Margarita Terekhova Movies
- 1989
Fans of Russian history will particularly enjoy this satirical political analogy, by director Sergey Ovtcharov which has been compared to earlier film classics such as Repentance and Zelig. Those without the requisite background may be somewhat mystified by it. The story is based on an 1870 novel by Mikhail Saltykov-Schtchedrin, which uses a long and involved tale about the history of one town as an allegory for the Russian nation as a whole. The entire story of the novel is retained in this film, which updates it by including similarly meaningful events in the village from 1870 through to the present. One highlight of the film is the performance of Rolan Bykov as Piotr Ferdystchenko, one of the town's mayors, who undergoes three metamorphoses symbolizing respectively Lenin, Stalin and Khruschev. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rolan Bykov, Natalya Gundareva, (more)
- 1980
Ironically titled "Saint Hope," this strange, downbeat drama about a prison camp in a fictitious South American country offers no hope at all. The prison is somewhere in the middle of a desert, and it is likely that the inmates are there for political reasons. Life is dreary and goes by slowly in spite of a few attempts at escape. When the action does heat up a little, the story gets more interesting though even that promise is short-lived. Whatever his intentions, Chilean director Sebastian Alarcon is definitely not encouraging tourism to the southern half of the Americas. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laymonas Noreyka, Pavel Kadochnikov, (more)
- 1976
Because of many good deeds the Finns did for Lenin prior to the Russian Revolution, their persistent desire for independence from Russia was permitted. In one instance, Finns helped Lenin escape from the police during a journey he took in 1907. Lenin's affection for the country was reinforced during his frequent journeys through Finland. This historical epic, featuring both documentary and fictional footage of the founding Soviet leader, chronicles the Finnish struggle for independence and explores the basis for trust between Finland and the Soviet Union. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirill Lavrov, Margarita Terekhova, (more)
- 1976
In this semiautobiographical movie, director Konrad Wolf tells the story of four German anti-fascists, who have gone to the Russian side during World War II, three of whom have volunteered to re-enter Germany behind the lines. The particular focus of the story is on the events which have brought each man to the point of leaving his country in the first place. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1976
The first official co-production between the United States and the Soviet Union, The Blue Bird was the third screen adaptation of the children's story by Maurice Maeterlinck about a pair of children, Tyltyl (Todd Lookinland) and Mytyl (Patsy Kensit), who leave home to search for the Blue Bird of Happiness. After spending some time wandering through a fantasy world and encountering The Night (Jane Fonda), The Cat (Cicely Tyson), Luxury (Ava Gardner), Father Time (Robert Morley), and The Oak (Harry Andrews), they meet The Queen of Light (Elizabeth Taylor) and discover that true happiness can be found right at home, with your family. As the box-office failure of the first two versions of this story proves, putting this sort of children's fantasy on film is tricky business, and despite a top-notch cast of American and Soviet talent and the directorial expertise of veteran filmmaker George Cukor, The Blue Bird had a notoriously difficult production, with the American and Russian crews not always understanding each other's working methods, the Soviet camera crew not knowing how to light African-American actress Cicely Tyson, and Jane Fonda often trying to engage the Russian crew members in political discussions. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda, (more)
The award-winning director Andrei Tarkovsky, (one of his better known films is Andrei Rublev), the son of a famous Russian poet, was born in 1935 and grew up in and around Moscow during the Second World War. This non-linear autobiographical film is considered by many Russian-speakers to be his best film and is his most personal meditation on time, history and the Russian countryside. In a series of episodes and images, he captures the mood and feeling of the period just before, during and after the war. Lyrical reminiscences of his mother and of his father's poetry figure large in the film, along with extraordinary images of nature. Combining black-and-white and color work, with some unusual documentary footage, this highly regarded movie is structured with the logic of a dream. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margarita Terekhova, Anatoli Solonitsin, (more)
- 1973
Monolog caused some stir in the Eastern Bloc on its release in 1973 because it focused realistically on the emotional problems of people and was not ideologically heavyhanded. In the film, the quiet, settled routine of a professor, whose best days are seemingly behind him, is upset when his volatile daughter comes for a visit and leaves her own daughter behind for him to raise. At the same time, one of his students challenges him to take up some scientific work he had abandoned earlier in his career. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mikhail Gluzsky, Marina Neelova, (more)
