Inna Churikova Movies

The confusion inherit in contemporary Russian society provides the basis of this slapstick social satire that focuses on a case of mistaken identity. The trouble begins in a Siberian diamond field as miners bring to light the world's biggest diamond. So valuable is the giant gem, that it will not only pay off the enormous national debt, it will also allow every Russian citizen to move to the Canary Islands. Unfortunately, the Mafia plans to steal the massive stone. Their plans are foiled when a renowned thief, Vesja, exchanges stones at the airport. Now the chase is on as the Mafia begins its pursuit. Also chasing him is the inept police chief Igor Ugolnikov, who trails him to the home of his alcoholic auntie. But Vesja, a master of disguise, still eludes them all. He then learns that he is a triplet when his two brothers suddenly appear. One is a renowned Jewish conductor, and the other brother is a gypsy. The conductor, Imokenty, has come back to Russia to marry a fluff-headed American divorcee. Mayhem and a merry chase ensue as he continues to elude his pursuers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Two disparate people come together in this odd-ball Russian-French black comedy. Seryozha, an ex-convict and Vera, a middle-aged introvert, come together after he steals her purse. They end up on the lam after Seryozha stabs a hostel worker. They end up in an empty village and soon discovered they are in the midst of an area contaminated by radiation. Three bandits also come through and Seryozha puts them into the village hoosegow and proceeds to torture them. When they become allies, he releases them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, grandmother (Yelena Bogdanova) is mostly paralyzed, and is unable to speak. She is waited on by her daughter Nina (Inna Churikova), a twice-divorced woman in her fifties, who responds reflexively to the bell that summons her. The daughter has two daughters of her own: Lidia (Svetlana Ryabova) is in her twenties, Natashya (Masha Goloubkina), Nina's child by another husband, is in her mid-teens. The three younger women conduct their lives and their love affairs under the silent but watchful eye of the older woman in a small Moscow apartment. On one disastrous evening, Nina's newest boyfriend Evgeny meets her two former husbands, the older granddaughter's new boyfriend proves to be virtually spineless, and the youngest granddaughter announces her pregnancy just before her loutish young boyfriend Misha drunkenly crashes the party. After all the men leave and the agitation they brought with them dissipates, the three younger women are calmly discussing Natashya's options when they hear singing coming from grandmother's alcove. An accidental blow to the head has restored her faculties. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Ivan (Fedor Dunaevsky) is a teenager who is suffering through the acrimonious divorce of his parents. His sympathies are all with his father, who has taken up with a younger woman, and he has nothing but scorn for his mother, who won custody of him. He tries to set his mother's apartment on fire, but fortunately enough, he fails. He also fails at getting accepted into the university in a subject chosen by his mother. Ivan is not a deep thinker and basically only wants an easy existence with enough money to enjoy some of the good things of life. Since he has graduated from high school, he has to do something, so his mother sets him up with a job as a messenger. While on his first assignment (which he messes up), he makes friends with professor's daughter Katya (Anastasiya Nemolyayeva, the daughter of the film's cinematographer Nikolai Nemolyaev), a member of Moscow's social elite. He sets his heart on winning her, even though he is a homely and uneducated housing-project bumpkin with nothing to recommend him except his persistence, engagingly bad manners and a certain originality. Despite being thrown out of the girl's apartment many times by her father (Oleg Basilashvili), he keeps coming back and eventually wins the older man's grudging respect. Kuryer first became popular as a story published in the mid-1980s. The story was humorous and addressed the real-life situations and problems that young people would face, as opposed to ideologically heavy, Party-sponsored books that dominated the market at that time. That's what made Kuryer so appealing and fresh. As it often happens, when Karen Shakhnazarov adapted his own story for the screen, some of the magic was lost in the transition. However, the film was a popular success and also received a Special Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1987, along with the Jury Prize at the Tbilisi Film Festival, a State Prize of the Russian Federation, and, finally, was voted the "Best Film of the Year" by the readers of the film magazine Sovetsky Ekran. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

Director and writer Gleb Panfilov adapted Maxim Gorky's play Vassa Zheleznova for this theatrical film that recounts Vassa's iron rule over a dissipated merchant family several years before the 1917 revolution. When her profligate husband is about to be hauled into court for an act of moral turpitude, Vassa (Inna Churikova) convinces him to commit suicide before he ruins the entire family and their fortune. After he concedes and dies, Vassa spies on everyone in the household and tries to keep her self-indulgent daughters and a high-society brother from harming the family's interest or holdings. Then her Jewish daughter-in-law Rachel (Valentina Telichkina) arrives from Switzerland with news that Vassa's son is dying, and she wants to take their own son, now in Vassa's care, back home with her. The two woman clash in a climactic showdown, and the unexpected result of their altercation sets off a chain of events that presages the grand-scale, 1917 "showdown" to come. This film won the Gold Medal top prize at the 1983 Moscow Film Festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Soviet filmmaker Gleb Panfilov has never shirked from expressing his own views on film, no matter who's calling the shots in the Politburo. Originally titled Tema, it tells the story of a young man who has allowed himself to be victimized by The System. The protagonist thinks of himself as an artist, but his inner weakness prohibits him from rising above the conformist mediocrity expected of him. Motivating the story's denouement is a female character, a carry-over from Panfilov recently completed trilogy of films in which a woman was center of attention. Available only in a radically censored version for many years, Theme was not given a general release in its uncut form until 1986, seven years after its completion. It won several festival awards, including Berlin's Golden Bear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At the time Proshu Slova was released, Soviet reviews indicated that the theme of the film was the contrast between the outer events of the main character's life and their inner meaning. With great courage and forbearance, Uvarova (Inna Churikova) endures the death of her son in a shooting accident and attempts to carry on the business of the city, for she is its mayor. Her big project at the moment is to get a bridge constructed to an area where much-needed housing may be built. However, she has run into tremendous local opposition, and feels compelled to take her case to higher authorities. As she carries on the business of the city, flashbacks show her memories of key events in her life. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A Russian peasant girl barely survives on the occasional work she gets as an artist. She falls in love with a soldier, but he leaves her when the revolution starts. Finding work with supporters of the Red Army, she is arrested by soldiers in the White Army. When they fail to get her to renounce the communist propaganda on the signs she has created, she is sentenced to death. Irina Tchourikova plays the heroine who is willing to die for her beliefs. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this Russian comedy, a writer heading for Siberia becomes friends with a two other fellows. While one prepares to get married, the other takes off with him to meet another famous writer who likes his recent short stories. En route the two new friends meet a pretty store clerk and begin fighting for her affections. The writer ends up in jail, and it is she who gets him sprung; they then become good friends. The friends return home to attend their other friend's wedding party, but unfortunately, he and his bride have had a fight. When the writer finally resumes his journey, peace is restored. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide