Lyubov Malinovskaya
- 1998
The Chekhovian Zwty Kalenduly is a tragicomedy inspired by The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard, which are both written in the style of the "datcha drama" ("datcha" meaning "country house" in Russian). The story takes place in the "datcha" of Protassov, a poet who belonged to the Soviet aristocracy. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the poet also died, leaving behind his 80-year-old wife, his daughter Serafima and three granddaughters. Times have changed, and the family must struggle for survival. Serafima is determined to prevent her mother from donating the "datcha" and its property to a minor museum dedicated to the poet. Her three daughters, each from a different marriage, deal with the situation in various ways. One rejects reality, the other wants to immigrate to the U.S., while the third would like to keep the family nest. The potential buyer of the estate is a perfect representative of the 'New Russian'. The story follows the slow death of an aristocratic family using their datcha as the center of the changes in their fortunes; the film describes the life of three generations with intelligent humor and extravagant costumes. Zwty Kalenduly was screened at the International Forum of New Cinema section of the 49th Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Era Siganshina, Marina Saloptshenko, (more)
- 1981
In this visually evocative film about the conflicts between modernity and tradition, human feelings and human progress, a hydro-electric project is about to doom a 300-year-old Siberian village to a watery grave as the dam goes into effect and submerges the land. The spirit of the peasants and the past are concentrated in the image of one lone tree that defies almost all attempts to destroy it, and the engineers, who represent an irreversible progress, come walking out of the mist into the village like ghostly messengers of fate. Daria (Stefaniya Stanyuta) is an old woman who refuses to leave -- she washes her house down, preparing it for burial like a corpse, and both she and other elderly women walk into a morning fog as the last boat arrives to carry people to the mainland. Her son Pavel shouts for the disappearing "Matyora" (the name of the island) as he also heads into the mist. In a poignant prologue with significance on several levels, director Elem Klimov shows four men and one woman, wrapped in white, riding in a boat across a fog-covered river in silence. His wife Larissa Shepitko was supposed to direct this film but she and four crew members died in a car accident on the first day of location shooting, July 2, 1979. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stefaniya Stanyuta, Lev Durov, (more)
- 1976
Warm and gracious, the young woman in this film is much disliked by the more rigid, ideologically oriented teachers at the school she works in. The key referred to in the title -- which she holds -- is the way into the hearts and minds of young people. When a tape made at a party her students attend reveals that their thought-processes are not firmly tied to the dominant dogmas of the Soviet system, she is called to account for their behavior by worried parents and teachers. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yelena Proklova, Alexei Petrenko, (more)
- 1973
The Russian-language title of this film based on Chekhov's short-story The Duel, translates as "The Bad Good Man." This film is treasured by Russian audiences because it contains one of the very few screen appearances of the beloved star Vladimir Vysotsky (he plays Von Koren). Boasting a fine cast, including Oleg Dal as Ivan Andreevich Laevsky and Anatoli Papanov as Samoilenko, the film concerns two intellectuals: Layevsky, a high-minded individual, full of love and ideals, who is all talk and no action; and Von Koren, a driven, ambitious zoologist who espouses a grim creed of Darwinian eugenics. Their encounters rob them of faith in their creeds, which were shallow enough to begin with. The director, Joseph Heifitz, is probably best known for his film The Lady With the Little Dog. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oleg Dal, Vladimir Vysotsky, (more)
A young and carefree Cossack competing with a neighborhood rival for the love of a beautiful girl is forced to grow up faster than expected when World War I breaks out in this romantic Russian war drama from director Viktor Tregubovich. Roman is a reckless adolescent living in the Baikal region in the waning days of the October Revolution. Thus far, Roman's biggest concern in life was whether he or his neighbor would win the love of ethereal village beauty Dashutka. When news of the war breaks out and Roman is forced to choose a side on which to fight, he soon finds out just how big of a place the world truly is. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arkadiy Trusov, Petr Shelokhonov, (more)
- 1969
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
- Starring:
- Inna Churikova, Anatoli Solonitsin, (more)
