The film "Moscow" that came out last year, loosely modeled on Chekhov's Three Sisters and about 90s-era nostalgia for the Union, is supposed to be pretty good. Since its set in Yeltsin-era Moscow, of course the Mafia is a big player. The Brat (Brother) movies, which are hugely popular, made their hit-man-with-a-heart-of-gold character into a national icon. Plus they have great soundtracks.
An emigre filmmaker whose name I can't remember is currently doing a film based upon the life of notorious oligarch Boris Berezovsky, about a man who "loses his soul." Berezovsky was asked for his cooperation and, not surprisingly, refused it.
Saturday was Defenders of the Fatherland Day! WWII movies all over TV. Damn good ones too, I might add. Socialist Realism churnes out some top-notch war flicks.
As I'm currently between apartments, I'm staying on a friends' couch. She lives with her parents, who are both astoundingly generous conservative Communists in their early 70s. Her father served in the army in East Germany in the early 50s. Defenders of the Fatherland Day was full of toasts to the glorious Soviet Red Army for Yours Truly.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal ---------------------------
Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 12:18:11 -0800 From: joanna bujes <joanna.bujes at ebay.sun.com> Subject: Re: Russian cinema
At 01:50 PM 02/24/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Country which has an amazing film industry, though I
>have no idea who's funding it, is Russia. Some great
>films (seen by practically noone in the west) have
>come out of there in the last five years. How is this possible?
I grew up watching Russian movies (in Romania)...the WWII movies were amazing and a couple of years ago I went to see the film version of "Lady and the Dog." It's really hard to believe that anyone could make a good movie of a very beautiful but fragile Chekhov story, but the movie was outstanding.
In the last five years, I've only seen "Prisoner of the Mountains"...which was pretty good. What else do you recommend?
Joanna