Fyodor Bondarchuk
- 2007
A woman looking for new love may have found it where she least expects in this comedy. Anna Pavlova (Evgenia Dobrovolskaya) is a veteran actress whose personal life and career have both seen better days; her marriage is clearly on its last legs, and her current role is an unchallenging supporting part in a second-rate stage production. Despite all this Anna has been able to hold on to her sharp sense of humor, and her quick wit makes her a favorite among her colleagues, including a member of the stage crew (Alexander Abdulov) with whom she's been having an on-and-off affair. Anna spends most of her free time with her good friend Musya (Maria Aronova), and one evening as they go out for dinner they're joined by Vikentiy (Yuri Stepanov), who had been friends with Musya's husband since college. Vikentiy is a chubby scientist doing research on parasites, and Anna initially finds him amusing and little more, but her quick wit and mature good looks have a powerful effect on him, and by the end of the evening he's fallen in love with her. Artiska (aka Actress) received its American debut at the 2007 New York Russian Film Week Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yevgenya Dobrovolskaya, Maria Aronova, (more)
- 2006
Fedor Bondarchuk, the son of noted Russian filmmaker Sergei Bondarchuk, debuts as a director with the harrowing and relentless military drama 9th Company, set between 1988 and 1989 at the tail end of the U.S.S.R. Afghani war (the Soviet equivalent of Vietnam). The picture opens in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, in late 1988, when military trainees Petrovsky, Ryaba, Chugun, Stas, Pinochet, Lyutev and Vorobyev are whipped into shape at a training camp by the brutal, sadistic commander, Warrant Officer Dygalo - prior to being sent off to the front lines. After several one-by-one dalliances with the local whore, Snow White, and a cautionary lecture on the history, geography and culture of Afghanistan (which most of the men sleep through), the trainees head off to battle - first to the Bagram air base, then to the Afghani province of Khost to secure supply lines. But nothing can begin to prepare them for the brutal devastation into which they are plunged, or the relentless tide of slaughter that scatters thousands of Soviet victims in its wake. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aleksei Chadov, Artur Smolyaninov, (more)
- 1986
- R
Praised for its fine photography and production design if not its narrative, Sergei Bondarchuk directed this adaptation of the tale by Alexander Pushkin. Boris Godunov came to the Czarist throne at the end of the 16th century, after the original heir to Ivan the Terrible had died. At first, things went well for Godunov (played by Bondarchuk), but when the Russian people began to believe he had killed Ivan the Terrible's son in order to gain the throne, an alliance sprang up against the new Czar. Events continued to spin out of control as a young monk was presented as the son Godunov had supposedly killed. Now he was openly accused of failing an assassination attempt, which seems to be even worse than succeeding. In addition to these woes, Boris Godunov began to suffer serious health problems. So much for the joys of kingship. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergei Bondarchuk, Roman Filippov, (more)
