Passion For Russian

Anastasia

This may be hard to believe, but until about a week ago, I’d never seen the animated movie, Anastasia. The thing that actually prompted me to finally watch it was listening to one of the songs from the movie, Once Upon a December, which several people posted on Tumblr lately, and I think is really lovely - especially the Russian version.

I really liked the movie and especially enjoyed the music, although I really wish I could find the Russian version of at least the soundtrack. (Can anyone help me out?)

If you’ve seen this movie, do you recognize the photo above? It’s the self-portrait that Anastasia shares with her grandmother in the movie. Fun fact: this is an actual self portrait that Anastasia Romanov painted when she was 12 years old, that was scanned for use in the movie.

If only the rest of the movie were true…

So, really - does anyone know how I can get my hands on the Russian version of the movie or the soundtrack?

“Stalingrad”

Here’s one of the few movies I’ve seen about WWII shown from the German perspective. Kinda confirms what I think we’ve all always known - war is evil no matter which side you’re on. 

It’s a good movie, though. And just in case you didn’t know, Stalingrad = present-day Volgograd: the city I lived in for four months in 2003.

Anybody seen any other good Russian movies lately?

Wow - what a touching documentary about a brave guy… (You can get this on Netflix)

Risking being denounced as an ‘enemy of the people,’ Igor Savitsky rescues 40,000 forbidden fellow artists’ works and creates in a far desert of Soviet Uzbekistan a museum now worth millions.

Getting movies for free at your local library is a great way to take a chance on something you wouldn’t even risk $1 on at Redbox. This weekend, Муж and I couldn’t resist picking up TransSiberian for obvious reasons, even though it seemed like the kind of thing we’d never watch. 

Going in, I had pretty low expectations and I must say, they were exceeded! Don’t get me wrong - the movie’s not great, but it was worth watching if nothing else but for the fun of the train scenes which is one of my favorite Russian experiences. (You might also enjoy the IMBD page of “goofs” I just noticed…)

By the way, I am seriously planning on doing this trip sometime (minus some of the excitement experienced by the characters in the movie). Anyone ever done it? What did you think?

Siberiada

I Watched this a while ago: a mini series that shows Russian events through the perspective of a tiny population of people living in a Siberian village. It’s long, but very good. 

Tuesday night: second night in a row doing something “Kazakh-y”. Went to the opening night of 3 Kazakh Cinema Evenings. Enjoyed free Kazakh food and wine (the wine was just regular, I think). Watched Gift to Stalin.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the second 2 film nights, but I’ll be adding Strayed and Nomad (The Warrior) to my Netflix Queue.

Have a good weekend!

Another movie for your queue: Ballets Russes.

A beautiful documentary that tells a story I had no idea existed: A dance company made up mostly of Russians who fled Russia and wound up in Paris. They end up becoming hugely popular and touring the world

I loved that most of the dancers stayed connected to dance throughout their lives. A few of them even gave an encore presentation for the cameras. (Keep in mind these people were in their 80s or 90s at the time of the filming.)

Note: this is pretty light on the Russian and heavy on the ballet. So if you’re not into ballet or documentaries, this might not be for you.

Shoot - it’s already Friday and I’m still on last weekend: We watched Кавказский пленник (Prisoner of the Mountains) again last weekend.

It’s probably the first Russian movie I ever watched many years ago when I began this journey and I didn’t remember too much of it. It’s a great film, although sad, like a lot of Russian films. It was nominated for an Oscar in 1996, but didn’t win.

Watch it on Netflix.

Боец = The Fighter

(Saw this this weekend. I give it 3 stars.)

Learn Russian through movie titles:

Black Swan = Чёрный лебедь

Also, check out some other cool Black Swan foreign language posters - I love these!

I think it’s interesting to see how the movie poster changes for different cultures - shows what appeals to different people. In the US, it seems we’re all about celebrities’ faces, where in some other cultures the designs are more abstract and artistic.

I accidentally watched some of the Golden Globes this past Sunday, and found out that there was a Russian film up for Best Foreign Language Film: Край (or “The Edge”). Has anyone seen it? What did you think?

You can add it to your Netflix Que, but only as “save” (which means it’s not available at the moment). I guess I’ll give that a shot…

Oh, by the way - it didn’t win. Better luck at the Oscars?
Update: The film wasn’t nominated for an Oscar.