Alexander Kaidanovsky
- 1995
This French-Italian drama is set in pre-Revolutionary Russia during 1907 and chronicles the relationship between a cold-hearted, blue-blooded woman and a handsome stranger. The two first meet during a walk in the park. Later, the woman, Natalia's, husband, a dentist, is found murdered in his home. Natalia finds herself the prime suspect in the death. She seems to be unmoved by the whole situation and continues to carry on with her two disparate lovers. One of them is a revolutionary and the other a conservative sculptor. One night she is again walking when she finds herself in the midst of a revolutionary fracas. Fortunately, the stranger appears and saves her. He takes her to his elegant apartment and there she tells him all about her life. Eventually the real murderer is revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandrine Bonnaire, William Hurt, (more)
- 1994
Elements of mystery and fantasy are deftly interwoven and presented from a child's perspective in this unique film. The basic plot focuses on a police marksman, Max. Recently Max had accidentally shot a hostage, and now his confidence is shaken. He is offered special bullets by a peer. These bullets help him to earn a high score during target shooting. Subsequently, Max receives a special assignment to guard chess grand master, Maxim who must not know a bodyguard has been assigned to him. When Maxim meets Eva, Max's wife, and her daughter Lili, the two are attracted to each other. Their attraction is observed by a sniper. In a parallel subplot, which has a medieval fairy tale setting, a group of do-gooders including Max and Kaspar (the magic bullet man) are battling evil. The film's surprising ending represents Lili's view of recent events. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Kemp, Alexander Kaidanovsky, (more)
- 1993
Ambiguous symbolism and minimalist storytelling imbue this pantomime-like film with some fine imagery. In the story, a medieval family group has traveled for quite some time when they arrive at a hut on the shores of a mysterious lake. Their arrival is accompanied with omens such as a swarm of drowning rats. They are attempting to protect the woman of the family from being ravished by the local feudal lord. Nothing is explained, and there is little dialog. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alexander Kaidanovsky, Valentina Vargas, (more)
- 1992
Sara is a medical student who has been experiencing a few problems, lately. She has been having blackouts and occasionally even some fits, but so far she has been able to keep up with her demanding curriculum. She has confided some of her troubles to her classmate, Nowak. However, one evening when, for no apparent reason she easily kills some customers in a sleazy bar, she can finally see that something is seriously wrong with her. Her friend tries to get her exorcised, because she certainly fits the description of the behavior of the possessed. When the exorcism fails, Sara must take drastic action to see to it that she doesn't kill again. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marine Delterme, Judith Henry, (more)
- 1988
Rich imagery and political allegory enliven an already complex story in this late Soviet-era mystery/drama. In the story, a government investigator has come to town to look into the validity of bribery charges that were brought against an official there. In the meantime, we discover that a twin and his brother have been engaged in a kind of very close warfare. One twin was a medical doctor, and was married to a beautiful woman. The second twin was interested in bedding the wife, and had no feeling for his brother. Thus, he impersonated him in the hospital, and openly engaged in medical malpractice of the grossest sort, resulting in a patient's death. The first twin lost his career and was forced to support himself by going door to door selling kerosene. The second (and clearly sociopathic) twin, naturally, became an important figure in the activities of his local soviet. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vitautas Paukshte, Alexander Baluev, (more)
- 1987
Nikolai Ispolatov plays the lead character in this story taken from famed Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The visitor is a 33-year-old intellectual who moves into a mansion run by a father, a son, and a daughter. The uneducated trio communicates in their own language of unrecognizable sounds of grunting. The visitor tells the family of the story of the death of Christ and the betrayal of Judas. Soon the misconstrued family believes the visitor may be the Messiah, and they prepare for his crucifixion in hopes they will receive eternal salvation. The feature is filled with allegory, symbolism, and a sense of the bizarre. The film is the first directorial effort by Aleksandr Kaidanovski, the famous actor and protégé of Andrei Tarkovsky. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nikolai Ispolatov, Levan Abashidze, (more)
- 1981
Facts is a dramatization of a massacre in a Lithuanian village during World War II when Nazis rounded up over 100 men, women, and children accused of partisan activity and then torched the houses in which they were held. Using Russian interrogations of a few survivors, the testimony of villagers, and some of the Germans responsible for the killing, the film gradually reconstructs the event and its context. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Regimantas Adomajtis, Juozas Budraitis, (more)
- 1980
Based on a short story by Anton Chekhov, this drama centers around a desire for revenge and the tragedy of a star-crossed love. After a general ruins some men under him in punishment for a rebellion, a friend of the broken men vows revenge. The friend, a naval officer, takes a job as a valet in the general's son's house. While he plots his revenge, the son has an affair with a woman whom the valet begins to love. She is discarded after becoming pregnant, and the valet has his own troubles; he has contracted tuberculosis. Sick and unable to follow through on his plans for vengeance, he leaves for France with the pregnant woman hoping to declare his love and seek a cure for his illness. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yevgeniya Simonova, Alexander Kaidanovsky, (more)
- 1979
Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker, an allegorical science fiction film like his earlier Solaris, was adapted from the novel Picnic by the Roadside by brothers Boris Strugatsky and Arkady Strugatsky. The film follows three men -- the Scientist (Nikolai Grinko), the Writer (Anatoliy Solonitsyn), and the Stalker (Alexander Kaidanovsky) -- as they travel through a mysterious and forbidden territory in the Russian wilderness called the "Zone." In the Zone, nothing is what it seems. Objects change places, the landscape shifts and rearranges itself. It seems as if an unknown intelligence is actively thwarting any attempt to penetrate its borders. In the Zone, there is said to be a bunker, and in the bunker: a magical room which has the power to make wishes come true. The Stalker is the hired guide for the journey who has, through repeated visits to the Zone, become accustomed to its complex traps, pitfalls, and subtle distortions. Only by following his lead (which often involves taking the longest, most frustrating route) can the Writer and the Scientist make it alive to the bunker and the room. As the men travel farther into the Zone, they realize it may take something more than just determination to succeed: it may actually take faith. Increasingly unsure of their deepest desires, they confront the room wondering if they can, in the end, take responsibility for the fulfillment of their own wishes. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alexander Kaidanovsky, Anatoli Solonitsin, (more)
- 1978
In this sci-fi drama, humanoid robots and real astronauts are sent on a mission by an electronics company. Based on the science-fiction novel by Stanislaw Lem, this film tells the story of a mixed group of superhuman robots ("finite non-linears") and humans who venture into space under the guidance of a human commander, who is not informed which of his crew members are biological in origin, and which are robots. The emotionless robots are assigned the lions' share of duties, but when a crisis erupts requiring a decision, the robot leader and the human leader have a major fight resulting in the robot's demise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergei Desnitsky, Alexander Kaidanovsky, (more)
