Vladimir Samoylov Movies

This fact-filled biography of the Russian diplomat Georgi Chicherin was released in 1986 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death. Chicherin, a Russian aristocrat, was jailed in London not long after the 1917 Revolution. Lenin gets him released and puts him in charge of foreign relations for the new USSR. Chicherin soon finds himself in Italy, hobnobbing with the likes of Lloyd George and the King of Italy (quite a contrast to his stay in prison). Involved in the first signing of a peace accord with Germany, Chicherin has to follow orders even if he personally does not agree with the accord. But at the same time, he put all his efforts into obtaining the accord, and in so doing breaks the diplomatic blockade of his now Communist homeland. Chicherin's career unfolds against a tumultuous historical backdrop. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The perennial clash between sophisticated yet stressed-out city life versus the often overly romanticized pull of the countryside is the theme in this lightly sketched story of an art expert, the art he loves, and the call of the paint brush. When a modern art historian (Rodion Nakhepetov) arrives in a village on a quest for primitive art for an exhibition he is mounting in Paris, he becomes good friends with Seraphim Polubes (Eduard Bocharov), a local artist who paints murals on his humble abode. Soon the world-weary art expert is finding an extremely enjoyable and distracting companionship among the villagers and Polubes' group of friends, individual characters all. Their company is bringing back memories of the time he wanted to paint rather than critique painting, and that newly awakened desire is melded with another kind of desire awakened by an attractive young blond woman barely half his age. Thus stimulated, his interest in going back to life in Moscow is understandably dampened -- but not his budding romance. As he gets ready to take that train back to the life he once knew, he is faced with a moment of truth and a decision that could permanently change his career. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide