This week I present you two favorite flicks of my husband.

ASSA / АССА (1987)

Genres/Tags: Crime, Drama, History
iMDB Rating: 7.8 out of 10 (based on 2170 ratings)
Director: Sergey Solovev
Starring: Natan Eidelman, Anatoly Slivnikov, German Shorr
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles

Description

ASSA is set in Crimea during the winter in the mid eighties. A young musician (Bananan) falls for mobster’s (Krymov) young mistress (Alika). The parallel story line involves an 18th century assassination plot.

Watch

The Bremen Town Musicians / Bremenskiye muzykanty / Бременские музыканты (1969)

On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians / Po sledam bremenskikh muzykantov / По следам бременских музыкантов (1973)

Genres/Tags: Animation, Short, Family
iMDB Rating: 8.0/7.9 out of 10 (based on 2223/1329 ratings)
Creators: Inessa Kovalevskaya, Vasiliy Livanov, Oleg Anofriev, Muslim Magomayev
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles

Description

A loosely based story on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Town Musicians of Bremen about a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster and their master Troubadour.

The Bremen Town Musicians

On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians

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One serious movie and one funny half-movie/half-animation? What can be better for another Russian Movies Weekend, eh?

Heart of a Dog / Sobachye serdtse / Собачье сердце (1988)

Genres/Tags: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
iMDB Rating: 8.7 out of 10 (based on 6271 ratings)
Director: Vladimir Bortko
Starring: Evgeniy Evstigneev, Vladimir Tolokonnikov, Boris Plotnikov
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles

Description

In the wake of the Russian revolution, Professor Preobrazhensky rescues a starving dog from the gutter, and attempts to transform him into a man. Based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel of the same name.

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Treasure Island / Ostrov sokrovishch / Остров сокровищ (1988)

Genres/Tags: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Musicle
iMDB Rating: 8.4 out of 10 (based on 2251 ratings)
Creators: David Cherkasskiy, Valeriy Bessarab, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Viktor Andrienko
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles

Description

Young Jim Hawkins finds himself serving with pirate captain Long John Silver in search of a buccaneer’s treasure, in this animated adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale.

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No Russian Movies Weekend this week, sorry. Too many repacks are in queue.

The first movie of this week is one of my favorites. The only problem for foreign people will be understanding of all idioms and accents of people in it, but the humor is pretty international.

Love and Pigeons / Lyobov i Golubi / Любовь и голуби (1985)

Genres/Tags: Comedy, Romance
iMDB Rating: 8.1 out of 10 (based on 3633 ratings)
Director: Vladimir Menshov
Starring: Aleksandr Mikhaylov, Nina Doroshina, Lyudmila Gurchenko
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles

Description

Vasily Kuzyakin (Alexander Mikhailov), an amateur pigeon breeder, lives in a small town with his wife Nadezhda and three children: Lyuda, who has returned from the city after parting with her husband, Lyonka, and Olya, her father’s favorite. When Vasily is injured at work, he is given a ticket to a seaside resort. While on holiday, Vasily meets a woman from the city named Raisa Zakharovna (Lyudmila Gurchenko), with whom he eventually has an affair…

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Three from Prostokvashino: The Trilogy / Troye iz Prostokvashino / Трое из Простоквашино (1978-1984)

Genres/Tags: Animation, Short, Adventure
iMDB Rating: 8.2 out of 10 (based on 2641 ratings)
Creators: Vladimir Popov, Eduard Uspenskiy, Oleg Tabakov, Valentina Talyzina, Mariya Vinogradova
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles

Description

Little Fedor brings a cat to home despite his mother’s distaste for cats. He runs away with his talking cat, to make more friends on the way.

Three from Prostokvashino

Vacations in Prostokvashino

Winter in Prostokvashino

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This week you should see those two masterpieces of the Soviet comedy genre, which are still aired up to this date on every major TV channel at least twice a year.

Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures / Operacya “Y” i drugie prikluchenia Shirika / Операция “Ы” и другие приключения Шурика (1965)

Genres/Tags: Comedy, Crime, Romance
iMDB Rating: 8.6 out of 10 (based on 11048 ratings)
Director: Leonid Gaidai
Starring: Aleksandr Demyanenko, Mikhail Pugovkin, Aleksei Smirnov
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles

Description

Three stories about Shurik – a young student. He fights against criminals, falls in love, confuses apartments, passes exams – he lives after all.

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Kidnapping, Caucasian Style / Kavkazskaya Plennica / Кавказская пленница (1967)

Genres/Tags: Adventure, Comedy, Romance
iMDB Rating: 8.4 out of 10 (based on 9927 ratings)
Director: Leonid Gaidai
Starring: Aleksandr Demyanenko, Natalya Varley, Ruslan Akhmetov
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles

Description

A young student Shurik comes to a remote mountainous region in search of ancient legends and traditions. Fooled by the corrupt local governor, he helps him to kidnap a beautiful young girl, but soon realizes what he’s done.

Watch

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This week I present you the Oscar-winning movie and the most popular animated series in Russia.

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears / Moskva slezam ne verit / Москва слезам не верит (1979)

Genres/Tags: Comedy, Drama, Romance
iMDB Rating: 8.1 out of 10 (based on 10605 ratings)
Director: Vladimir Menshov
Starring: Vera Alentova, Aleksey Batalov, Irina Muravyova
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, MULTi10 subtitles

Description

This is a life story of three girlfriends from youth to autumn ages. Their dreams and wishes, love, disillusions. Different careers. And big late love.

The film won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1981.

Watch (Part 1)

Watch (Part 2)

Well, Just You Wait! / Nu, pogodi! / Ну, погоди! (1969-2017)

Genres/Tags: Action, Family, Animation
iMDB Rating: 8.6 out of 10 (based on 4242 ratings)
Creators: Aleksandr Kurlyandskiy, Arkadiy Khayt, Feliks Kamov
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, subtitles mostly not needed

Description

A long-years odyssey of Wolf to catch Hare. Comprehensive changes in the Soviet Union pass in the background.

Watch

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This week I want to show you the two Russian movies about World World II I really like. The first one was made many years ago, before my birth. The other one is pretty modern, but somehow it keeps the old Soviet tradition of war movies – probably because it’s based on an book, which was piblished in 1973 (the year the first movie in this post was released).

Only “Old Men” Are Going Into Battle / V boi idut odni “stariki” / В бой идут одни “старики” (1973)

Genres/Tags: Comedy, Drama, War
iMDB Rating: 8.4 out of 10 (based on 4209 ratings)
Director: Leonid Bykov
Starring: Leonid Bykov, Sergei Podgornyj, Sergei Ivanov
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles

Description

Bogdan Titarenko is very talented pilot and brave leader of “Singing group”. He also must look after some new cadets and fight together with them against German Luftwaffe planes. Close to Bogdan always are his friends, they are all from different parts of the country, but they all became real brothers.

Watch (Original Black & White)

Watch (Colorized Version, 2009)

In August of 1944 / V avguste 44-go / В августе 44-го (2001)

Genres/Tags: Comedy, Drama, War
iMDB Rating: 7.5 out of 10 (based on 1286 ratings)
Director: Mikhail Ptashuk
Starring: Evgeniy Mironov, Vladislav Galkin, Yuri Kolokolnikov
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles

Description

The movie is set in Belarus, where a team of counter-intelligence officers is given only three days to find a German radio operator posing as a Soviet soldier, behind soviet lines, on the eve of a major offensive.

This movie can’t be called a pure “Russian” one, it’s a collaborative Belarusian-Russian production, but both Russians and Belarusians share the same history of fighting the nazis, so I’ve put it here.

Watch

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Another week – another Russian movies to see.

Zhiharka / Жихарка (2006)

Genres/Tags: Short Animation
Director: Oleg Uzhinov
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian or English Audio

Description

Russian folk tale. Fox wanted to eat a little girl named Zhiharka. However, to eat the naughty girl is absolutely impossible. In addition, the fox got a lot of trouble.

Watch (Russian Audio + English subtitles)

Watch (English Audio)

Watch (Español Latino)

Station for Two / Vokzal dlya dvoikh / Вокзал для двоих (1983)

Genres/Tags: Romantic Comedy
iMDB Rating: 7.9 out of 10 (based on 2634 ratings)
Director: Eldar Ryazanov
Starring: Lyudmila Gurchenko, Oleg Basilashvili, Nikita Mikhalkov
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English/Bulgarian/Chinese subtitles

Description

There are three main heroes in this movie: Vera, a waitress; Platon, a pianist; and … a train station where these two people met. The differences in the heroes’ characters and professions, the plight that Platon found himself in (he is to be arrested and undergo trial) trigger a host of both amusing and sad situations which serve as a backdrop for their unfolding love…

The film became the Soviet box office leader of 1983 with a total of 35.8 million ticket sales. It was entered into the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.

Watch

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This week we’ll go with Russian traditional festives: vodka, bears and balalaikas.

Peculiarities of the National Hunt / Osobennosti natsionalnoy okhoty / Особенности национальной охоты (1995)

Genres/Tags: Comedy
iMDB Rating: 7.5 out of 10 (based on 3549 ratings)
Director: Aleksandr Rogozhkin
Starring: Ville Haapasalo, Viktor Bychkov, Sergey Russkin
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles

Description

A Finn preparing a work on the Russian hunting traditions and customs, comes to Russia to collect materials and is invited to take part in a hunting party. His flamboyant companions include an Army general, with more than a passing resemblance to Aleksander Lebed, a police detective, local forest ranger (a devotee of Zen Buddhism) and some big-city types from St. Petersburg. Inevitably, their good intentions soon give way to endless drinking, visits to local farm girls and much else besides.

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At the Ends of the Earth / Na krau zemli / На краю земпи (1999)

Genres/Tags: Animation
Director: Konstantin Bronzit
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, subs are not needed

Description

A family lives in a house that teeters precariously on the very tip of a mountain. The balance of the house is affected not only by the family that lives inside, but also their cow, dog, …

Watch

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Another week, another Russian movies mini-pack.

Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession / Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future / Иван Васильевич меняет профессию (1973)

Genres/Tags: Comedy
iMDB Rating: 8.4 out of 10 (based on 13907 ratings)
Director: Leonid Gaidai
Starring: Yury Yakovlev, Leonid Kuravlyov, Aleksandr Demyanenko, Natalia Selezneva, Natalia Krachkovskaya
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, MULTi11 subtitles

Watch

Description

An ordinary Soviet building manager, living in the 20th century, is extremely similar to a Tsar of All Rus’ – Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-1584). He would never have known about this, but one day his neighbor created a time machine…

“Ivan Vasilievich” was one of the most attended movies in the Soviet Union in 1973 with more than 60 million tickets sold.

The Mystery of the Third Planet / Тайна третьей планеты (1981)

Genres/Tags: Animation
Director: Roman Kachanov
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English & Russian subtitles

Watch

Description

Captain Zelyonyy (Green), Professor Seleznyov and his daughter Alisa Selezneva set out from Earth aboard the starship “Pegas” (Pegasus), seeking out new animal species for the Moscow Zoo. On the advice of the archaeologist Gromozeka, they turn to Doctor Verkhovtsev, the director of the Museum of Two Captains, for help. But the doctor behaves suspiciously: he refuses to show them the Captains’ diaries and starts spying on the expedition…

The movie is considered a cult classic in Russia, it was included in various top list of animated films and science fiction films.

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