Leonid Yarmolnik Movies

Forbidden love brings both happiness and tension to two people in this domestic drama. Ilya (Mikhail Porechenkov) and Nina (Anna Mikhalkova) are two people edging into middle age who have made successful careers for themselves in "the New Russia" -- Ilya runs a profitable business in Moscow, while Nina edits a magazine based in St. Petersburg. Ilya and Nina are also married, but not to each other -- while they've been having an affair for several years, Ilya isn't willing to leave his wife Masha (Nastya Seglia), while Nina doesn't want to break things off with her husband Nikita (Dmitry Shevchenko). Instead, Ilya and Nina meet as often as possible on the neutral ground of an inexpensive hotel, and while they clearly enjoy their sexual relationship, they also seem to find an emotional succor in one another they don't get from their spouses. The couple takes great pains to keep their romance a secret from their partners, but with the passage of time the emotion drain of living double lives takes a toll on Ilya and Nina, as well as their mates. Svyaz (aka Relations) was the first feature for director and screenwriter Avdotia Smirnova. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Barak is a simple portrait of the inhabitants of an old barracks converted to a communal residential neighborhood in a provincial town in the Urals in 1953, during the postwar rebuilding following the death of Stalin. The community is almost self-contained, which sets an example for the lives and loves of ordinary people in the rest of the Soviet Union during a period of upheaval. Twenty-three year old Olga, the sole survivor of a family wiped out in the siege of Leningrad, is the latest arrival to the barracks, where she does not know anyone. Alexei, a militia man, lives with his son Burka and his girlfriend Claudia. Jewish Jora, an eccentric photographer-cum-clown, is a former victim of Stalin's purges. Friedrich is an ex-Nazi soldier married to a Russian. Guerka is an alcoholic dove breeder and a former Nazi collaborator. Polina is a pretentious Ukrainian and Karim the Tatar is her companion. Olga gradually adjusts herself to the circumstances, living each day with moments of joy, sorrow, and unexpected incidents. Director Valeri Ogorodnikov pays attention to the minutest details when drawing a colorful gallery of characters. Dream sequences are interspersed for dramatic highlights. Barak received the Silver Leopard at the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival, and Ogorodnikov received the Young Jury award. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

Veteran director Georgi Daneliya proves that he's still in good form with this offbeat romantic comedy. When Oleg Chagin (Kirill Pirogov) learns that back home his fiancée Lena has married another man, he quits his job in Siberia and rushes to Moscow. The film depicts his trials and tribulations while attempting to win her back. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

The trials of a Russian who immigrates to Israel are explored in this Israeli drama. Valery Ostrovsky, an award-winning, egotistical Russian actor, and his family have high hopes when they move to Israel. They are soon disillusioned by its realities. The lifestyle is much lower than what they are accustomed to as they must initially live in a cheap trailer in a desolate neighborhood surrounded by other outsiders. Valery also quickly finds the demand for famous Russian actors is non-existent. He does try to learn Hebrew, with the assistance of Michael, his son's lovely teacher. They quickly become involved. Michael also becomes involved as a friend to Valery's wife Jana. Valery's travails continue as he tries to adjust to his new life. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In 1987, director Alla Surikova scored enormous success in her home country with Chelovek S Bulvara Kaputsinov, an engaging slapstick comedy about an idealistic film projectionist trying to introduce the Old West to the nascent art of motion pictures. This film, aptly named Choknutye / Crazy People, features another idealist, an Austrian engineer (Ulrich Pleitgen) who comes to 19th century Russia to build the first railroad. A group of aristocrats sees him as a direct threat to their thriving stagecoach business and they employ elaborate schemes to thwart his project. However, with the help of a dashing lieutenant (Nikolai Karachentsov), a double-dealing agent of the secret police (Leonid Yarmolnik), and a mysterious young woman named Maria (Olga Kabo), he manages to get the czar's approval. ~ Yuri German, Rovi