Nikolai Olyalin Movies
Pyotr Lutsik's first film Okraina is an allegorical piece that contemplates capitalism run wild, as well as the increasing Westernization of contemporary Russian filmmaking. The title is taken from the classic 1933 film by the Soviet filmmaker Boris Barnet, in which the beginning of the farm collectivization era is depicted. In Pyotr Lutsik's version, the hero is an ordinary farmer, Philip Safronov, whose peaceful life is aggressively interrupted when his land is appropriated by a mysterious group to exploit its oil resources. The toughest farmers unite and track down the offenders one by one. The murderous path they leave behind them culminates in the film's apocalyptic finale. The director's style is minimalist, with heavy use of symbols. The humor is very bitter. The use of black and white and orchestral music from 1930's Soviet films gives a nostalgic aura without obstructing the impact of the main theme of the film, which seems to be "regimes come and go, but exploitation of the poor remains." Okraina was screened as part of the International Forum of New Cinema section of the 49th Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yuri Dubrovin, Nikolai Olyalin, (more)
- 1989
Isaac Babel was a popular writer in the 1920s and 1930s who fell victim to Stalin's "purges". His exact date of death was never established. It's assumed that he died in 1940. Understandably, his works were not published again until the '60s. Another reason why his works were not adapted to the screen earlier was the pervasive anti-Semitic attitude among the state and communist bureaucracy during the Soviet times. Bindyuzhnik i Korol is a musical based on Isaac Babel's works. It was much hyped but it wasn't a huge success. Maxim Leonidov, who played Benya Krik (the "king") in the movie, was a handsome-looking leading singer from the popular Leningrad beat quartet "Sekret". "Sekret" was a Russian hommage to The Beatles. Shortly after starring in the movie, Leonidov immigrated to Israel, where he organized another band. In the story, set in the Jewish quarter of a Russian city, Mendel Krik (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan) is the wealthy owner of a large livery stable (the "drayman") who lords it over everyone who comes in his path, especially his two grown sons, whom he plans to disinherit. One of his sons, Benya, is far cleverer than his critical wrath of a father thinks, and manages to take his father's business away from him. This musical generally has a somber tone, and resembles the dark, serious works of Bertold Brecht rather than the much lighter tone of Fiddler on the Roof, with which it has sometimes been compared. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Zinoviy Gerdt, (more)
- 1983
In this film that has a bit of propaganda thrown in with its human-interest story, a Russian surgeon leaves Moscow to work in Kabul while fighting is going on in the city and its outskirts (the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and left 9 years later). With war all around him, the surgeon's life is in danger in spite of the nature of his profession. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oleg Zhakov, Nikolai Olyalin, (more)
