Warm wooly dramedy by the great Georgian director Daneliya. If you liked Kin-Dza-Dza, you may also like this one.
Mimino / Мимино (1977)
Genres/Tags: Comedy, Drama
iMDB Rating: 8.2 out of 10 (based on 5398 ratings)
Director: Georgiy Daneliya
Starring: Vakhtang Kikabidze, Mher Mkrtchyan, Elena Proklova
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles
Description
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.
I know, I know, it’s been a while. But all those new games keeping falling and lack of properly subtitled/voiceovered Russian movies online… this all is making this “series” harder and harder…
Beware of the Car (Uncommon Thief) / Beregis Avtomobilya / Берегись автомобиля (1966)
Genres/Tags: Comedy, Crime, Romance
iMDB Rating: 8.1 out of 10 (based on 4616 ratings)
Director: Eldar Ryazanov
Starring: Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Oleg Efremov, Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles
Description
A very good cop tries to catch a very insidious and extremely clever serial car thief. The bitter irony is that the thief is not very clever, absolutely not insidious, and moreover – a virtuous person and his friend.
This movie ispretty old, black & white, but I like it a lot. The story, charachters and music – they are all great.
Genres/Tags: Animation, Short
iMDB Rating: 7.5 out of 10 (based on 686 ratings)
Starring: Dan Green, Jason Griffith, Mike Pollock
Video format: YouTube
Languages: English Audio & Subtitles
Description
Kikoriki, known in the United States as GoGoRiki and in Russia as Smeshariki, is a Russian animated television series consisting of 209 episodes of 6 minutes and 30 seconds each, aimed at children of 3 to 8 years. The first episode premiered in Russia on May 17, 2004. The Smeshariki are stylized rounded animals. The series includes complex themes and specific cultural references. The series is aired in 60 countries, is translated to 15 languages and has an everyday audience of 50 million people.
One of the best Russian export products, much better than Kalashnikov.
Long time no see, товарищи! After a two months hiatus your lovely RMW returns, with a vengeance!
This week I present you an not very ordinary Soviet movie, named “An Ordinary Miracle”, which I personally like very much.
It’s accompanied by another animated masterpiece, “The Old Man and the Sea”, based on a renowned Ernest Hemingway’s novel.
An Ordinary Miracle / Obyknovennoye chudo / Обыкновенное чудо (1978)
Genres/Tags: Comedy, Fantasy, Musical
iMDB Rating: 8.2 out of 10 (based on 2812 ratings)
Director: Mark Zakharov
Starring: Oleg Yankovskiy, Irina Kupchenko, Evgeniy Leonov
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles
Description
A wizard invents characters who all come to life and start to arrive at his house: a King, his servants, a princes, a bear trapped in a man’s body – the usual lot. The Plot mainly rotates around the bear, who the wizard had turned into a man. The Bear, who wishes to be a bear once again, can turn into his old self if he were to kiss a princess. It gets complicated when he falls in love with that princess, that arrived at the wizard’s house. For how can they be together, if a single kiss will destroy their love?
Старик и море / Starik i More / The Old Man and the Sea (1999)
Genres/Tags: Animation, Short, Adventure
iMDB Rating: 8.1 out of 10 (based on 3753 ratings)
Director: Aleksandr Petrov
Starring: Gordon Pinsent, Kevin Duhaney, Yoji Matsuda
Video format: YouTube
Languages: English Audio & Subtitles
Description
The Old Man and the Sea is a 1999 paint-on-glass-animated short film directed by Russian animator Aleksandr Petrov, based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film won many awards, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Work on the film began in March 1997. It took Aleksandr Petrov and his son Dmitri Petrov (who helped his father) until April 1999 to paint each of the 29,000+ frames. The film’s technique, pastel oil paintings on glass, is mastered by only a handful of animators in the world.
Today we’re going into adventure. Actually, two of them. In the first movie (co-production of USSR and Italy) you will see how Italians were trying to find treasure in a Soviet Russia. And in the second animation movie you will look at the Russian vision of J.R. Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”.
A Crazy, Crazy, Crazy Race in Russia / Neveroyatnye Priklyucheniya Italyantsev v Rossii / Невероятные приключения итальянцев в России (1974)
Genres/Tags: Adventure, Comedy, Crime
iMDB Rating: 7.7 out of 10 (based on 4987 ratings)
Director: Eldar Ryazanov, Francesco Prosperi (as Franco Prosperi),
Starring: Andrey Mironov, Ninetto Davoli, Antonia Santilli
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles
Description
The mad adventures of the mad Italians, searching for the mad treasures in the mad Russia.
Genres/Tags: Animation, Adventure, Family
iMDB Rating: 7.7 out of 10 (based on 1552 ratings)
Director: Roman Davydov
Starring: Lyusena Ovchinnikova, Aleksandr Nazarov, Anatoliy Papanov
Video format: TubiTV
Languages: English Audio
Description
An adaptation of a classic tale about a boy raised in jungles by animals.
War.. war never changes. May 8/9 is a Victory Day, you obviously know it. That’s why today’s Russian Movies Weekend is devoted to the largest war in humanity’s history.
The first movie is relatively old, it’s from 1985 and it’s one of the hardest flicks I ever watched. But it’s the movie every person should watch to the end. Just come and see.
The second one is a modern one, only 5 years old – and it tries to show the war from the woman’s point of view – and via the rifle’s scope. And it’s based on a true story.
Come and See / Idi i smotri / Иди и смотри (1985)
Genres/Tags: Drama, War
iMDB Rating: 8.3 out of 10 (based on 50202 ratings)
Director: Elem Klimov
Starring: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles
Description
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.
Watch
Battle for Sevastopol / Bitva za Sevastopol / Битва за Севастополь (2015)
Genres/Tags: Biography, Drama, Romance
iMDB Rating: 7.1 out of 10 (based on 9634 ratings)
Director: Sergey Mokritskiy
Starring: Yuliya Peresild, Evgeniy Tsyganov, Oleg Vasilkov
Video format: TubiTV
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles
Description
Battle for Sevastopol is a 2015 biographical war film about Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a young Soviet woman who joined the Red Army to fight the Nazi invasion of the USSR and became one of the deadliest snipers in World War II. The film, a joint Russian-Ukrainian production, was released in both countries on April 2, 2015.
Watch
Unfortunately, I didn’t find any embeddable versions of this movie, but you can watch it on this site:
Today I present you the all-time classic Soviet TV series: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
The series became a cultural phenomenon and to this day remain a legendary masterpiece of Soviet television. In the West, the reception of the series was warm, especially in the United Kingdom. British critics have pointed out that the creators of the series have treated the original source with due care and respect, and have successfully transferred the atmosphere of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works. In 2006, Vasily Livanov became an Honorary MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for his masterful portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. Livanov’s wax statue is displayed in the Sherlock Holmes museum in London. In 2007, a statue to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, as played by Livanov and Solomin, was erected in Moscow near the British embassy.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson / Приключения Шерлока Холмса и Доктора Ватсона (1979-1986)
Genres/Tags: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
iMDB Rating: 8.3 out of 10 (based on 7627 ratings)
Director: Igor Maslennikov
Starring: Vasiliy Livanov, Vitali Solomin, Rina Zelyonaya
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles
Description
The life of entire statistical bureau becomes crazy when an ordinary worker, a shy man, falls in love with a boss, a strict woman.
Another two perfect examples of Russian/Soviet culture. I think that our vision of Winnie-the-Pooh is much better, than Disney’s one. And as for “Office Romance”… well, I love it. Almost all movies by Eldar Ryazanov are masterpieces, but this one is very warm personally for me. Feel free to share if it will touch you too.
Office Romance / Sluzhebnyj roman / Служебный роман (1977)
Genres/Tags: Crime, Drama, History
iMDB Rating: 8.3 out of 10 (based on 7627 ratings)
Director: Eldar Ryazanov
Starring: Alisa Freyndlikh, Andrey Myagkov, Svetlana Nemolyaeva
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles
Description
The life of entire statistical bureau becomes crazy when an ordinary worker, a shy man, falls in love with a boss, a strict woman.
Genres/Tags: Animation, Short, Family
iMDB Rating: 8.3 out of 10 (based on 3585 ratings)
Creator: Fyodor Khitruk
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles
Description
A Soviet version of Winnie-the-Pooh. His first adventure is a desperate attempt to get to honey in a bee hollow. He is ready to take decisive action.
Khitruk studied the original book by Milne first in English and only later in Russian, translated by Boris Zakhoder who became a co-writer of the first two parts of the trilogy. Khitruk had not seen the Disney adaptations while working on his own…
Let me make your lockdown a little bit brighter. I really liked this movie in my childhood, especially songs…
Приключения Электроника / Priklyucheniya Elektronika / The Adventures of Electronic (1979)
Genres/Tags: Adventure, Comedy, Crime
iMDB Rating: 7.6 out of 10 (based on 1632 ratings)
Director: Konstantin Bromberg
Starring: Yuriy Torsuev, Vladimir Torsuev, Vasiliy Skromnyy
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles
Description
All children dream of having a twin who could sit exams for them. That is what happens to the boy Serezha Syroezhkin, only his double is a highly intelligent robot called Electronic. But finding himself in the world of people, Electronic is upset that he himself is not human.
One of the most popular children’s films, it also produced some wonderful songs—one of them, “Winged Swings,” became iconic.
Better later, than never, huh? And you have to watch something while locked down at home and waiting for DOOM Eternal repack, right?
Хардкор / Hardcore Henry (2015)
Genres/Tags: First-person, Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
iMDB Rating: 6.7 out of 10 (based on 82141 ratings)
Director: Ilya Naishuller
Starring: Sharlto Copley, Tim Roth, Haley Bennett
Video format: FShare
Languages: Russian Audio, English subtitles
Description
Henry, a newly resurrected cyborg who must save his wife/creator from the clutches of a psychotic tyrant with telekinetic powers, AKAN, and his army of mercenaries. Fighting alongside Henry is Jimmy, who is Henry’s only hope to make it through the day. Hardcore takes place over the course of one day, in Moscow, Russia.
Don’t forget to select subtitles (there are a few in there to select from, some of them are fucked up).
In Piter We Drink! / В Питере – пить (2016)
Genres/Tags: Music video
Creators: Anna Parmas, Leningrad
Video format: YouTube
Languages: Russian Audio, Multiple subtitles
Description
Yep, this is not an animation, but a music video, made by a popular Russian group “Leningrad”. Almost all of their musical videos are great and look like small movies. This one is not an exception.
Watch
Bonus
Another “Leningrad” video shot by the director of Hardcore Henry. Pure excitement for eyes 🙂
