Irina Mazurkevich Movies

Anya was in love with her older sister's boyfriend Timoshin long before she emigrated from the then U.S.S.R. for America. Now she is no longer a teenager, and it seems to her that the ex-boxer, who married Anya's sister and is the father of a teenaged girl himself, might accept her love. She has come to Russia to participate in corporate negotiations, and, surprisingly, these involve the same comapany Timoshin now works for. At the very least, she can do him a favor, and help him keep his job after arranging for the corporate merger. Also, maybe she can win him away from her sister. This is a family reunion fraught with consequences, in this hectic tragicomedy. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Fans of Russian history will particularly enjoy this satirical political analogy, by director Sergey Ovtcharov which has been compared to earlier film classics such as Repentance and Zelig. Those without the requisite background may be somewhat mystified by it. The story is based on an 1870 novel by Mikhail Saltykov-Schtchedrin, which uses a long and involved tale about the history of one town as an allegory for the Russian nation as a whole. The entire story of the novel is retained in this film, which updates it by including similarly meaningful events in the village from 1870 through to the present. One highlight of the film is the performance of Rolan Bykov as Piotr Ferdystchenko, one of the town's mayors, who undergoes three metamorphoses symbolizing respectively Lenin, Stalin and Khruschev. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this romantic costume fantasy for grownups, Tsar Peter the Great's sensitive and intellectual black Ethiopian servant Hannibal (Vladimir Vysotsky) is in love but is unwilling to force the issue with his lady-love. A privileged character raised in the Russian court, the servant argues freely with his master over many issues. Though the Tsar is busy with his Europeanizing schemes, he takes the time to intervene in his servant's amours, and tries to force him into an arranged marriage. The story is remotely based on the history of a real person, who married a German countess; his grandson was the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi