Good and great Russian movies
by tread-10 | created - 04 Jan 2013 | updated - 04 Jan 2013 | PublicMovies i loved and learned from. No particular order, adding as i remember more. If you dont speak Russian try and find the best subtitles available, its worth the effort.
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1. Heart of a Dog (1988 TV Movie)
PG | 136 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
In the wake of the Russian revolution, Professor Preobrazhensky rescues a starving dog from the gutter, and attempts to transform him into a man. Based on Mikhail Bulgakov's novel of the same name.
Director: Vladimir Bortko | Stars: Evgeniy Evstigneev, Vladimir Tolokonnikov, Boris Plotnikov, Roman Kartsev
Votes: 9,055
2. Lyubovnik (2002)
100 min | Drama, Romance
He thought he was in control of his own life. Then he lost his wife and thought it was the hardest hit he could handle. It was not.
Director: Valeriy Todorovskiy | Stars: Oleg Yankovskiy, Sergey Garmash, Andrey Smirnov, Vera Voronkova
Votes: 689
3. The Idiot (2003– )
550 min | Drama
Prince Myshkin returns to Russia from Switzerland, where he was treated for a mental illness for several years. In St. Petersburg, he ends up in the house of his distant relatives. He finds himself in a cycle of passions and intrigues.
Stars: Evgeniy Mironov, Igor Ivanov, Marietta Melrose, Vladimir Mashkov
Votes: 2,125
4. The Return (2003)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
In the Russian wilderness, two brothers face a range of new, conflicting emotions when their father - a man they know only through a single photograph - resurfaces.
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev | Stars: Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Nataliya Vdovina
Votes: 47,473 | Gross: $0.50M
5. Mirror for a Hero (1987)
139 min | Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Two casual acquaintances, Sergey Pshenichnyy and Andrey Nemchinov, are transferred almost 40 years ago by the will of mysterious circumstances. This day - May 8, 1949 - begins to repeat itself for them with inexorable constancy.
Director: Vladimir Khotinenko | Stars: Sergey Koltakov, Ivan Bortnik, Boris Galkin, Feliks Stepun
Votes: 730
6. Pokrov Gates (1983 TV Movie)
140 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Love and curiosities of neighbors in a communal apartment. A cult comedy about Moscow in the 50s, which was sold in quotes.
Director: Mikhail Kozakov | Stars: Oleg Menshikov, Sofiya Pilyavskaya, Leonid Bronevoy, Inna Ulyanova
Votes: 3,095
7. Mekhanicheskaya syuita (2002)
100 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
Kolya from patent department who wrote verses to women for March 8 has died. I have gone to Lykovo under St. Petersburg for the weekend and I have died from a heart attack. Therefore the ... See full summary »
Director: Dmitriy Meskhiev | Stars: Sergey Garmash, Mikhail Porechenkov, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Sergey Makovetskiy
Votes: 241
8. Siberiade (1979)
190 min | Drama, History, Romance
In the Siberian wilderness in the village of Yelan, two families live, who have long been at war with each other: the «kulaks» of Solomina and the «poor people» of Ustyuzhanina.
Director: Andrey Konchalovskiy | Stars: Nikita Mikhalkov, Vitali Solomin, Sergey Shakurov, Natalya Andreychenko
Votes: 2,315
9. Afghan Breakdown (1992)
140 min | War
The events of the film take place on the eve of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. The son of a high-ranking military man is sent to the paratrooper unit, commanded by Major Bandura.
Director: Vladimir Bortko | Stars: Michele Placido, Tatyana Dogileva, Mikhail Zhigalov, Filipp Yankovskiy
Votes: 559
10. The Edge (2010)
Not Rated | 124 min | Adventure, Drama, History
In 1945, Soviet war hero Ignat is sent to work as a locomotive mechanic in a Siberian labor camp where he meets an assortment of Germans and Russians.
Director: Aleksey Uchitel | Stars: Vladimir Mashkov, Anjorka Strechel, Yuliya Peresild, Sergey Garmash
Votes: 3,233
11. Unfinished Piece for the Player Piano (1977)
103 min | Drama
In Imperial Russia, the nobility has its own entertainments, disputes and worries.
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov | Stars: Aleksandr Kalyagin, Elena Solovey, Evgeniya Glushenko, Antonina Shuranova
Votes: 3,766
12. Solaris (1972)
PG | 167 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy
Votes: 98,126
13. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 96,873
14. Taxi Blues (1990)
110 min | Comedy, Drama
A comedic love/hate relationship develops between a dour taxi driver and a hapless aspiring musician after the latter stiffs his cab fare.
Director: Pavel Lungin | Stars: Pyotr Mamonov, Pyotr Zaychenko, Vladimir Kashpur, Natalya Kolyakanova
Votes: 1,992 | Gross: $0.17M
15. A Few Days from the Life of I.I. Oblomov (1980)
Unrated | 140 min | Comedy, Drama, History
St. Petersburg, mid 19th century: the indolent, middle-aged Oblomov. He sleeps much of the day. His boyhood companion, Stoltz, now an energetic and successful businessman, adds Oblomov to his circle and introduces him to Olga.
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov | Stars: Oleg Tabakov, Yuriy Bogatyryov, Elena Solovey, Andrei Popov
Votes: 2,557
16. War (2002)
R | 120 min | Action, Drama, War
During the bloody war in Chechnya, a British couple and two Russian soldiers are taken hostage by Chechen rebels. Two of the hostages are then released to bring the money for the British woman who is forced to wait for the ransom.
Director: Aleksey Balabanov | Stars: Aleksey Chadov, Ian Kelly, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Sergey Bodrov
Votes: 5,397
17. Family Relations (1982)
98 min | Comedy, Drama
A woman from the countryside comes to the city to visit her only daughter and granddaughter. She is hopelessly lost in this world she does not understand.
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov | Stars: Nonna Mordyukova, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Yuriy Bogatyryov, Ivan Bortnik
Votes: 1,573
18. Moy drug Ivan Lapshin (1985)
100 min | Drama
Russian provincial town in the middle of the 1930s Stalin's Great Purge. Ivan Lapshin, the head of the local police, does what he has to do. And he does it well.
Director: Aleksey German | Stars: Andrei Boltnev, Nina Ruslanova, Andrey Mironov, Aleksey Zharkov
Votes: 2,642
19. Mama ne goryuy (1998)
83 min | Comedy, Crime
The Sailor was having fun at the wedding. A Tourist started to molest the bride. The Sailor punched him and the punch proved fatal. Now witnesses, police and elite hitmen are looking for him... 1997
Director: Maksim Pezhemskiy | Stars: Gosha Kutsenko, Evgeniy Sidikhin, Nikolay Chindyaykin, Sergey Veksler
Votes: 689
20. Kalina krasnaya (1974)
110 min | Drama
A former thief is released from a prison. He tries to start a new life with his penfriend - a good village woman, but his past doesn't let him go.
Director: Vasiliy Shukshin | Stars: Lidiya Fedoseeva-Shukshina, Vasiliy Shukshin, Ivan Ryzhov, Mariya Skvortsova
Votes: 2,006
21. Ostrov Sokrovishch (1988)
G | 72 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Cartoon adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's most famous adventure novel.
Director: David Cherkasskiy | Stars: Valeriy Bessarab, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Viktor Andrienko, Vyacheslav Dubinin
Votes: 4,331
22. Autumn Marathon (1979)
90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Middle-aged university professor desperately tries to strike a balance in his life between his wife and his mistress, slowly getting bogged down in his own lies.
Director: Georgiy Daneliya | Stars: Oleg Basilashvili, Natalya Gundareva, Marina Neyolova, Evgeniy Leonov
Votes: 3,642
23. At Home Among Strangers, a Stranger Among His Own (1974)
97 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Set during the Civil War between the Reds and the Whites that followed the 1917 revolution in Russia
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov | Stars: Yuriy Bogatyryov, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Sergey Shakurov, Aleksandr Porokhovshchikov
Votes: 3,504
24. Mimino (1977)
PG | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
Local Georgian pilot Mimino dreams of flying airplanes for major international airlines. To realize his aspirations, he goes to Moscow where he encounters a fellow comrade from the Caucasus, the Armenian Rubik. Many misadventures ensue.
Director: Georgiy Daneliya | Stars: Vakhtang Kikabidze, Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Elena Proklova, Evgeniy Leonov
Votes: 6,835
25. Burnt by the Sun (1994)
R | 135 min | Drama, War
In the USSR in 1936, shadows of Stalin's repressions fall on a famous, revolutionary hero. The accusations of him being a foreign spy are nonsense, and everyone knows that. However, a slow process of his downfall has already started.
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov | Stars: Nikita Mikhalkov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Oleg Menshikov, Nadezhda Mikhalkova
Votes: 16,328 | Gross: $2.62M
26. The Thief (1997)
R | 96 min | Crime, Drama
A woman meets a man who isn't the right man for her - but she hasn't realised it yet...
Director: Pavel Chukhray | Stars: Vladimir Mashkov, Yekaterina Rednikova, Mikhail Filipchuk, Dima Chigaryov
Votes: 5,616 | Gross: $1.13M
27. The Island (2006)
PG-13 | 112 min | Comedy, Drama
Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future.
Director: Pavel Lungin | Stars: Pyotr Mamonov, Viktor Sukhorukov, Dmitriy Dyuzhev, Yuriy Kuznetsov
Votes: 12,553
28. A Cruel Romance (1984)
142 min | Drama, Romance
A bitter story about tender love and its cruel betrayal set in Russia of the 19th century.
Director: Eldar Ryazanov | Stars: Alisa Freyndlikh, Larisa Guzeeva, Nikita Mikhalkov, Andrey Myagkov
Votes: 3,978
29. Moonzund (1988)
142 min | Drama, History, Romance
Captain Artenyev is in love with a beautiful lady-spy Klara.
Director: Aleksandr Muratov | Stars: Oleg Menshikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Lyudmila Nilskaya, Nikolay Karachentsov
Votes: 374
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