Movies about Soviet reality and everyday life
by georgekaplan2 | created - 11 Jun 2019 | updated - 29 Jun 2019 | PublicMovies (and a few documentaries) that most authentically portray how ordinary people lived in the Soviet Union and under Communism, how it looked like and how it felt like. No fantasy, no varnish, no propaganda.
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1. Chernobyl (2019)
TV-MA | 41 min | Drama, History, Thriller
In April 1986, the city of Chernobyl in the Soviet Union suffers one of the worst nuclear disasters in the history of mankind. Consequently, many heroes put their lives on the line in the following days, weeks and months.
Stars: Jessie Buckley, Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Adam Nagaitis
Votes: 864,775
2. 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: 1,994 | Gross: $0.17M
3. Courier (1986)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The story of a teenager boy in times of the comunism fall in the Soviet Union.
Director: Karen Shakhnazarov | Stars: Fyodor Dunayevsky, Anastasiya Nemolyaeva, Oleg Basilashvili, Inna Churikova
Votes: 5,610
4. 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: 2,644
5. July Rain (1967)
107 min | Drama
Lena is about to marry when she finds out her fiance is a bad person. After leaving him, she seeks for a sense in her life through adventures with artists who are also searching their own identity. When raining, she meets Zhenya.
Director: Marlen Khutsiev | Stars: Evgeniya Uralova, Aleksandr Belyavskiy, Yuriy Vizbor, Evgeniya Kozyreva
Votes: 1,224
6. 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: 3,650
7. My Joy (2010)
Not Rated | 127 min | Drama
A few days in the life of truck driver Georgi, which seems to be a never-ending nightmare, a spiral of violence and abuses of power.
Director: Sergey Loznitsa | Stars: Viktor Nemets, Vladimir Golovin, Aleksey Vertkov, Dmitriy Gotsdiner
Votes: 2,622 | Gross: $0.01M
8. Mirror (1975)
Not Rated | 107 min | Biography, Drama
A dying man in his forties remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, personal moments and things that tell of the recent history of all the Russian nation.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Margarita Terekhova, Filipp Yankovskiy, Ignat Daniltsev, Oleg Yankovskiy
Votes: 52,220 | Gross: $0.18M
9. You and Me (1971)
97 min | Drama
Because of the failed marriage neurosurgeon Pyotr going through an identity crisis by trying to solve accepting a job in far Siberia .
Director: Larisa Shepitko | Stars: Leonid Dyachkov, Yuriy Vizbor, Alla Demidova, Natalya Bondarchuk
Votes: 438
10. The Theme (1979)
99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A playwright faces writer's block.
Director: Gleb Panfilov | Stars: Mikhail Ulyanov, Inna Churikova, Evgeniy Vesnik, Yevgeniya Nechayeva
Votes: 578
11. Falling Leaves (1966)
91 min | Drama, Romance
A young idealist takes a job at a local state run winery only to discover and become disillusioned by the corruption of the Soviet State.
Director: Otar Iosseliani | Stars: Ramaz Giorgobiani, Gogi Kharabadze, Marina Kartsivadze, Aleksandre Omiadze
Votes: 1,003
12. Ideaalmaastik (1981)
91 min | Drama
In post-World War II Estonia, Mait Kukemeri, an activist of the Young Communist League arrives to the Metsa collective farm in the back of a travelling cinema truck. As a commissary of the ... See full summary »
Director: Peeter Simm | Stars: Arvo Kukumägi, Tõnu Kark, Kalju Komissarov, Priit Adamson
Votes: 143
13. The Asthenic Syndrome (1989)
153 min | Drama
In the old days it was called hypochrondria, or black melancholia. Now, apparently, it's termed the Asthenic Syndrome. Whatever it is, Nikolai, a teacher has got it, and it's not much fun.
Director: Kira Muratova | Stars: Sergei Popov, Olga Antonova, Galina Zakhurdaeva, Natalya Buzko
Votes: 1,404
14. Vaikai is Amerikos viesbucio (1990)
88 min | Drama, History, Music
Rebellious Lithuanian teenagers in early 1970s are immensely influenced by Western culture, especially Radio Luxembourg, the Rolling Stones and Woodstock. After taking part in a hippie camp at the seaside, problems start to ensue.
Director: Raimundas Banionis | Stars: Augustas Savialis, Gabija Jaraminaite, Jurate Onaityte, Jurga Kasciukaite
Votes: 711
15. Vanished Empire (2008)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
The film's story takes place in Moscow in the 1970s. Its plot unfolds around the love triangle between two young men and a girl who study at the same university. They argue, make up, and ... See full summary »
Director: Karen Shakhnazarov | Stars: Aleksandr Lyapin, Lidiya Milyuzina, Egor Baranovskiy, Ivan Kupreenko
Votes: 594 | Gross: $0.01M
16. Wings (1966)
85 min | Drama
A fascinating and human portrayal of a once-famous fighter pilot and loyal Stalinist named Nadezhda Petrovna. Now a 41-year-old provincial schoolmistress, she has so internalized the ... See full summary »
Director: Larisa Shepitko | Stars: Mayya Bulgakova, Sergey Nikonenko, Zhanna Bolotova, Panteleymon Krymov
Votes: 2,238
17. Assa (1987)
153 min | Crime, Drama, History
ASSA is set in Crimea during the winter in the mid eighties. A young musician (Bananan) falls for mobster's (Krymov) young mistress (Alika). The parallel story line involves an 18th century assassination plot.
Director: Sergey Solovyov | Stars: Natan Eidelman, Anatoly Slivnikov, German Shorr, Ilya Ivanov
Votes: 3,157
18. Is It Easy to Be Young? (1986)
83 min | Documentary, Drama
Portrayal of rebellious teenagers growing up under Communist rule in Latvia.
Director: Juris Podnieks
Votes: 420
19. Skersiela (1988)
89 min | Documentary
The Crossroad Street is a small street in the outskirts of Latvia's capital Riga, and its various inhabitants with their destinies, everyday routines and neighborly relations form the micro-model of society during the Awakening.
Director: Ivars Seleckis
Votes: 103
20. Mr. Jones (2019)
119 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
A Welsh journalist breaks the news in the western media of the famine in Ukraine in the early 1930s.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Joseph Mawle
Votes: 16,239
21. The Event (2015)
Not Rated | 74 min | Documentary, History
In August 1991 a failed coup d'état attempt (known as Putsch) led by a group of hard-core communists in Moscow, ended the 70-year-long rule of the Soviets. The USSR collapsed soon after, ... See full summary »
Director: Sergey Loznitsa
Votes: 613
22. Blockade (I) (2006)
Not Rated | 52 min | Documentary, History, War
The city of Leningrad and the blockade during the Second World War. No words. No music. Only sounds and black and white images of a dying city.
Director: Sergey Loznitsa
Votes: 712
23. Cold War (2018)
R | 89 min | Drama, Music, Romance
In the 1950s, a music director falls in love with a singer and tries to persuade her to flee communist Poland for France.
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski | Stars: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Agata Kulesza
Votes: 61,910 | Gross: $4.57M
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