Sergei Nikonenko Movies

Soviet filmmaker Gleb Panfilov has never shirked from expressing his own views on film, no matter who's calling the shots in the Politburo. Originally titled Tema, it tells the story of a young man who has allowed himself to be victimized by The System. The protagonist thinks of himself as an artist, but his inner weakness prohibits him from rising above the conformist mediocrity expected of him. Motivating the story's denouement is a female character, a carry-over from Panfilov recently completed trilogy of films in which a woman was center of attention. Available only in a radically censored version for many years, Theme was not given a general release in its uncut form until 1986, seven years after its completion. It won several festival awards, including Berlin's Golden Bear. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A dacha is a summer home for Russians, away from the hurly-burly of the city, and can be as primitive as a cabin or as elaborate as a palace. A much-favored place for gatherings of intellectuals, dachas are a favored literary setting. In this film, adapted by Nikita Mikhailkov from Anton Chekhov's first play and some of his other works, the schoolteacher Platonov (Alexander Kalyagin) has come with his wife to spend a summer weekend at a friend's dacha. Among the other guests there, he meets his former lady-love Sophia (Elena Solovei), who is now married to another. Even though he thought he had recovered from his disappointed affection for her, he finds that this is not so for at least two reasons. First, she only recently got married; secondly, she is married to an idiot. Nostalgia spurs them to investigate their affection for one another, but eventually, as they remember their stations in life, their old love does not seem so important. In the middle of the night, Platonov is overtaken by grief over his lost youth and lost loves, and he awakens the entire household with his cries. Everyone returns to bed soon after, and by the morning all is forgiven, or forgotten, as the guests prepare to return to their lives in the city. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This official Soviet film dramatizes the formation of the Red Army and the historical figure Leon Trotsky is shown briefly, even though he remains unnamed. This is significant, because from the 1920s until the 1980s, public mention or depiction of Trotsky was not allowed. Trotsky was the founder of the Red Army and led it for the first six years of its existence, only later falling out of favor. The history of the Red Army is this: practically the whole Russian military ceased to function following the collapse of Russian participation in World War I. When the wartime compromise government fell, various political factions in Russia strove for supremacy, including the Bolsheviks. The military was deeply divided. Those soldiers and sailors who were sympathetic to the radical cause (which included the Bolsheviks) were persuaded to join together to oppose the "White" Russian forces. These, at least in part, consisted of people sympathetic to the Tsar and the previous autocratic regime. The film shows the newly organized Red Army swearing an oath with Lenin and fighting Cossack General Koltchak. The Red forces suffered grievous losses. However, because of their timely and skillful use by Lenin and Trotsky, and the extreme chaos of the times, they were quickly able to consolidate most of Russian society under the Bolshevik banner. This is a lavishly produced propaganda film, and its highlights include superb crowd and battle scenes. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

After suffering artistically at the hands of Russian censors (his Asya's Happiness wound up being shelved for two decades for a variety of obscure political reasons), director Andrei Konchalovsky briefly played safe with a brace of elegiac literary adaptations. The first of these was A Nest of Gentlefolk, adapted from a Turgenev story. Put in the simplest possible terms, the film concerns a well-meaning landowner, his adulterous wife, and the woman that he loves. Loenid Kulagin, Irina Kupchenko and Beata Tyskiewicz are the actors comprising this angst-ridden triangle. Originally titled Dvoranskoye gnezdo, the film was also released in English-speaking countries as A Nest of Gentry and Nobiliary Nest. In his characteristic fashion, Konchalovsky handles his material in loving (if slightly mannered fashion). He followed Nest of Gentlefolk with a cinemazation of Checkov's Uncle Vanya (1970), then spent four inactive years before turning out his biggest pre-Hollywood financial success, The Romance of Lovers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi