specific version to look for.

Agree with both your comments - I have used the same approach. The problem is that very few Russian films are available with good quality subtitles. The film Летят Журавли is excellent. I have always hated ww2 films, but the Russian ones often take the perspective of the regular person, the women or the children and for that reason they are more interesting, I think. I managed to watch three (Russian) war films beginning to end, quite voluntarily - a record for me.

Originally Posted by younggun

The return looks pretty awesome. Have you watched the Brest Fortress?

I tried to watch Brest Fortress by the way, but quickly got bored. I'll have another go again some time...!

Originally Posted by Hanna

Agree with both your comments - I have used the same approach. The problem is that very few Russian films are available with good quality subtitles. The film Летят Журавли is excellent. I have always hated ww2 films, but the Russian ones often take the perspective of the regular person, the women or the children and for that reason they are more interesting, I think. I managed to watch three (Russian) war films beginning to end, quite voluntarily - a record for me.



I tried to watch Brest Fortress by the way, but quickly got bored. I'll have another go again some time...!

Yeah, I thought it would be better than the usual American war movies where the big, tough, lone American soldier comes in to save the world. I will give the movies listed above a crack. Will be good to have some with good subtiltes to follow along with.

The problem is that very few Russian films are available with good quality subtitles.

I think in general, a lot of the Soviet-era movies that are regarded as "classics" are more likely to be available on DVD with Russian subtitles. (My DVD of Ирония Судьбы also has good subtitles in both English and Russian.)

But more recent movies may lack Russian subtitles, at least on the versions that are made for the export market -- even though some of these feature subtitling in multiple foreign languages. (Although from checking out websites for deaf Russians, I gather that even "domestic market" DVDs often lack Russian subtitling!)

For example, I enjoyed "Night Watch" and its sequel "Day Watch," but both of these had subtitles only in English, so from a language-learning perspective they're not as useful (sometimes the characters talk so fast or indistinctly that I can't clearly make out all the Russian words, or I understand a word but it's not totally clear to me what case a noun is used in, etc.)