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Reviews
Inkognito iz Peterburga (1978)
a great movie
I saw this movie from cable channel without subtitles. I know quite well Russian well enough to follow its plot. It is a filmation of Nikolai Gogol's 'Revizor'. It is the best filmation I have seen. Still I think this is not the best movie made by the same director. It seems to have something in common with the earlier film '12 chairs', but is somehow weaker, although from literature point of view I think Gogol's Revizor outperforms 12 Chairs of Ilf and Petrov. In the film 12 chairs, the Revizor is played by a theater group that happens to own some of those 12 chairs hunted by Ostap and Kisa. I liked most the great actors in this movie. Papanov is great and also Filippov in the role of Osip, he is also Kisa Vorobyaninov in 12 chairs. It draws a hopeless picture of Russia, very dirty and amoral. This is a film from the deeps of 'stagnation' period, 1977. I was surprised to see Russians current national flag in this film. Hopefully, the rest of the reality shown will not come true as well.
Beloe solntse pustyni (1970)
Great entertainment
I like this movie very much. It is even useful, I can keep my Russian on good level by watching it from time to time, it is really possible to watch it over and over again. DVD with subtitles is great with extras including the story of the film by the director, which I found very interesting. You can learn some 'classical' aphorisms from this movies. Like the one Vershagin says 'I feel sorry for the superpower..' really actual after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Letters from Sukhov to his wife are also pearls of this film. The scale of Sukhov is also amazing, from a warrior to lyrical romantics through a good fellow with vodka.
Brilliantovaya ruka (1969)
A very good film
I like this movie. Like all other Gaidai's films I saw, its very dense in humor, without empty gaps. For a non Soviet, it can give some insight to this country. Well, it helps if you have some background knowledge, like I have. the film is surely as critical as was possible, but the main thing is that it gives you a good feeling, laugh helps to forget bad things. My favorite is the scene in the restaurant, it shows the joy of drinking in a good company, I think Russian people really can create a good party. The music is also nice, Andrei Mironov is superb on the ship with his song about island of unlucky people in ocean. He also commented afterward his role i such a film: it is good to have one diamond arm, two is too much, tree is a catastrophe.