Country of Origin: Russia
Certification15
Our Rating
Certification15
Our Rating
A raw bunch of Soviet conscripts are drilled into shape on the training ground and dropped into the thick of it in Afghanistan. A big box office hit in Russia this may, like films about the American invasion of Vietnam, be politically naive, but as a war drama it pulls no punchs and, with the possible exception of a silly, poorly edited final battle scene, delivers the goods in superb fashion.
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CertificationPG
Our Rating
Certification15
Our Rating
Babushka Aleksandra moseys on down to the war zone in Chechnya to search for her soldier boy grandson. Here the old biddy, poking her nose in places it wouldn't normally go, brings peace and love, chilling out the grunts in the soldier camp and even making friends amongst the Chechens when she briefly takes a trip to the market. On many critics' lists as one of the best films of 2008; one for serious connoisseurs of film.
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CertificationU
Our Rating
Adapted from the Chekhov play, this ravishingly photographed piece centres around Platonov, a 35 year-old socialite who muses on past youthful ideas whilst trying to come to terms with present reality. An engaging drawing-room drama for those who don't like much action in their films!!
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Certification15
Our Rating
Tarkovsky's mysterious masterpiece that charts the life and times of an obscure 15th Century Russian icon painter. Rublev's character is recreated, through 8 separate chapters, as a symbol of Russian suffering at the hands of Tartar invaders. Beautifully told, a fantastic and brilliantly directed tale.
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CertificationPG
Our Rating
In the middle of the Second World War teenage Alyosha is commended for destroying two German tanks, but, rather than take a medal, he requests a four day pass to visit his mother. Ballad of a Soldier is about this journey and the life enhancing encounters therein. Nominated at the 1962 Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, this classic of post-war Soviet Realism won many international film awards on its release, most notably a BAFTA Award for Best Film.
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Certification15
Our Rating
February 1917, the Russian Tsar has abdicated. Crippling trench warfare against the Germans persists in horrific stalemate and propaganda is rife. Russian officers can do nothing without the prior approval of committees and the army is close to complete degradation. By order of the Russian Provisional Government, attempting to strengthen morale, the Battalion of death" is find out more...
CertificationPG
Our Rating
Mind those steps! Perhaps the most famous movie scene in the history of cinema. The documentary style story of mutiny aboard the Potemkin as the sailors fight oppression and fire on Tzarist troops attempting to quell rebellion in the city of Oddessa. Almost every shot is so beautiful it could work as a still.
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Certification15
Our Rating
A recently unemployed and embittered salvage submarine captain pulls together a misfit crew to search for sunken Nazi treasure in the Black Sea. As greed and desperation take control, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other, with ultimately dyre consequences. A taut and claustrophobic dramatic thriller from the director of ' find out more...
Certification18
Our Rating
Directionless demobbed Danila drifts to St Petersberg on the heels of his elder brother, a hitman for the local mafia, to whom he becomes apprenticed. No mug with a gun Danila drifts between the dossers who live on the edge of society, the drug consuming youngsters on the rock scene, a woman he sleeps with and the hoodlums he works for. Brother is a gritty urban thriller and an acute observation of the grim reality that faces many young Russians in a nation ill at ease with capitalism.
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Certification15
Our Rating
Certification15
Our Rating
Russia, 1936: revolutionary hero Colonel Kotov is spending an idyllic summer in his dacha with his young wife and six-year-old daughter Nadia and other assorted family and friends. Things change dramatically with the unheralded arrival of Cousin Dmitri from Moscow, who charms the women and little Nadia with his games and pianistic bravura. For most of its running time, the film seems to follow suit: it's a placid, languorous country-house comedy far removed from the realities of the Stalinist te
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CertificationE
Our Rating
Compilation of the most outstanding acts from Russia's 62 permanent circus arenas, plus hundreds of temporary ones. Includes clowns, Cossack riders, jugglers, high-wire daredevils and snarling Siberian tigers (this is 1972...most people couldn't even spell 'endangered species' never mind 'animal rights'). Oh, and the "Professor of Magic" - the amazing Averino. Prepare to be amazed! Or quite possibly appalled...
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Certification15
Our Rating
Certification15
Our Rating
Day Watch is a tour-de-force of post-Communist Russian cinema and has become the country's biggest grossing movie to date; it continues the saga of light vs dark begun in 'Night Watch' and is crammed full of stunning special effects and action. If you liked 'Night Watch' then "Day Watch" will give you much, much more of what you want... fabulous (if not somewhat incomprehensible).
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CertificationU
Our Rating
Kurosawa's visual hymn to man at one with nature is an epic production that draws on the journals of a Tsarist explorer who encountered an elderly Goldi forest-dweller, the eponymous hero of the film, an ageing hunter living in solitude in the wilderness. Their travels together are related in lavish style.
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