Russia

Night Watch

Night Watch is that rare film that--like The Matrix--is not only visually dazzling but creates an intriguing, seductive, and thrilling alternative world. A young man named Anton, after dabbling in black magic to bring back the wife who left him, discovers that the world is populated by fantastical Others (vampires, shape-shifters, witches, and more) who have chosen sides--Light or Dark--in an epic battle. A truce has been declared; both sides watch the other to ensure the truce is maintained. But a prophecy has predicted that a powerful Other will tilt the balance, and Anton--who is himself an Other--finds himself crucial to the prophecy's fulfillment. There's no question that Night Watch has weaknesses. Numerous plot holes get glossed over by pell-mell pacing, the visual conception of the apocalyptic battle between Light and Dark is curiously pedestrian (a bunch of knights fighting a bunch of guys in fur with swords--what happened to their various powers?), and more--but, much like similar problems with The Matrix, it doesn't matter.

The alternative world Night Watch presents is so rich with possibilities that it takes on a life of its own, both as an imaginative universe and as a vivid metaphor for the moral complexities of our own lives--for example, though the forces of Light claim to be good, their often brutal actions call their virtue into question, and the forces of Dark make some compelling moral arguments on the topic. The movie is so overstuffed with ideas that many don't get fleshed out, but that only contributes to the sense of vitality and unexplored dimensions. Even the subtitles are used creatively. The impending sequels (this is the first film of a trilogy) may--like The Matrix--take all the stimulating possibilities Night Watch raises and drag them into the toilet, but for the moment, this is the sort of electric excitement that blockbuster movies promise but so rarely deliver. --Bret Fetzer

Among normal humans live the "Others" possessing various supernatural powers. They are divided up into the forces of light and the forces of the dark, who signed a truce several centuries ago to end a devastating battle. Ever since, the forces of light govern the day while the night belongs to their dark opponents. In modern day, the dark Others actually roam the night as vampires while a "Night Watch" of light forces, among them Anton, try to control them and limit their outrage.

Russian Ark: The Masterworks Edition

Russian master Alexander Sokurov has tapped into the very flow of history itself for this flabbergasting film. Thanks to the miracles of digital video, Sokurov (and cinematographer Tilman Buttner) uses a single, unbroken, 90-minute shot to wind his way through the Hermitage in St. Petersburg--the repository of Russian art and the former home to royalty. Gliding through time, we glimpse Catherine II, modern-day museumgoers, and the doomed family of Nicholas II. History collapses on itself, as the opulence of the past and the horrors of the 20th century collide, and each door that opens onto yet another breathtaking gallery is another century to be heard from. The movie climaxes with a grand ball and thousands of extras, prompting thoughts of just how crazy Sokurov had to be to try a technical challenge like this--and how far a distance we've traveled, both physically and spiritually, since the movie began. --Robert Horton

A modern filmmaker magically finds himself transported to the 18th century, where he embarks on a time-traveling journey through 300 years of Russian history in Alexander Sokurov's masterpiece. Filmed in HD with directors commentary

Solaris - Criterion Collection

The Russian answer to 2001, and very nearly as memorable a movie. The legendary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky made this extremely deliberate science-fiction epic, an adaptation of a novel by Stanislaw Lem. The story follows a cosmonaut (Donatas Banionis) on an eerie trip to a planet where haunting memories can take physical form. Its bare outline makes it sound like a routine space-flight picture, an elongated Twilight Zone episode; but the further into its mysteries we travel, the less familiar anything seems. Even though Tarkovsky's meanings and methods are sometimes mystifying, Solaris has a way of crawling inside your head, especially given the slow pace and general lack of forward momentum. By the time the final images cross the screen, Tarkovsky has gone way beyond SF conventions into a moving, unsettling vision of memory and home. Well worthy of cult status, Solaris is both challenging art-house fare and a whacked-out head trip. --Robert Horton

Stalker: A Film by Andrei Tarkovsky

Challenging, provocative, and ultimately rewarding, Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker is a mind-bending experience that defies explanation. Like Tarkovsky's earlier and similarly enigmatic science fiction classic Solaris, this long, slow, meditative masterpiece demands patience and total attention; anyone accustomed to faster pacing is likely to abandon the nearly three-hour film before its first hour is over. On the other hand, those who approach Tarkovsky's work in a properly receptive (and wide awake) frame of mind are likely to appreciate the film's seductive depth of theme and hypnotic imagery. Set in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic future (although the time-frame is never specified), the eerie and unsettling story focuses on the title character, Stalker (Aleksandr Kajdanovsky), who leads characters known only as the Writer (Anatoli Solonitsyn) and the Scientist (or Professor, played by Nikolai Grinko) into a mysterious region called The Zone. Tarkovsky films their journey as a long odyssey, or religious pilgrimage, and center of The Zone--said to be under an alien influence--is where each of these men hopes to find a kind of personal transcendence. Despite obvious parallels to The Wizard of Oz, Tarkovsky's film is devoid of special effects or any fantastical elements typically associated with science fiction or fantasy. Instead, Stalker makes astonishing use of sound and bleak-but-beautiful imagery to envelope the viewer into the eerie atmosphere of The Zone and the dank, colorless landscape that surrounds it. And while the film's glacial pacing may be off-putting to some viewers, there's no denying that Stalker has a mesmerizing power of its own, including a thought-provoking and highly debatable ending that propels the film to a higher level of meaning and significance. --Jeff Shannon

Orlando

Breathtaking and practically nondiscursive, Sally Potter's audacious Orlando overcomes some dodgy performances and a narrative structure that could most generously be described as "loose" to emerge as a haunting, discussion-provoking trans-historical and transsexual drama. Commanded never to age by Queen Elizabeth (played with surprisingly little camp by legendary cross-dresser Quentin Crisp), the title character becomes immortal; we then follow Orlando through 400 years of dreamlike British history. Midway through the film, Orlando changes genders--to Potter's immense credit, the transformation is handled with little fanfare and no explanation. Tilda Swinton, in the lead role, is far more convincing as a woman than as a man, and even during the film's latter half, her impassivity and lack of expression can be annoying. Potter encourages Swinton to play to the camera, and the resulting asides and glances askance can be amusing, but often seem purposeless, or even arch. Nevertheless, the willful idiosyncrasy and understatement of the film never quite capsize the project, and once you give yourself over to the filmmaker's logic, the panoramic sweep of the cinematography (remarkable sets include an aristocratic skating party on the frozen Thames during the Great London Frost of 1603, a stunning tent-caravan in Central Asia, and countless fastidious boudoirs and interiors) will surely keep you enraptured. Orlando is no Merchant-Ivory production, no prissy, forgettable period piece; this film has teeth, and it may bite ferociously when you least expect it to. Based on, but scarcely resembling, the Virginia Woolf modernist classic of the same name. --Miles Bethany

The Italian

For most Russian orphans the chance to be adopted is a dream come true. But six-year-old Vanya Solntsev has other hopes. After discovering his mother is still alive the abandoned boy teaches himself to read so as to learn her address from his personal files. Before a wealthy Italian couple can claim him for their own Vanya sets off on a perilous journey to find his only remaining family. Pursued by orphanage staff and the police the determined runaway must now face the most difficult challenges of his young life in this incredible story inspired by true events.Runtime: 99 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG - 13 UPC: 043396170889 Manufacturer No: 17088

The Italian, a film that aims to expose the overcrowded, impoverished conditions in Soviet state-run orphanages, is a chilling portrayal of contemporary Russian life. Director Andrei Kravchuk conveys, from inside orphanage walls, the sense of responsibility that employees feel to the children, and how desperate economic straits drive these same dedicated employees to sell their kids for a few Euros. Vanya Solntsev (Kolya Spiridonov), nicknamed "The Italian," is a six year-old abandoned at birth. His jealous peers envy his invitation from an Italian family to move to Italy, but young Vanya is determined to find his real mother, which means forfeiting this rare opportunity for adoption. Kolyan (Denis Moiseenko), the gang leader Vanya "works" for, and Natasha (Polina Vorobieva), a gentle caretaker, try to convince him otherwise through scare tactics and beatings to no avail. With the help of teen prostitute, Irka (Olga Shuvalova), Vanya learns to read and catches a train to the city, living as a runaway hunted by his orphanage supervisors who want to sell him to The Italians. Shock sets in upon imagining a society of child vagrants roaming Russian streets, not to mention women abandoning children as expendables. Given the tragic subject matter, it is tempting to assume that this is a chronic social problem in Russia, but hopefully The Italian merely fictionalizes an extreme example of this sad topic. Convincing performances by Spiridonov and Shuvalova add to the film's documentary feel. If nothing else, The Italian serves as biting social commentary that is culturally enlightening though heartbreaking. --Trinie Dalton

Russian Dolls

Xavier is back! We find him 5 years after L'auberge Espagnole, he is now thirty years old. An aspiring novelist, his greatest achievement is a co-credit on an over the top TV soap and his romantic life is equally disappointing. He has one meaningless romantic encounter after another and lines up a confusing series of jobs related to writing. A chance meeting could be the answer to his career and love life but Xavier's lack of direction and will power threatens to turn his good fortune to ultimate heartbreak.

Kolya

Winner of the 1997 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, this charming Czech drama uses the backdrop of the Russian military occupation in Prague for its funny, sad, and ultimately delightful story of a 55-year-old man's friendship with a 5-year-old boy. It doesn't exactly start out as friendship: Louka is a cellist who lost his symphony job after writing a sarcastic remark on an official form, and although he's struggling financially he still enjoys the company of several young women who find him irresistibly sexy. The last thing he needs is a surrogate child, but that's what he gets when young Kolya is abandoned by his mother, a Russian woman Louka had agreed to marry so she could avoid being sent back to Russia. The mother runs off to her boyfriend in Germany, leaving Louka with a 5-year-old kid who only speaks Russian! As directed by Jan Sverák (whose father, Zdenek Sverák, plays Louka), this predicament offers a lovingly detailed account of how Louka and Kolya discover each other, and how their mutual awkwardness evolves into a heartwarming father-son relationship. While the Russian presence creates an atmosphere of suspicion and restriction, the deepening connection between Louka and Kolya turns this into an unforgettable film, beautifully photographed, sensitively performed, and directed with just the right combination of subtle sentiment and harsh reality. Its Oscar was definitely well deserved. --Jeff Shannon

Winner of the Academy Award(R) and Golden Globe as Best Foreign Language Film, this irresistible comedy treat was embraced by critics and audiences everywhere! A confirmed bachelor is in for the surprise of his life when a get-rich-quick scheme backfires ... setting off a wild set of circumstances -- and leaving him with a pint-sized new roommate! Now, with a mischievous five-year-old named Kolya suddenly in his care ... life in this once carefree playboy's tiny apartment changes faster than he could ever imagine! Uplifting and endlessly funny, KOLYA is delightful motion picture entertainment you'll want to take home!

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The Return