Alexandr Pyatkov Movies
- 1996
This fast-paced, convoluted bit of European escapist fare is set in crumbling contemporary Moscow, where a French composer finds himself seduced into a fantastic adventure after his flight to Paris is delayed and he finds himself broke and stranded in the Moscow airport. His temptress is the mischievous Oksana, who convinces him to sneak out of the airport to sample the Moscow nightlife. He doesn't realize that she is actually the daughter of Papa, a powerful local Mafia don. Papa looks weak and helpless, but he is anything but and secretly drugs the composer Phillipe's drink and then kidnaps him. When Phillipe awakens, Papa forces him to impersonate the commercial director of a huge French textile mill so the Mafioso can continue to con the leader of a recently liberated Central Asian country into investing in a non-existent mill. The plot works until the bilked gets his own revenge. Meanwhile, Phillipe and Oksana fall in love even though they realize that one of them must be sacrificed to save face. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Perez, Tatyana Meshcherkina, (more)
A mute American working on a low-budget movie runs afoul of the Russian mafia in this internationally produced thriller. Billy (Marina Zudina), a special-effects makeup artist who is unable to speak, is in Moscow working on a cheapie slasher flick directed by Andy (Evan Richards), her sister's boyfriend. Late one night, Billy returns to the set to pick up some equipment and stumbles on what appears to be the filming of an actual snuff film. Watching, unseen, as an "actress" (Olga Tolstetskaya) is bludgeoned to death before her very eyes, Billy flees the set, pursued by the snuff film's crew. Eventually, she escapes and tells her story to her sister, Karen (Fay Ripley), and Andy. The film crew convinces the police that it was simply some special effects that Billy witnessed, then they start a deadly cat-and-mouse game with the hapless Americans. The intrigue soon leads Billy and her friends to "The Reaper" (Alec Guinness), the shadowy financier of an entire snuff-film underground. Director Anthony Waller's screenplay for Mute Witness began as a tale of gangsters in 1930s Chicago, but he rewrote it to take advantage of Russia's analogous present-day climate -- and the country's cheap sets and labor. Unexpected problems, from a diptheria epidemic to unexpected fines at the customs gate, nearly sank the production. The director convinced Guinness to appear in the film several years before principal photography began; the veteran thespian was paid nothing for his scenes, which were shot in a single morning in Germany. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marina Zudina, Oleg Yankovsky, (more)
- 1979
Popular Russian actor Mikhail Kozakov directed this romantic comedy set in a small provincial town where the main cultural attraction is a glimpse of a fast train going by. One day, something extraordinary happens, as the train stops and a worldly, elegant woman from a big city steps off. That woman, Mona (Anastasiya Vertinskaya), has no ticket, and the station master insists that she must buy one. She has no money, and there are no trains until tomorrow, so she ends up staying at the house of local schoolteacher Marin Miroiu (Igor Kostolevsky). Miroiu, who teaches astronomy, claims to have discovered a previously unknown star. At first, Mona dislikes the bookish schoolteacher, but gradually the two fall in love. Their idyll is interrupted by the arrival of Mona's wealthy lover (Mikhail Kozakov), who wants to take her back to city life. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Igor Kostolevsky, Anastasia Vertinskaya, (more)
