#perestroika film

[petrovna-zamo]

Katya & Sapphira’s tweets about each other before drag race 😭

[spiritcc]

Why were Soviet Films in 2 episodes? Like Office Romance

sup, generally i'd say it's definitely not all All Movies but also while the issue is mostly clear, it's also kinda unclear lmao

a lot of 2 parters are television-only. episode one - news - episode two kind of structure, and a nice portion of them were new year specials aka they'd be shown on january first (eg the ordinary miracle that is frankly not festive at all). ryazanov also has a couple of tv-only two-parters, which begs the question of why were they classified as telefilms while the office romance was absolutely a full-feature film meant for cinema.

my only explanation is the production specs, since different rigs are used for widescreen vs tv-only. and as to why two-parters are allowed on a wide screen, apparently there was a nice incentive that is, by movie theaters it's classified as two films therefore bwease purchase two separate tickets :) lmao. i saw people reminisce over looking forward to going to the buffet during intermission between parts so what gives. also if i believe someone who found an alleged quote from daneliya, two-parters were classified as two films internally as well, so that the crew would get paid a double rate, i guess overtime was treated fairly.

from my observations, up until a certain year you simply wouldn't get Long movies, the longest i saw was about 1.50h ish somewhere in the 50s. 1.45h is the absolute maximum i have barely seen to begin with. somewhere in the 1960s if a movie exceeded 1.40, it'd have to add more runtime in order to be split into two. minimum runtime in that case becomes 2 hours, maximum - about 2.45h. not a fan of the latter bc from experience that runtime was virtually never justified but sure besties get that coin. then we get exceptions like war and peace and moscow-cassiopea, then some stray individual mentions seeing the musketeers (3-parter tv-only) in the theaters and it all becomes a mess.

but if everything here is correct, 2 parters in cinema are a way to accomodate runtime while giving the audience a pee break, getting coin, and giving production their coin.

[tsertsvi]

here jacks beat kings

[detectiveangel]

Внимание, ведьмы! (1991, Одесская киностудия)

Attention, witches! (1991, Odessa film studio)

"I was, and will continue to be, a crocodile!"

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

My top Russian Tv-Shows

Despite this being mainly a mandarinblr, I still try to practise my other languages so here are some of the most interesting tv-shows in russian for my fellow russian-learners and speakers and anyone interested.

Kitchen - Кухня This show has several spin-offs including Hotel Eleon and Grand which I will not mention as by the end of the last spin-off there are literally no characters from the original cast and the plot slightly goes of the rails. The actual show is set a french restaurant in Moscow where Max Lavrov, who just finished his military service decided to work at. The show follows the various challenges that Max faces at his new workplace, including the foul-tempered but very talented Chef Viktor Barinov who has a drinking problem and other interesting characters. It's quite funny and heart-warming, and it's a must-watch imo.

Youth - Молодёжка A pretty standard sports series tv plot. The hockey-team "Bears" are a meh team at best, but that all changes when a former National Hockey League player turned coach shows up to make a proper team out of them. I only watched the first season because after that the plot got a tad boring for me, but as far as sports series go, pretty good.

Law of the Lawless (Not the 1964 film!) - Бригада A cult-classic staple of only 15 episodes. The plot is a bit over the place at the beginning, as opening episodes sequence is a flashback to the start of the final episode but after that it's chronological, with the first episode w english subtitles here. 4 best friends start out as youths from early 1990s to 2000s, with one returning home after finishing his army service with plans for uni and the others just starting their lives. However, the Perestroika had significantly changed their lives, so eventually the gang turns from racketeering and petty crime to slowly becoming the mafia. The opening theme is worth watching alone, but then again I'm biased.

How I became Russian - Как я стал русским This comedy show is quite dear to me, as it follows an American journalist with russian and slavic roots navigating life and work in Russia as he works on a story about life in Russia for a major newspaper back home. He's back in his homeland but as a foreigner who finds his heritage utterly confusing. This series resonates with me, as despite having a good grasp of my cultures languages and customs, I still feel disconnected from my heritage at times, and this show has been a reassuring reminder that not being 100% attuned with your heritage is okay, and that there are many different ways of re-connecting with your culture.

Closed school - Закрытая Школа I was slightly tramuatized by this show when I first watched it 4ish years ago, in part due to how unhinged and off the rails the plot slowly but surely becomes. A descent into madness. Andrei and his sister are sent to study at the Logos boarding school, but are then informed that their parents have perished. Andrei doesn't believe this, so he sets off to investigate with his new friends and investigate he does. There are also some other background shenanigans going on, but the unraveling of the schools mystery remains the main interest, including its odd passageways and deeply disturbing history. As a thriller series, it honestly deserves that title.

Here are some shows that came out more recently that I think deserve a mention.

The Boy's Word: Blood on the Asphalt- Слова пацана кровь на осфальте I've only seen a few episodes out of the 8, but it's very Brigada-esque so far. During the mid-late 1980s when Perestroika is going on and the USSR is soon to be no more, 14 year old Andrei is trying to survive as he's constantly bullied at school and by gang-members. He makes friends with one of said gang members Marat, as he slowly descends into the world of street life. I'll finish watching this series sometime probably.

The new guy - Новенький 16-year old Max moves from his glamorous life in Moscow to a small-town Yurovsk due to his parents constant arguing, where he immediately doesn't get along with his clasmmates who think him stuck-up and start bullying him. One day Max goes missing and his classmates are the obvious suspects, as slowly but surely secrets start to emerge revealing everyone's lies. A pretty good suspense/thriller show, which covers the topics of bullying, coming of age and what it means to be an adult pretty well, despite the 4th and final season being kind of lackluster.

Central Russia's Vampires - Вампиры средней полосы Where to even begin with this show. I don't know whether I should introduce the trailer or the opening theme song mv. Basically the life of a small and unconventional vampire family living in Smolensk, presumably in central Russia, who get disturbed when bodies with distinct bite marks are found nearby. This results in the Guardians (aka the guys keeping vampires a secret and ensuring that no one acts out) taking over and investigating with the vampire leader Svyatoslav Vernidubovich given a week to find and punish the culprit. My odd plot description aside, the cast is why I adore this show. The recently turned Gen-Z wannabe blogger Zhenyok, the thousand year old grandpa Svyatoslav, the constantly annoyed Dr. Zhan Ivanovich (who is actually french and decided to hang around after Napoleon was defeated) and his ex-wife The Countess who honestly should have a spin-off show and many more characters.

Doomsday - Конец Света Satan decides to come back to Earth and start the apocalypse, for which he needs his son Dimyan who should become the Antichrist but to his dismay, Dimyan doesn't really care about world domination and money, he just wants to get married to his fiancee Galya and live happily ever after. Chaos ensues as satan tries to persuade Dimyan to join him, whilst Angel vs Demon shenanigans occur in the background. I honestly had no idea that this type of show could even be produced due to the censors and yet it was. It's kind of slightly similar to Good Omens with all the apocalypse stuff and the Angels and Demons eventually teaming up? Good Omens adjacent. Except more gritty with much darker humour. The actor who plays satan is Yuri Kolokolnikov who actually starred in game of thrones so if you're a fan of his acting, do try this show.

Alisa can't wait - Алиса не может ждать Alisa is a 15-16 (don't remember her exact age) year old girl who is going blind and she decides to do something really drastic to ensure that her life will be comfortable after she loses all sight. There's a noticeable build-up to what she's actually planning during the episodes, as her homelife is less than ideal, with her older sister stuck in an unhappy marriage and a turbulent relationship with her parents. This is one of the few shows that really left a deep impression on me but it deals with some very sensitive and potentially upsetting topics so be aware if you're giving it a go.

This list may be updated in the future, so if there are any other shows that I may have missed do share them!

[greatyme]

Sometimes timing works out well and u get the opportunity to see an actor you love perform in an incredible play (twice!) 🥹

Now I already knew I’d be going to Korea sometime in the latter part of the year, so the announcement that Taevin would be doing Angels in America was just perfect. I decided to go to the show on the 25th and closing night on the 27th because who wouldn’t want to see Taevin twice AND it meant I could see both Prior actors! Most of the cast both nights were pretty similar, but Harper, Joe, and Roy’s actors were also different

Taevin is truly incredible. I had mixed… negative feelings about Louis while reading the play but god Taevin can ACT!! Both Seungho and Hojun were also fantastic as Prior (I think I liked Hojun’s performance a bit more hehe) and despite not knowing much Korean I enjoyed every second (I do wonder if I was the only international person who got to see the play from as far out as I was lol)

Some mixed moments I loved/thoughts from the two shows:

after kissing Harper in one scene, Joe (Yang Jiwon) wiped his mouth. He didn’t do it at the second show and I wonder if it was intentional or improv by Jiwon in the first show (but it made perfect sense)

in the second show Prior (Seungho) pulled towels from the other side of the stage (aka another set lmao) to give to Harper to wipe her tears during the joint dream sequence. Hojun didn’t do that in the first show so I wasn’t expecting that and I don’t think anyone else was cuz everyone in the audience laughed djskjdk

as I said before idk much Korean BUT I did read the play as well as watched a filmed performance before which was essential before seeing it in a different language lol. For the second night’s performance I felt like I was catching more than the first time I saw it which was cool!

speaking of things I caught more… for some reason I heard “dyke” pronounced more clearly from Seungho and it was very entertaining to hear Roy’s actor constantly say “Jesus fucking Christ” in English so I guess they stuck w the English equivalents sometimes loooll

THE GHOSTS OF PRIOR WALTER WERE SOOO FUNNY. ESPECIALLY IN THE FIRST SHOW. they were kind of interacting w the audience??? And running around and being so sillay idk I loved it I was laughing a lot

Louis’ stupid rant to Belize was so entertaining. He just won’t stfu and Belize has had ENOUGH. I’m not sure about every version of angels, but for this they had Louis walk to a separate part of the stage and bring back chairs and then drinks which made the length of that scene get even longer and funnier. It was a lot of dialogue and both Taevin & Tae Hangho delivered so well. The only thing I’m curious about is if they altered any dialogue around Belize’s character being Black, considering Hangho is not

THAT scene. THE BREAKUP. IF YOU LIKE THE PLAY YOU KNOW THE ONE. oh my GOD it was incredible. I love the motion and the way all the characters are in conversation with each other it’s just so fucking awesome

THE WAY THE ANGEL BURSTS IN AT THE END!!! The lighting is so cool especially with the set design. Lots of flashing lights at different angles and colors creating different effects against the industrial background. What a way to end the play I wish it was 8 hours long and they DID do Perestroika bc I need to see the rest!!!

Finally, I’ll end with a little beyond-bucket-list experience I had… which was that Taevin signed my ticket 🥹🥹🥹 I won’t include a photo bc there’s too much personal info, but he very kindly asked how to spell my name in English seeing that I wasn’t Korean lol. He didn’t sign anything on closing night either so I was truly very lucky on the 25th🥹 honestly, I was just expecting to see the play but greeting the cast (more of them came out on closing night!) and even getting an autograph made it even more special hehe

The whole cast was incredible, I’ll remember these two performances for the rest of my life <3

[russianyoshkinaneko]

while looking through all the intl Mikus (yeah i check blogs who like/reblog me) i noticed how there are two types of Russian Miku:

- the normal one (Miku in traditional attires, stylized Miku, etc)

- the kliukva one (depressed grey-brown-blue-colored Miku in a ushanka hat)

i'd understand if the kliukva ones were all coming from either foreigners or citizens of, like, Murmansk (which is north of the Arctic Circle). or if they were a parody of all the kiukva stereotypes.

but no.

it's the middle-to-south russians who are doing it.

i saw some post where a person was like "i love post-USSR countries with their sad people, strict buildings, snowy fields". and i look out the window ― +25° weather with average buildings barely visible behind all the tall green trees and with people strolling down the street normally ― and i say "b!tch where?"

just because you're depressed or unhappy and couldn't find a purpose in your life it doesn't mean the rest of the ~146 million people are like that or that the climate on over 17m km² is always cartoonishly gloomy. there's music other than post-punk or perestroika-to-90s rock. there are films other than Zviaghincev's. there are seasons & weathers other than rainy autumns.

it's not the 90s anymore, where there was an economic, political, cultural, societal collapse. the 90s ended over 20 years ago.

if your view of Russia consists only of the kliukva imagery, then it sure doesn't come from reality. it either comes from somewhere outside the country, or from something within yourself.

[mio-nika]

Annekirche

So. Does anyone remembers my previous icon? With a neon cross? Anyone?

Something like this one

This is Lutheran church of St. Anne. Build in a 18 century as church for a German citizens of Saint Petersburg it stands as an example of a more multi-religious Russia (Buddhist temple is gorgest).

Lookin fucking nice

After the revolution it was fastly remade in a cinema. And everything was fiiine for a long time.

Perestroika hits. People are like. How about we start holding services again? Maybe? But we still be showing films. So it transforms into this church but also sometimes cinema thing. Somewhere around here shit starts hitting a fan, it gets also adopted as a night club (???) Король и Шут/Korol I Shut totally playing concerts here but not for long.

The tragedy hits. Sixth of December 2002 the fire starts and the entire building burns. The roof are destroyed, the walls are covered in soot. From this point right to the 2010s church just stays abandoned. Reconstructions starts from the facade. I will not show you it, because it's boring.

And still going on, as you can see. But the beautiful light projections and overall decorations are making it a special place.

Now it's a real Lutheran church. Worship services are held here on Sundays in both russian and english languages. It serves as a place for lectures, concerts (not rock, organ music) and just as a museum. A place to be in.

[blech]

Broken Slide, Moscow, 1982 © Boris Savelev, via Photo Espana.

When perestroika came about, dealers in the United States and Europe travelled to Moscow and Saint Petersburg in the quest for ‘authentic voices’. Secret City: Photographs of the USSR by Boris Savelev (Thames and Hudson, 1988) was the outcome of this effort and became the first monograph in the West devoted to an unofficial photographer from the now-defunct USSR. Now this exhibition is presented as a broader retrospective on Savelev up to today. It surveys the six decades in which he captured the everyday making—not only taking—photographs: from his beginnings in black and white with his Iskra 6×6 and his Leica, including his colour pictures in the 1980s with both Soviet Owarchrome and Western Kodachrome film, until his incorporation of digital technology

From Time Magazine, covering an earlier exhibition at the Michael Hoppen gallery:

Savelev, who spent his working life in the former Soviet Union as a rocket engineer, brings the same methodical eye to his photography and printing process.

Personally I like this image for its small burst of colour in a nearly monochrome landscape, done without the trickery that's usually required for that effect. His other works are well worth a look, too.

[lyledebeast]

I was thinking last night, insanely, about what The Patriot would be like if Tony Kushner wrote the script.  And then I realized he’d already done that, and he called it Angels in America.  “The cracker who wrote the Star Spangled Banner knew what he was doing.  He set the note to ‘free’ so high nobody could reach it.”

This is Belize in his conversation with Louis about America early on in Perestroika, so Jason Isaacs got to hear it a lot.  I wonder if he ever thought about this line while filming the White America Propaganda Movie.

[halucygeno]

Roadside Picnic 2017 Bulgarian edition - “Translator’s note” by Milan Asadurov.

Original title: “Бележка на преводача” Translated by: yours truly

The first Bulgarian translation of “Roadside Picnic”, created in 1982, was, naturally, based on the butchered 1980 edition from the Moscow-based publisher “Molodaya Gvardiya”*. At that time, when Bulgaria was the most loyal satellite of the Soviet Union, there simply couldn’t be any other official edition. When I wrote to Arkady Natanovich in 1981, asking him to clarify the nature of some of the Zone’s artefacts so I may better translate their jargonistic names into Bulgarian, his polite and laconic answer amounted to: “Boy, instead of fixating on the details so much, quickly get the translation to print before they stop it!” The authors were excited because this was the first time the book was published abroad.

Apropos, we tried to do the same with "Tale of the Troika" six years later. After a long struggle, I managed to dig up a xerocopy of a few issues of the Siberian magazine "Angara". That's where the "scandalous" sequel to "Monday Begins on Saturday" was published, a decision which parted the magazine’s head editor from his post. I translated "Tale..." with great pleasure, but even though the perestroika had already started, the Plovdiv-based publisher "Hristo G. Danov" couldn't reach an agreement with VUOAP** about the release of this government-sanctioned novel. (It took all the way till 1993 before it was published here.)

When the publishing house "Ciela" proposed to re-release "Roadside Picnic", I read the old translation which my Plovdivian colleagues had published three times by 1989 (!) and happily determined that it hadn't aged at all. (In no small part thanks to my editor at the time, Zdravka Petrova!)

Of course, I immediately began purging it of any meddling from the editors of "Molodaya Gvardiya". I removed unwanted additions, restored cut down passages, made it so stalkers can once again swear, drink and sleep with girls. In other words, I tried my best to recreate, in Bulgarian, the version of “...Picnic” specially prepared by Boris Natanovich for the 2003 release of their collected works. The plot remains the same; editorial interference had left it almost undamaged. Except now, readers can see the novel in its full glory and understand why Andrei Tarkovsky fell in love with it, and wanted to recreate it in his genius film “Stalker”, differently, through a different language - the language of cinema.

Milan Adasurov

Varna, September 2017.

*Молодая гвардия; Russian for “Young Guard”. In 1980, they published “Неназначенные встречи: Научно-фантастические повести“ (”Unintended meetings: Science-fiction stories”), an anthology containing “Roadside Picnic”, “Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel” and “Space Mowgli”. This was the first time Roadside Picnic had been released as a full story, rather than serialised in magazines.

**ВУОАП – Всесоюзное управление по охране авторских прав. Translates to “All-Union Administration for the Protection of Copyrights“. There’s no English acronym.

Source:

Strugatsky, A & B. (2017). Пикник край пътя (M. Asadurov, Trans.) Сиела. (Original work published 1972). ISBN: 9789542824442

https://www.ciela.com/piknik-kray-patya.html

[russianreader]

Leningrad 4

If you have been to Chronicles Bar [in downtown St. Petersburg], you have definitely seen the photos discussed in this film. In today’s session of “Screening the Real,” we are watching Leningrad 4, a documentary about Sergei Podgorkov and other champions of Leningrad’s unofficial photography scene during perestroika. Yuri Mikhailin spoke to the filmmaker, Dmitry Fetisov, about dramatic structure,…

[inapat16]

Underground soviet rock and punk : Serebrennikov's Leto (Part 2/4)

To start this journey around Serebrennikov work and his dedication in this new wave of the dissident movement let’s look into his movie Leto. 

Leto, which means summer in Russian, is a movie that came out in December of 2018 which stars Roman Bilyk, Irini Starshenbaum and Yoo Teo. It’s a beautiful movie in black and white that describes the situation in the Soviet Union during the late 80s. During this period, the country was going through the perestroika, which is a time when people could only listen to Occident music, and especially rock and punk music, underground. Those types of music, such as Lou Reed and David Bowie were exchanged in those underground networks. Some major groups emerged during this time. Leto describes the foundation of one of the most famous Russian rock groups, Kino with Viktor Tsoï. The movie is about this group but also the way they change the rock’n’roll industry in the Soviet Union. To do so, the whole movie is in black and white, there’s even the use of fake archive footage, and metaphoric characters as the punk or the septical, to show the story of rock. Kirill Serebrennikov wanted to do a film that has an echo of the situation in Russia in 2018: 

“Leto is a rock’n’roll story, during a hostile climate for rock music and occidental influences. Our story is based on the necessary faith to pass through this context and the recklessness of our heroes for the restrictions”. 

[ghassanrassam]

Russian films near the end of the Soviet empire..and perestroika

[cbrownjc]

Um just a bit of correction: Angels in America was a stage play first. And was actually released in 2 parts at first, on Broadway -- Part I, subtitled Millennium Approaches, premiered in 1991; Part II, subtitled Perestroika, premiered in 1992. Both parts also won multiple Tony Awards, including Best New Play in their respective years.

Part I, Millennium Approaches, also won the Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama.

Actor Jeffery Wright actually won two Tony Awards for his role in both parts. And that is probably why he was the one person from the original Broadway cast to be in the TV miniseries, reprising the same role he played on Broadway. (And then also won an Emmy for it).

My college actually did a production of Part I of the play, which was very good. It was only after author Tony Kushner finished both parts that productions/revivals of both parts of the play were done as a full work.

So yeah, the miniseries version Justin Krik was in was based on a play, not the other way around. I've seen the miniseries and yes, he's great in it as the main lead character Prior Walter.

A fun fact about the Angles in America TV miniseries btw, is that it was directed by Mike Nichols. It was actually one of the last things he directed before he retired (he passed away in 2014). However, the first film Nichols ever directed was the film version of the stage play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

And, well, I've already said before how I think that particular play might show up in a related way wrt the show. 😄

what acting work of Justin Kirk would you recommend to watch to see best of his acting? :)

Ohhh that is a good question, and I'm not sure I'm the right person to ask.

I went through his filmography and realized I have seen him in a lot over the years.

However, I have mostly seen him in other series (Modern Family, Blacklist, Pretender, and so on), some earlier movies. I heard "Angels in America" is good, but haven't seen that one yet. Weeds wasn't exactly my niche, so I didn't watch that. Perry Mason is still on my watch list, haven't gotten around to it.

In preparation for IWTV... I would (as said before) recommend watching "Succession". If you haven't yet, all 4 seasons, though Justin is just in the fourth, iirc. But Eric is also in it :)

Justin plays the suave, very much fascist US presidential candidate there.

I really like this quote by him, it seems very tongue-in-cheek:

"After many of years of getting cast in sweet, angelic roles, I'm finally getting to play closer to my real life as a horrible person."

:)))

I just feel he'd have a blast being Marius.

Soooo. Sorry, I think I'm not particularly helpful there? But maybe others can recommend more of him or want to add on here?

[natyutya]

Лариса Гузеева на съёмках фильма «щенок», 1988 год.