Russian films

[zedzded]

I'm a little late to the game here, but here are my recommendations:

You all are a bit serious. I love Soviet comedies the best.

1. Mimino
2. Ivan Vasilovich Menyaet Professi
3. Operatsiya "ы" I Drugyi Priklucheniye Shurika
4. Brilyantovaya Ruka
5. Gentelmeni Udachi
6. Kavkazkaya Plenitsa
7. Bergis' Avtomobilya
8. Osobyenosti Natsionalni Oxoti

Musicals:
9. Volga Volga
10. Nebesniy Tikhokhod

And finally - NO ONE will know this one (even Russians), but it is one of the best films I have ever seen - a comic tragedy: "Oblaka-rai"

[yaricksl]

OK, read this carefully.

Think of your 10 favourite Russian films, but dont tell us what they are. We dont want to read lists of titles. Instead, pick one of them and tell us why that film is one of your picks. Tell us a bit about the film and what it teaches you about the Russian language and/or culture.

One film per posting please.

[mendeleyev]

Zed, several of the movies listed above are filled with comedy, irony, or a combination of both. That being said, I listed with each movie some of the things one can glean about language, life, and culture.

Example:

One of my all-time favourites, "Ballad of a Soldier" is a movie you will dwell on for a long time. It will help in understanding the Russian side of the war. Ballad of a Soldier (Баллада о солдате) is the story of a young conscript who serves the Red Army defending against the Nazi invasion. Desiring a short furlough to go home and visit his mother, this is the story of that journey, and sadly his fate when attempting to return to his unit on the front. Filmed in 1959, the movie is ageless.

Ballad of a Soldier (Баллада о солдате)

As for movies that include both culture, comedy and music:

So much of Russian life, Soviet life, and humour is in this movie. Rock and Roll/Jazz and swing dancing has finally arrived in the Soviet Union, but not everyone is happy about it. With subtitles, it is loaded in segments, so start with number 1 and select the next segment in their order.

Paste into YouTube: Stilyagi (with subtitles) Part 1

Your suggestion of Oblako-Rai (Облако-рай) is on YouTube:



I do not recall it being a box office giant but in 1990 the rage in Russia was over-dubbed Western films and thus many Russian movies were all but ignored. This one is set in the Republic of Karelia, a place few Westerners visit, and that in itself might be of interest to readers.

[mendeleyev]

zed, your suggestion of Gentlemen of Fortune (Джентльмены удачи) is worthwhile as a comedy to see how prison life, and to gain an understanding of the workings of the prosecutorial process in Soviet times--which hasn't really changed all that much.

I was going to post a YouTube link to the movie but at least for now the full length versions seem to have been deleted.