Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Sergei M. Eisenstein - Bronenosets Potyomkin AKA Battleship Potemkin [2005 Restored Version] (1925)



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The Battleship Potemkin (1925), accompanied by a new arrangement of Edmund Meisel’s orchestral score, which Eisenstein himself authorized for the film’s Berlin premiere in 1926. The Battleship Potemkin was recognized from the start as a landmark work both for its innovative use of montage and for its sheer power as propaganda. In particular, the “Odessa steps” sequence is arguably the single most famous and widely quoted passage in the history of film. But in a sense The Battleship Potemkin has been the victim of its own effectiveness. Reissued over the years in various censored and reedited versions, Eisenstein’s great vision has not been seen for several decades in anything like what the director likely intended. This new version, overseen by the film archivist and historian Enno Patalas, attempts to reconstruct, as closely as possible, the film as it was presented in Moscow during its initial release.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Agasi Babayan - Dersu Uzala (1961)



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This is little known the first version of "Dersu Uzala" from 1961.
The famous Kurosawa's "Dersu Uzala" is a remake made 15 years later, in 1975.

SYNOPSIS:
Dersu Uzala is a 1961 Soviet film, adapted from the books of Vladimir Arsenyev, about his travels in Russian Far East with a native trapper, Dersu Uzala.

The film was produced by Mosnauchfilm, directed by Agasi Babayan with screenwriter Igor Bolgarin and featuring Adolf Shestakov and Kasym Zhakibayev.

The film won the Golden Wolf at the 1961 Bucharest Film Festival.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Vasili Pichul - Malenkaya Vera AKA Little Vera (1988) (DVD)

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In 1988 the first Soviet erotic film appeared as a symbol of perestroika. The scenes rather moderate for the genre were shocking for the domestic audiences. On the day of premiere the crowd around Moscow Film House was held back by the police.

The film enjoyed international commercial success. Natalia Negoda toured half of the world with the film, she co-starred the Oscar Awards ceremony, and was the first Russian actress to appear in Playboy. The slogan “From Russia with love” became known ever since.

Vera lives in a seaside town. Being kind and sensitive, down-to-earth and passionate, she can’t find her way, she doesn’t know what to do with her freedom, her youth and her beauty. She no more understands her drinking father and her mother who is just tired of life. The aimless being is suffocating for her; she needs love and happiness, which, East or West, not everyone can get…

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Mikhail Kalatozov - Letyat zhuravli AKA The Cranes Are Flying (1957) (DVD)



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The triumphant success of this film started with its winning the first prize at the Cannes festival in 1958, where an excellent acting by Tatiana Samoilova was also recognized. After that the picture was welcomed in numerous world’s movie theatres. This is a story of love that could not be destroyed even by war. Boris is felled by an enemy’s bullet in action. Veronica is devastated: she has lost her lover, her parents, her home. As an act of despair, she attempts to find a new family for herself, but only loses her self-respect. She is finally redeemed by rescuing a little boy from being run down by a car. She finds strength to continue living, refusing to believe that Boris is dead. Veronica would not stop waiting for him. Life for her is love, and its loss is equivalent to death…

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Victor A. Turin - Turksib [+Extras] (1929)



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Turksib: bold and exhilarating, Turksib charts the building of the Turkestan-Siberian railway. Presented in the English version prepared in 1930 by John Grierson, with an evocative new score by Guy Bartell (Bronnt Industries Kapital).

Monday, December 12, 2011

Tengiz Abuladze - Samkauli satrposatvis aka Necklace for My Beloved aka Ozherele dlya moey lyubimoy (1971)

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Three guys are living in a Dagestan aul, and all three are in love with the blue-eyed Serminaz. According to a mountaineers’ tradition, a young man seeking the hand and the heart of a beloved girl has to make her a present that she would remember for the rest of her life. The friends set out in search of the special gift…

Ali Khamrayev - Sedmaya pulya aka The Seventh Bullet (1974)

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Quote:
Classic movie....
2 July 2009 | by drakon_ultra (Israel)

Classic post Russian civil war movie. The movie is based on the conflict between the new atheistic communist government that ruled in Uzbekistan after the 1917 revolution in Russia and the traditional laws of Islam that Uzbek people believing for thousand years. The main character is communist officer Maksumov that organized an local communist squad for fighting with anti-government Islamic elements powered by international aid lead by England. The main anti hero is Hairulla the leader of this elements... The movie starts when Maksumov back from an capital and finding that all his squad abandon the post and moved for Hairula forces, Maksumov starting to get out a plan for backing his squad to explain them that Islamic way of life is past and the Soviet rules are much better for them...

Sergei Solovyov - Sto dney posle detstva AKA One Hundred Days After Childhood (1974)

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A group of Russian teenagers spend their summer at a summer camp. Mitia falls in love and gets so occupied with his own problems that he forgets the others.

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L'action se situe dans un camp de pionnier appartenant visiblement à quelque administration ou organisation de bon niveau social. L'un des éducateurs est un sculpteur fort en littérature classique, grand amateur de Lermontov. Le héros principal Mitia Lopoukhine, surnommé Lopoukh, va subir l'influence du sculpteur qui lui fait découvrir la valeur et le sens de l'art. Il devient amoureux d'une jeune fille, Droubitch, qui lit des livres en trois langues... La mise en scène de la pièce de théâtre Mascarade de Lermontov doit permettre aux adolescents de mieux comprendre sentiments, passions et valeurs morales.