Nikolay Khomeriki - 977 AKA Nine Seven Seven (2006)

Synopsis:
Serious boffin Ivan (Fedor Lavrov) arrives in unnamed town from Novosibirsk to take up a post at institute run by Sergey Sergeyevich (Pavel Lubimtsev) and is immediately put in charge of Unit 7 where the particle flux experiments are taking place. Maximum reading a subject can produce is 977, hence title, and fetching waif Rita (Klavdia Korshunova) does just that, but seems to disappear mysteriously from the sealed observation rooms every time the experiment is conducted. Overtones of Tarkovsky's "Solaris" and "Stalker" are bolstered by hints, so subtle those just reading the subtitles won't get them, that action takes place in the '70s.

Aleksandr Sokurov - Otets i syn (Father and Son) (2003)

Plot:
Father (Andrej Shetinin) and Son (Alexei Nejmyshev) live together in a rooftop apartment. They have lived alone for years in their own private world, full of memories and daily rituals. Sometimes they seem like brothers. Sometimes even like lovers. Following in his father's footsteps, Alexei attends military school. He likes sports, tends to be irresponsible and has problems with his girlfriend. She is jealous of Alexei's close relationship with his father. Despite knowing that all sons must one day live their own lives, Alexei is conflicted. Alexei's father knows he should maybe accept a better job in another city, maybe search for a new wife. But who will ease the pain of Alexei's nightmares?

Aleksandr Sokurov - Aleksandra [+Extras] (2007)

Russian master Aleksandr Sokurov has produced another majestic achievement with ALEXANDRA. In a rare instance of working from his own original script, Sokurov tells the simple tale of a woman in the twilight of her life who embarks on a special journey. As the story unfolds, Sokurov's deeper purpose is revealed, resulting in a work that speaks profoundly about the corrosive nature of war. Opera star Galina Vishnevskaya is Alexandra. She hasn't seen her grandson in seven years and, understanding that her life is coming to an end, she decides to visit him at his army camp in war-torn Chechnya. What at first is a beautiful reunion gradually becomes conflicted, as Alexandra is forced to accept the painful realization that she may no longer be the most important figure in her grandson's life. Furthermore, the strain the war is placing on these young men, combined with their restrictive conditions, is even harder for her to bear. When her grandson must return to work, Alexandra floats around the camp, having brief but profound interactions with many different soldiers. While these exchanges vary from the humorous to the dramatic, there is a striking purity and simplicity to Sokurov's overall vision--not to mention Vishnevskaya's unforgettable, heartbreaking performance--that makes ALEXANDRA feel universal and profound.

Sergei Loznitsa - Blokada (Блокада) AKA Blockade (2006)

Icarus Films PR about the movie:
The longest siege during World War II was that of Leningrad, which lasted for 900 days, from September 1941 to January 1944, when Hitler attempted to starve the Soviet city of three million people into submission. Estimates of the number of residents who died from starvation, disease or cold range from 641,000 to 800,000.

Comprised solely of rarely-seen footage found in Soviet film archives by director Sergei Losnitsa, BLOCKADE vividly re-creates those momentous events, featuring a meticulously reconstructed, state-of-the-art soundtrack added to the original black-and-white silent footage. The result gives viewers the eerie impression of being not just an observer but virtually a participant in the events as they unfold on the streets of Leningrad.

Timur Bekmambetov - Nochnoi Dozor (Ночной дозор) AKA Night Watch (2004)

Information

Little Shop of Horrors, Russian Style

By Oleg Liakhovich The Moscow News

On the heels of the XXVI Moscow International Film Festival came an event even more pompous and widely publicized - the premiere of a movie meant to spark a revival of Russia's popular cinema while giving Hollywood a battle royale on its own terms


Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor in original Russian) depicts the on-going struggle between the magical forces of good and evil in present-day Moscow. The movie was eagerly awaited by fans and became an object of an intense advertising campaign in all media. Its US $3mln budget - an incredible sum for a local movie - and plentiful special effects, also a novelty for Russian cinema with its established traditions of inexpensive quality dramas and solid adaptations of literary classics, were to make Night Watch Russia's equivalent of an American summer blockbuster. The producers actually went as far as officially calling it "the first Russian blockbuster" long before it had the chance to appear on screen. Even Russia's own Oscar winner and self-styled national sage director Nikita Mikhalkov, while admitting that the film "wasn't his thing", said that it was "cool" and called it Russia's "answer to Quentin Tarantino". Serious praise indeed - after all, only a dirty mind would suspect Mikhalkov of still being sore at old Quentin for "stealing" his Palme d'Or in Cannes back in 1994.
Lightsaber, Anyone?

Aleksandr Sokurov - Russkiy kovcheg (Русский ковчег) AKA Russian Ark (2002)

Roger Ebert wrote:
Every review of "Russian Ark" begins by discussing its method. The movie consists of one unbroken shot lasting the entire length of the film, as a camera glides through the Hermitage, the repository of Russian art and history in St. Petersburg. The cinematographer Tillman Buttner, using a Steadicam and high-def digital technology, joined with some 2,000 actors in an tight-wire act in which every mark and cue had to be hit without fail; there were two broken takes before the third time was the charm.

The subject of the film, which is written, directed and (in a sense) hosted by Alexander Sokurov, is no less than three centuries of Russian history. The camera doesn't merely take us on a guided tour of the art on the walls and in the corridors, but witnesses many visitors who came to the Hermitage over the years. Apart from anything else, this is one of the best-sustained ideas I have ever seen on the screen. Sokurov reportedly rehearsed his all-important camera move again and again with the cinematographer, the actors and the invisible sound and lighting technicians, knowing that the Hermitage would be given to him for only one precious day.