Yuri Solomin
- 1992
Junya Sato directs this historical epic about an Japanese sailor shipwrecked in Russia. Set during the Edo period (1600-1868, an era of great international isolation when going abroad was an offense punishable by death), the film centers on ship captain Daikokuya Kodayu (Ken Ogata), who, while transporting a load of rice from Ise to Edo (pre-modern Tokyo), gets blown off course. Nine months later, he and his ragged crew land on Kamchatka Peninsula. There they brave Siberian winters, and Russia's labyrinthine bureaucracy. Along the way, Kodayu learns Russian and befriends a local scholar (Oleg Yankovskii), who accompanies him on his exhausting journey across the tundra to St. Petersburg where he meets Catherine the Great. Ten years later, when he returns to Japan, he is immediately jailed. Will the hero be put to death? ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Ogata, Toshiyuki Nishida, (more)
- 1984
In this watchable sci fi story based on a novel by Sergei Pavlov, the time is the 21st century, and the space security organization has a dangerous situation on its hands -- it seems four individuals from outer space have the ability to change form and to affect radio transmissions and magnetic fields. Their powers could threaten governments on earth and seem to derive from an unusual accident on one of the moons of Uranus shortly after four astronauts landed. Now the space police have to bring this potentially disastrous situation under control. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vladimir Gostyukhin, Vasily Livanov, (more)
- 1978
Adapted from a fairy tale by Yevgeny Shvarts, this story is about a magician (Oleg Yankovsky) who is concerned because his wife (Irina Kupchenko) has become rather bored -- and he decides to do something about it. He goes out and finds a bear, and with some "abracadabra," he changes the bear into a handsome young man (Alexander Abdulov). Then he says to his wife that "It has been foretold that a bear (in the guise of a handsome young man) will meet a princess and fall in love with her -- but as soon as they have their first kiss, it will change him permanently back into his bear form." After which he tells her that the king (Yevgeny Leonov), his daughter the princess (Yevgeniya Simonova), and their court will come to the magician's house and meet the young-man-cum "bear." Sure enough, the entire troupe shows up, and the princess falls in love with the man/bear -- who knows the truth about the effect of only one kiss with the princess. Desperate to save her feelings, he leaves rather than kiss her. The princess is disheartened at his behavior and leaves too -- but the pair is destined to meet again in spite of the machinations of the Prime Minister (Andrei Mironov) who wants to marry the princess himself. Now the magician needs a real miracle to bring everything to a desired happy ending. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oleg Yankovsky, Irina Kupchenko, (more)
A few months after his notorious suicide attempt, Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was regenerated by the notion of helming the first Russian/Japanese co-production. Co-scripted and directed by Kurosawa, Dersu Uzala is the story of an elderly guide and Goldi hunter (Maxim Munzuk), who, at the turn of the century, agrees to shepherd a Russian explorer (Yuri Solomin) and a troop of soldiers through the most treacherous passages of the Far East. The guide has been "one" with the land almost from birth, and is thus able to save his party from perishing. Four years in the making, Dersu Uzala won the 1976 Best Foreign Film Oscar and restored the flagging Akira Kurosawa to the top ranks of the Japanese film industry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maxim Munzuk, Yuri Solomin, (more)
A young and carefree Cossack competing with a neighborhood rival for the love of a beautiful girl is forced to grow up faster than expected when World War I breaks out in this romantic Russian war drama from director Viktor Tregubovich. Roman is a reckless adolescent living in the Baikal region in the waning days of the October Revolution. Thus far, Roman's biggest concern in life was whether he or his neighbor would win the love of ethereal village beauty Dashutka. When news of the war breaks out and Roman is forced to choose a side on which to fight, he soon finds out just how big of a place the world truly is. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arkadiy Trusov, Petr Shelokhonov, (more)
