TOP 100 Russian and Soviet films. Part 1

You can't consider yourself a movie lover until you've watched at least half of these films. We have arranged them from simple and kind to absolute masterpieces and classics that have become part of Russian culture.

100. A few days in the life of Oblomov - Nikita Mikhalkov, 1980

If you are too lazy to read this classic of Russian literature about laziness, this film is for everyone. Oblomov is played by the talented Oleg Tabakov: he spends most of the film lounging on the couch until a woman transforms his life.

99. Intergirl - Pyotr Todorovsky, 1989

It's hard to imagine that this film was filmed in the Soviet Union: hard-currency prostitutes, sex scenes, police brutality ... At one time, the film became a real cinema revolution and earned itself a 16+ rating.

The plot of the film revolves around a prostitute who dreams of finding a foreigner and going abroad. Having realized her dream, the heroine feels alien and undesirable, but returning to the USSR is not an option ...

98. Little Vera - Vasily Pichul, 1988

Another film that shocked the Soviet public during the years of perestroika. And not without reason: it depicted the first sex scene in the history of Russian cinema. But the focus of the picture is Turgenev's intergenerational conflict.

Young Vera lives according to the laws of a new era, which her father cannot accept.

97. The woman who sings - Alexander Orlov, 1979.

An unknown singer, already experiencing difficulties, becomes a single mother. But then her condition changes, she gains fame and public admiration, but this does not bring personal happiness. The film can be called a fictional biopsy of the Soviet cult singer Alla Pugacheva, who essentially plays herself.

96. Kinza-dza - Georgy Danelia, 1986

Fans of Mad Max and the first trilogy of "Star Wars" will be interested in this Soviet fiction from director Georgy Danelia: two casual acquaintances find themselves in another galaxy, where aliens meet, who happened to have a spaceship.

In their quest to return to Earth, the couple go through all sorts of adventures. The only thing in their favor is that they have matches that are worth their weight in gold in this galaxy ...

95. Mother - Vsevolod Pudovkin, 1926.

One of the first Soviet propaganda films. The hero of the film is a revolutionary leader, and his antihero is his alcoholic father who supports the tsar. This family drama is based on the novel of the same name by Maxim Gorky.

94. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors - Sergey Parajanov, 1965

According to Serbian director Emir Oysters, this is one of the best films in the world. This is the story of a novel among the Hutsul tribes of Ukraine. According to contemporaries, the director used the film in order to portray his own personal tragedy, which does not differ from the Shakespearean original.

93. Movie-eye - Dziga Vertov, 1924

Gertov had to film what Polevich wanted to do for art - a tireless experimenter who decided to free himself from theatricality. Together with cameraman Mikhail Goffman, he brought the avant-garde onto a silver screen, shifting the camera angle and using the "destructive editing" technique. In this silent film, he shoots real life: there are no actors, no stage shots.

92. Mom - Elisabeth Bostan, 1976

A musical of a psychedelic film based on the fairy tale "The Wolf and Seven Little Children: a goat goes in search of food, leaving the children at home (literally). They are kidnapped (again literally) by a gray wolf who demands ransom .... This is one of the first musicals in Soviet cinema. , whose songs are loved by both children and adults.

91. Blonde around the corner - Vladimir Vertko, 1984

By Soviet standards, the blonde Nadezhda is a real getter. She knows where to buy things that are in short supply, and has good connections and something like a VIP, since she works in a grocery store, which in the USSR is almost like the boss of a factory.

Falling in love with a dreamy astrophysicist, she tries to remake him, but he can only think about extraterrestrial civilizations. This is one of the last Soviet comedies, and nowadays film distribution is broken.

90. The Promised Heaven - Eldar Ryazanov, 1991

This is "Lower Depths" by Maxim Gorky in the tragicomic interpretation of the legendary Eldar Ryazanov. The homeless live in the city's garbage dump and, despite threats from the authorities, do not want to leave the place they call their home. Therefore, the tanks are sent there to change their minds, but for them it no longer matters - their dream is to rise to the highest spiritual plain.

89. Formula of love - Mark Zakharov, 1984.

The Soviet film is very similar to Woody Allen's film. The fraudster and magician Count Cagliostro is hiding in the provinces after his scam was exposed by an influential St. Petersburg prince. There, Cagliostro continues his "acting" promising the young man in love with the statue to bring it to life, but the charlatan's main goal is to unravel the formula of love in order to continue to manipulate people.

88. Ten Little Indians - Stanislav Govorukhin, 1988

A popular film adaptation of the novel by the crime queen Agatha Christie. Ten strangers who have no connection with each other arrive at the remote island at the invitation of the owner, who appears to be absent. One by one, they come to a dark end.

This brilliant story was brilliantly performed by the star cast of Russian actors. By the way, for reasons of political correctness, the name in English has undergone various changes and today is known as "And After There Were None - And after they were gone."

87. Wedding - Isidor Annensky, 1944

The virtuoso actress Faina Ranevskaya is still remembered for the poignant side phrases that have since become aphorisms. In this film, based on the stories of Chekhov, she plays the most frequent target of all Russian jokes - the mother-in-law. A very funny film about the pre-revolutionary petty bourgeoisie.

86. Alexander Nevsky - Sergei Eisenstein, 1938

This historical film by the cult director and innovator Eisenstein, commissioned by the Soviet state, was intended to raise public morale and patriotism.

The tight schedule meant that the large-scale Battle of the Ice scene, in which the knights had to fall across a frozen lake, had to be filmed in the summer. The ice was covered with asphalt, sprinkled with salt and white-painted wooden planks.

85. Return - Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2003

The gloomy father of two boys returns home after several years of absence. The boys do not know where he was and are very much afraid of him. As if nothing had happened, he takes his sons from home on a trip ...

Andrei Zvyagintsev's first film earned him the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was recognized as one of the most outstanding directors of our time. The film also defined his directorial style - a coup and enjoyed every shot.

84. Down House - Roman Kachanov, 2001

Programmer Myshkin is returning from abroad. A certain Nastasya Filippovna talks about the new passion of her great friend Rogozhin. Myshkin blindly falls in love with her image. This absurd film is based on Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot", filmed in the "wild 90s" of Russia.

83. Hipsters - Valery Todorovsky, 2008

A story about Soviet rock and roll fans who illegally buy foreign fashionable clothes, listen to forbidden Western music, dance boogie-woogie and, of course, fall in love.

The underground workers are dispersed by detachments of benevolent communists, they are condemned at party meetings. Todorovsky's musical "Nostalgic Musical" performed well at the box office after its release.

82. Legend No. 17 - Nikolay Lebedev, 2013

The biography of the famous Soviet hockey player Valery Varlamov tells about his ascent from a provincial Ural club to CSKA and about the victory over the USSR over Canada in the first game of the 1972 Summit series. The star of the film is a sex symbol and the most popular young actor in Russia, Danila Kozlovsky.

81. The same Munchausen - Mark Zakharov, 1980.

The film is based on the performance of the Moscow Lenkom Theater with a script by playwright Grigory Gorin. Like the original character, Baron Munchausen is full of incredible stories, but his fiancee wants him to stop spinning funny yarns. Gradually he becomes more serious, but, nevertheless, decides to "repeat" his trip to the moon. A crowd gathers to watch the human cannonball shoot ...

80. White Bim Black Ear - Stanislav Rostotsky, 1977

If Hachiko's movie made you shed a tear, you'll need a bucket for the White Bim, as two generations of Russians have already figured out. Bim, a puppy with one black ear, lives with the hunter Ivan Ivanovich. When his master ends up in the hospital, Bim goes in search of him ...

79. Ivan the Terrible - Sergei Eisenstein, 1945

This film about Russia's most famous medieval tsar was another film designed to foster the patriotic spirit of the people while at the same time justifying the iron rule of the "father of nations" Joseph Stalin (who was reportedly an admirer of Ivan the Terrible).

The film was shot by order of the state during the Great Patriotic War, and many actors suffered from hunger. It was originally planned to shoot three parts, but Eisenstein died, leaving only two.

78. Kuban Cossacks - Ivan Pyriev, 1950

A musical comedy about a competition between two collective farms as they prepare for a fair. Post-war famine is embellished with film showing an abundance of food and fun.

Pyryev was the director of the Mosfilm film studio, and then for more than ten years he worked as the chairman of the State Committee of the USSR Cinematographers. In this capacity, he was the main censor of the country, and from the point of view of Soviet ideology, his film was nothing more than exemplary.

77. Peculiarities of national hunting - Alexander Rogozhkin, 1995

A foreigner comes to Russia to study national customs and traditions and receives more than agreed. What should have been called Russian hunting falls into a mess with several cases of vodka along the way.

Comedy regularly brings Russians to tears of laughter (or whatever), because they recognize themselves too well in these strange antics.

76. Solaris - Andrey Tarkovsky, 1972

The psychologist arrives at the Solaris space station and discovers strange events: all the scientists on board are suffering from some kind of mental illness. The psychologist also begins to see hallucinations in the form of his deceased wife. Tarkovsky's sci-fi drama was adapted for screening based on the novel by Polish writer Stanislav Len and still inspires many filmmakers and artists today.

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