Sergei Loznitsa - Polustanok aka Train Stop (2000)

Trains travel through the night without stopping. The clatter of the carriages quickly disappears, along with the wail of the locomotive. The people at the station are all asleep. But why are they so exhausted ? And what are they waiting for?

Sergei Loznitsa - Zhizn, osin AKA Life, Autumn (1999)

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What first appear to be photographs of elderly Russian peasants and farmers, becomes an evocative meditation on old Russia and new, a snapshot of a disappearing way of life. As they stand in their work clothes, often with tools by their side, looking into the camera, this remarkable film with poetic rigor, captures a people, a world, that is quickly vanishing.

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So wird aus alltäglichem eine ergreifende Wirkung erzielt, teilt sich der Lebensrhythmus, die Geschichte eines Volkes mit Wärme. Lakonie und Humor mit 'Leben, Herbst' schafft es in einer Kürze alle großen Fragen des menschlichen Lebens zu thematisieren und findet damit, Kulturen übergreifend, einen gemeinsamen Nenner. [MDR Kultur]

Sergei Loznitsa - Fabrika AKA Factory (2004)

The filmmaker shows how a pure form of cinematography can indeed be created within the nitty-gritty of an archaic metal factory.

Semyon Aranovich & Aleksandr Sokurov- Altovaya sonata. Dmitriy Shostakovich aka Sonata for viola (1981)

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A deeply moving and reverent biopic of Soviet composer and pianist Dmitri Shostakovich. It's co-directed by Aleksandr Sokurov ("The Russian Ark") and veteran filmmaker Semyon Aranovich. Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg in 1906 and died in Moscow in 1975. The understated black-and-white biopic follows Shostakovich as a frail young man as seen through photographs and traces his life through personal documents, recorded appearances, and concert performances of his work set against archival footage of daily life in the Soviet Union. It shows him during his glory days of early critical acclaim until his disfavor under Stalin because of his political views and struggle for creative freedom. He was honored in 1958, five years after Stalin's death, by his country, as he was awarded the second Order of Lenin after graciously not accepting it a year earlier in order for the first Order of Lenin to be posthumously awarded to Sergei Prokofiev. He was recognized for his genius in composing the 7th Symphony during the Second World War, which was an uplifting reminder of the war. It opens with the scene set in a besieged Leningrad. Shostakovich's dream was to bring his music to the masses and give his people an appreciation for their rich culture. The title comes about because Shostakovich's "Sonata for Violin" was the only work he composed that he never heard performed. The film, made in 1981, was discovered after it was buried to hide it from the KGB, who at an earlier date banned it.

Aleksandr Sokurov - Chitayem Blokadnuyu Knigu AKA Reading Book Of Blockade (2009)

The lengthy siege of Leningrad during World War II cost a million civilian lives. In Alexander Sokurov's documentary, various people - actors, journalists, students, soldiers - read eyewitness accounts about this 'historic and cultural disaster', to use Sokurovr's words.

Nikita Mikhalkov - 12 aka 12 razgnevannyh muzhchin (2007)

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A loose remake of 12 Angry Men (1957), set in a Russian school in the war-torn republic of Chechnya. 12 jurors are struggling to decide the fate of a Chechen teenager (Apti Magamaev) who allegedly killed his Russian stepfather. The jurors: a racist taxi-driver, a suspicious doctor, a vacillating TV producer, a Holocaust survivor, a flamboyant musician, a cemetery manager, and others represent the fragmented society of modern day Russia. Amidst the battle between Chechens and Russians outside, a stray bird (a touch of New Age cinema) is flying above the jurors heads, alluding to tolerance. Written by Steve Shelokhonov

Nikita Mikhalkov - Utomlyonnye solntsem AKA Burnt By The Sun (1994)

Review
By the early '90s, it was finally possible for filmmakers working in the former Soviet Union to deal honestly with the horrors of the 1930s, when Stalin and his regime "reassessed" the contributions of many heroes of the Revolution, resulting in mass imprisonments and death for many millions. Nikita Mikhalkov's brilliant film about those dark days is ironically set at a sunny summer retreat where Serguei Petrovich Kotov (Mikhalkov), an officer who has been honored for his contributions to the success of the state, and his family are enjoying an idyllic summer's day. The film's deliberate pacing for a full half-hour (we might think we're watching the Russian equivalent of Renoir's Partie De Campagne) lulls the viewer into a false sense of serenity. When Dimitri, an old lover of Kotov's young wife and now a government official, arrives, Mikhalkov allows our suspicion that Dimitri's visit isn't merely personal to accumulate slowly. The film flirts with sentimentality, especially in casting Mikhalkov's real-life daughter as Kotov's irresistibly cute little girl, but after all, the filmmaker's goal is to show the toll that a repressive political regime can exact on the lives of individual citizens. (AMG)

Nikita Mikhalkov - Neskolko dney iz zhizni I.I. Oblomova AKA A Few Days in the Life of I.I. Oblomov (1979)

Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov takes a break from emulating his beloved Chekhov to film the classic Ivan Goncharov novel Oblomov. The title character (played by Oleg Tabakov) is a 19th century Russian civil servant and landlord who chooses to go to bed one day--and never get up. Preferring to sleep his way through life rather than confront it, Oblomov is shaken from his slumbers by the arrival of a childhood friend Shtoltz. A series of flashbacks show why it is that this friend's presence gets Oblomov out of his 'jammies and back on his feet. Also known as A Few Days in the Life of I. I. Oblomov, this sprightly film is an excellent early example of the work of the director who would win a 1994 Oscar for his Burnt by the Sun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide