Yevgeny Mironov Movies

This version of The Idiot, made for the Russian TV, is actually the first attempt to film the Fyodor Dostoyevsky novel in its entirety. Yevgeny Mironov plays the title character, Russian Prince Myshkin, who returns to St. Petersburg after a stay in a Swiss mental hospital. The prince is not literally a mental midget; he is considered an idiot because, as an honest and upright person, he cannot keep pace with the evil in the world. He busies himself with the petty problems of his aristocratic friends, which drive him back into the recesses of insanity. Lidiya Velezheva co-stars as Nastassya Filippovna, the woman of loose morals who turns out to be the only person who truly cares about Myshkin's welfare, while Vladimir Mashkov plays the nominal villain of the piece, an iconoclastic merchant named Rogozhin, whose passion for Nastassya culminates in tragedy. The Idiot was previously filmed in France in 1946, in Japan by Akira Kurosawa in 1951, and in Russia in 1958. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

War brings together a disillusioned soldier and a sweet but delusional woman in this romantic comedy-drama from director Andrei Konchalovsky. A small Russian mental hospital near the border of Chechnya is home to a group of eccentric but harmless patients, among them Janna (Julia Vysotsky), a cheerful woman who likes to play accordion and is convinced pop singer Bryan Adams is her fiancé; over-excitable Vika (Marina Politseymako); and highly prolific would-be poet Ali (Stanislav Varkki). When fighting between Russians and Chechens flares up and bombing threatens the hospital, the doctor in charge (Vladas Bagdonas) goes out to find vehicles to evacuate his patients, briefly leaving them to their own devices. While the doctor is away, a group of Chechen soldiers happen upon the hospital, but they seemingly mean no harm to the patients, and one of them, Ahmed (Sultan Islamov), starts flirting with Janna. Janna quickly falls head over heels for Ahmed, and leaves behind her treasured Bryan Adams poster to be with him...though in her mind, Adams isn't about to give up her affections without a fight. As love grows between them, Ahmed finds himself wondering just who is supposed to be sane -- the lunatics at the hospital, or the soldiers fighting a pointless war. Bryan Adams appears as himself in Dom Durakov, and sings several songs, including his international hit "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A family finds itself torn between loyalty to their brother and fear of their domineering mother in this drama from Russia. Four brothers living in different parts of Russia all receive messages asking them to come home to Moscow as soon as possible. A miner in the Ukraine, a sharpshooter with the Army in Tajikistan, a hustler living in Vladivostock, and a jobless man with a string of illegitimate children living in the tundra, the siblings have an unhappy history. As children, their mother organized the family into a music group called "The Happy Family"; they enjoyed brief success, but their fortunes soon faded. In time, Mother (Nonna Mordukova) attempted to hijack a jet to the United States; after a violent altercation with the police, the entire family ended up behind bars, and Father was killed by police (while his sons looked on) when he tried to bribe his way out of the prison camp. A fifth brother, Lenchik (Oleg Menshikov), was wounded while behind bars, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, and he's currently confined to a mental institution. Mother has now gathered her other sons together, hoping that as a group they can rescue Lenchik from the institution. Screenwriter Arif Aliev loosely based this story on actual events. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Stalinist Russia, circa 1930, is recreated in this Russian-French film that focuses on a small, elite gathering of family and friends who appreciate the idealism of Stalin's visions because they do not have to experience its darker side of gulags and purges. The story focuses upon a single day in Soviet revolutionary hero Serguei Kotov's life. Kotov lives an idyllic country life with his lovely wife Maroussia, and their feisty daughter Nadia. He is highly respected by the locals. On this day, the Kotovs are visited by the roguishly handsome Dimitri, who was a former lover of Maroussia. Dimitri is on a dark mission that may have profound effects on Kotov's peaceful, happy, and idealistic existence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this romance, two teenagers who are good friends have decided to attend a party for the sole purpose of finding love. For Sasha, this really does mean high romance, a meeting of intellect and heart within a container of loyalty and fidelity. For Vadim, love means someone to share your bed with. Both boys find what they are looking for, though Vadim's order is much easier to fill. In Sasha's case, he has fallen for a Jewish girl whose family is contemplating emigration to Israel because of a series of anti-Semitic phone calls. Furthermore, his girl's family doesn't want her to marry a non-Jew. To prove his love, he begins investigating the offending phone calls. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Rich imagery and political allegory enliven an already complex story in this late Soviet-era mystery/drama. In the story, a government investigator has come to town to look into the validity of bribery charges that were brought against an official there. In the meantime, we discover that a twin and his brother have been engaged in a kind of very close warfare. One twin was a medical doctor, and was married to a beautiful woman. The second twin was interested in bedding the wife, and had no feeling for his brother. Thus, he impersonated him in the hospital, and openly engaged in medical malpractice of the grossest sort, resulting in a patient's death. The first twin lost his career and was forced to support himself by going door to door selling kerosene. The second (and clearly sociopathic) twin, naturally, became an important figure in the activities of his local soviet. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide