Russian Cinema
Early films from the then Soviet Union had a shaky start due to the First World War and the October Revolution in 1917, but Lenin himself and later Stalin recognised the propaganda uses of the medium. At first, with the infrastructure in tatters and virtually no cinemas in which to screen films, shorts expounding communism were carried from place to place often accompanying live speakers. Once Moscow's first cinema was opened at the end of 1921, newsreels became common. But in 1924 Sergei Eisenstein's 'Strike' became the first true Soviet feature. The following year his 'Battleship Potemkin' was launched to great acclaim, highly propagandistic and towing the party line.
Tight restrictions on content continued up until Stalin's death in 1953 and it wasn't until the '60s and '70s that seminal Russian film makers like Andrei Tarkovsky, Sergo Paradjanov and Nikita Mikhalkov began to find their own voice.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the largely state-funded film industry all but disappeared and is only now beginning to find its feet once more. A few gems found their way to Alice's shelves from this period, such as 'Burnt By The Sun' (1994), 'Prisoner of the Mountains' (1996), and our one and only Estonian film is to be found in this section, for want of a better home, the darkly humourous 'Darkness in Tallinn' (1993). 2002 saw the release of 'Russian Ark' (pictured), shot in one take, it is the longest unedited film ever made.
Moloch (1999)
6.8/10
Director: Alexander Sokurov
Starring: Leonid Mozgovoy, Elena Rufanova
A 1942 weekend at Adolf Hitler's mountain retreat of Berchtesgaden is the setting for Russian director Alexander Sokurov's controversial character stu... Read more
Mother and Son (1998)
7.6/10
Director: Alexander Sokurov
Starring: Gudren Geyer, Alexei Ananishnov
This emotionally and visually stunning offering from Russian director Alexander Sokurov awakens the senses to the world of nature, human relationships... Read more
The Thief (1997)
7.7/10
Director: Pavel Chukhraj
Starring: Vladimir Mashkov, Ekaterina Rednikova
This widely acclaimed film is arresting as both an intense drama about a troubling family dynamic and as an allegory about the tension that filled the... Read more
Prisoner of the Mountains (1996)
7.6/10
Director: Sergei Bodrov
Starring: Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov Jr
This devastating drama, based loosely on Tolstoy's Prisoner of the Caucsus, tells of two Russian soldiers captured by Chechen rebels and held in an im... Read more
Window To Paris (1995)
7.4/10
Director: Yuri Mamin
Starring: Agnes Soral, Serguei Dontsov, Victor Mikhailov
An unusual fantasy from Russia about a group of St. Petersburg residents who find a strange 'spatial ladder' in the closet of a deceased neighbor that... Read more
Burnt by the Sun (1994)
8/10
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Starring: Oleg Menshikov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite
One of the first Russian films to deal openly with the Stalin purges, and a mesmerisingly beautiful chronicle of love, family, and the intrusion of po... Read more
Khrustalyov, My Car! (Blu-ray) (1988)
7.4/10
Director: Aleksei German
Military doctor General Klenski is arrested in Stalin's Russia in 1953 during an anti-Semitic political campaign accused of being a participant in so-... Read more
Ashik Kerib (1988)
7.5/10
Director: Sergei Paradjanov
Starring: Yuri Migoyan, Sofiko Chiaureli
Based on a story by Russian author Mikhail Lermontov, Ashik Kerib has the texture of an ancient, oft-told tale. Yuri Mgoyan stars as a wandering troub... Read more
The Legend of Suram Fortress (1985)
7.5/10
Director: Sergei Paradjanov
Starring: Levan Outchanechvili, Zourab Kipchidze, Yuri Goyan, Veronika Metonidze, Levan Na...
THE LEGEND OF SURAM FORTRESS (1985) - Based on an ancient legend, this dazzling film follows repeated efforts by the Georgian people to construct a de... Read more
Come and See (1985)
8.2/10
Director: Elem Klimov
Starring: Alexei Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Vladas Bagdonas
The thoroughly mesmerising chronicle of the initiation of a young teen (impressively played by Alexei Kravchenko) into the horror and insanity of war,... Read more