Andrei Myagkov Movies

The social ferment in late 19th century Russia which led to the 1917 Russian Revolution is movingly portrayed in this lengthy historical drama, which is very faithful to the 1907 novel The Mother by the celebrated Marxist writer Maxim Gorky (1868-1936). In the story, "the mother" (Inna Tchourikova) has no other recourse than to watch her decent, kindly husband turn into an animalistic, drunken brute as a result of working in the inhuman conditions of a steel mill in the town of Sormovo. When he begins to express his suppressed rage by beating her, she is defended by her teenaged son Pavel (depicted Viktor Rakov as an adult, Sacha Chichonok as a boy). After his father's death, Pavel is forced to go to work in the same factory. However, Pavel and his friends begin investigating Marxism and socialist thought, and work to organize their fellow workers. One of them becomes a police informer, and when the friends discover this, they force him to commit suicide. Later, when Pavel is captured by the police, he pretends to be willing to inform on his group as well, but this is a ruse, and he leads demonstrations against the ownership of the factory. Meanwhile, Pavel's mother has gotten involved in the cause in small way. When the socialist cell Pavel belongs to is taken away to trial, they are sentenced to a prison term in Siberia, and he makes a fiery pro-socialist speech from the train platform as he is being shipped away. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Andrei Myagkov stars as a researcher whose work is "stolen" by his supervisors. In return, he enjoys the comforts of a promotion with a car, a nice apartment, and he is married to a beautiful woman. He is perfectly happy and complacent in his new life until he meets his teenage daughter who grew up without him in another town. This "wakes him up" to such an extent that he is even willing to give up his own life to save someone else's life. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Sluzhebny Roman won the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 1979 and was well-received by Russian audiences. One of the most popular films by director Eldar Ryazanov, it had no overt political content and was simply a funny romantic comedy. Andrei Myagkov plays a clerk, a widower with two children; Alisa Freindlikh plays his boss, a woman so committed to her career that she spares no time for her appearance. Her manner irritates the clerk so much that he makes a bet with his office-mates that he can awaken the woman in her. He begins, therefore, to court her. She is decidedly dowdy and mannish, and the advances of her clerk catch her by surprise. She seeks advice from her best friend about how to proceed. Based on his bantering manner with her, her friend advises her to invite him to dinner. Even at dinner, she can't soften her brusque office manner, and a fight breaks out. Nonetheless, love eventually wins the day. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi