Vsevolod Larionov Movies

This fast-paced, convoluted bit of European escapist fare is set in crumbling contemporary Moscow, where a French composer finds himself seduced into a fantastic adventure after his flight to Paris is delayed and he finds himself broke and stranded in the Moscow airport. His temptress is the mischievous Oksana, who convinces him to sneak out of the airport to sample the Moscow nightlife. He doesn't realize that she is actually the daughter of Papa, a powerful local Mafia don. Papa looks weak and helpless, but he is anything but and secretly drugs the composer Phillipe's drink and then kidnaps him. When Phillipe awakens, Papa forces him to impersonate the commercial director of a huge French textile mill so the Mafioso can continue to con the leader of a recently liberated Central Asian country into investing in a non-existent mill. The plot works until the bilked gets his own revenge. Meanwhile, Phillipe and Oksana fall in love even though they realize that one of them must be sacrificed to save face. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In 1987, director Alla Surikova scored enormous success in her home country with Chelovek S Bulvara Kaputsinov, an engaging slapstick comedy about an idealistic film projectionist trying to introduce the Old West to the nascent art of motion pictures. This film, aptly named Choknutye / Crazy People, features another idealist, an Austrian engineer (Ulrich Pleitgen) who comes to 19th century Russia to build the first railroad. A group of aristocrats sees him as a direct threat to their thriving stagecoach business and they employ elaborate schemes to thwart his project. However, with the help of a dashing lieutenant (Nikolai Karachentsov), a double-dealing agent of the secret police (Leonid Yarmolnik), and a mysterious young woman named Maria (Olga Kabo), he manages to get the czar's approval. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

The book this film was based on was banned in the U.S.S.R. for several decades, and its author Boris Pilnyak "disappeared." This alone makes this film an important statement. The book was saved from oblivion during the Gorbachev era. The book and film together represent yet another stage in the ongoing reappraisal of Stalin's legacy. Mikhail Frunze was an important military figure during the Russian Civil War. He was appointed a minister of defense after the removal of Trotsky, because Stalin thought that Frunze would be loyal to him. Frunze failed to live up to Stalin's expectations and died suddenly -- or so everyone was told. The story is set in 1925 and concerns the sudden "resignation" due to sickness (poisoning) of Mikhail Frunze (Vladimir Steklov), whose appointment as U.S.S.R. defense minister happened when Stalin was taking the reins of power into his hands and was implementing his lifelong practice of killing or imprisoning anyone he felt threatened by. As he dies, the popular veteran reflects on the consequences of his excessive loyalty to Stalin (Viktor Proskurin). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Oci Ciornie was an international co-production tailored for Marcello Mastroianni. It received good reviews in Italy and France, and Mastroianni was awarded "Best Actor" at the Cannes Film Festival. However, some in Russia felt that director Mikhalkov (who previously received wide acclaim for another Chekhov adaptation, (An Unfinished Piece for the Player Piano) tried too hard to cater to foreign tastes rather than to convey Chekhov's mood. So this film conveys more of a foreign idea what Chekhov is about rather than a Russian one. In the story, Romano (Marcello Mastroianni) is living the life of a "kept" man in that he is the penniless husband of a rich aristocratic woman who supports him. Whenever life at home becomes too difficult for him, he goes off to some spa or other for a "rest cure." In addition to resting, the clownish fellow flirts shamelessly with the women he finds at these resorts. During one of his restorative excursions, he meets a shy Russian woman named Anna, whom he is much taken with. When she leaves to return to her life at home, he resolves to follow her and woo her there. With a great deal of buffoonery and ingenuity (such as pretending to be a manufacturer of a special kind of glass), he gets a visa to travel into Russia. There, he finds her unhappily married to a minor official, and before he leaves for Europe he promises to return and marry her. When he gets back home, he finds that his aristocratic wife is experiencing a genuine crisis (her family has lost its money), and he soon forgets about Anna and his promises to her. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This biographical film -- a bit long for most viewers, even in its cut version -- is made especially for ballet aficionados. Focusing on the short life of the remarkable Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova (1882?-1931), it features several dance sequences and provides a backdrop of the historical events in the Soviet Union and Europe during her life. Pavlova (Galina Belyayeva, better as a dancer than an actress) was born in Saint Petersburg and her interest in the ballet began early. As a little girl (Lina Boultakova), Pavlova would watch the ballet students in training, and she eventually entered the Imperial Ballet company, quickly rising to the position of prima ballerina. Before long, she perfected a style especially evident in her dancing of Giselle and Swan Lake. In her brief tenure at the Ballets Russes established in Paris in 1909 by the famed Russian expatriate impresario Sergei Diaghilev, Pavlova was inspired by dancers like Vaslav Nijinsky and obtained further training under a master, traveling extensively with the company. But the famous ballerina was not without personal problems, and at one point had to take a two-year advance on her salary in order to pay off her husband's debts so he would not go to jail. There are several intriguing aspects of this biography that would recommend it to general viewers: varied locations from Mexico to Cuba to Europe and the USA, good ballet performances, some noted bit players (Martin Scorcese as Gatti Cassaza) and a critically recognized Michael Powell, the director of Red Shoes in his last professional role, as an editor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Popular Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov was riding the crest of several well-received films (such as Slave of Love, 1976, or Five Evenings, 1978) when he opened this movie in the non-competing section at Cannes in 1983 -- so expectations were high. Unfortunately, this may have been one of his weakest career efforts. Intended as a satire on the urban/rural dichotomies in Russia, the film features Nonna Mordyukova as Maria Konovalova, a grandmother who is left to continue living on her own in the countryside when her daughter and family move to the big city of Moscow. Unnerved at being left alone and curious about what the urban attraction is anyway, Maria travels to her daughter's place and stays on for awhile. She sticks her unwanted nose into everyone's business -- daughter's, granddaughter's, ex-husband's, son-in-law's, and neighbors' too. By the time the meddlesome woman has alienated everyone around her (no wonder her family left), she realizes what she has done and bids a sniffling farewell as she heads to the train station and home -- but her family cannot leave it at that and decides to at least say good-bye on a better note. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi