Russian cinema
 

Outside of Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, Bondarchuck, Klimov., and a few others here and there, I’ve been getting more into Russian cinema finally.
Shepitko has a few on Criterion I plan on knocking off soon as well

What does everyone think of the following directors?
Nikita Mikhailkov
Sergei Bodunov
Alexander Sokurov
Andrew Konchalovsky (not including his Hollywood films)
Yuri Ozerov
Karen Shahknazarov

A nut. But a good director and actor. Burnt by the Sun, Several Days from the Life of I.I. Oblomov, Anna: From 6 Till 18 are my favs from what he directed.

No idea who that is. Google doesn't show any director with such a name. Do you mean Bondarchuk?
A master. Mother and Son, Stone, Days of Eclipse, Whispering Pages, Dolce..., Elegy of a Voyage are my favorites.
Siberiade is a no-brainer essential but his early The First Teacher and Asya's Happiness are amazing, too.
Liberation is gr8 propaganda. Battle of Moscow is sheet propaganda.
Courier and Zero City are classics.

Oop! Should have double checked his name! Thanks for the catch. I meant
Sergei Bodrov.

Ah, in this case, Prisoner of the Mountains is the way to go.

Yes, I would heartily second this. Starring his son, who died tragically at the age of 30 while filming a different film.

A few of those I figured would be named, but wondered how strongly others felt.
Siberiade, Prisoner of the Mountains, Burnt by the Sun, and Zerograd were in my radar already, but the others I hadn’t heard of.

How does Burnt by the Sun’s sequels hold up on comparison?
And are there other directors I didn’t mention worth looking out for?

Re: Russian cinema
 

Mikhail Kalatazov? Or maybe he was Soviet not Russian - he was actually born in Georgia. One of the greatest ever filmmakers.

Konstantin Lopushansky?

Kantemir Balagov is going to be a major name in world cinema.

Don't forget about Andrey Zvyagintsev.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1168657/

Some lesser known films worth checking out:


Dead Man's Letters (1986)
This would be my top recommendation.


Mother and Son (1997)


My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1985)


Letter Never Sent (1960)


The Return (2003)

Some absolute bangers there :docbrown:

Re: Russian cinema
 

I think I shared this before, but this list is a great resource:

https://www.listchallenges.com/best-...-former-soviet

A Visitor to a Museum




Or for some Soviet disaster fun, Air Crew

I've been meaning to check that one out for a while since Dead Man's Letters made such a large impact on me.

Kalazatov is pretty great. A master, really.
Lopushansky is someone I’ve been meaning to get to. His work looks interesting.
Not familiar with Balagov.
I watched The Return from Zvyagintsev and liked it quite a bit. Looking forward to seeing more of his.

I’ve seen Letters Never Sent. It was ok, but I feel I should rewatch it sometime. I liked The Return a bit more.

Heard of the first three, but haven’t seen them yet.

Good list! I reocognoze many of these, including some from Minio’s own personal 300, as well. I didn’t see The Thief, or Welcome or No Trespassing! Both are classics to me.

Re: Russian cinema
 

Saw a few already.

Watched Strike over the weekend and I think I may prefer to over Battleship Potemkin

Potemkin is such a slog. If it wasn't for the Odessa steps scene, which I'd already seen a bunch beforehand, and is deservedly considered one of the both greatest and most influential scenes ever, I would have written the whole thing off.

Which film of his do you prefer? I quite like Alexander Nevsky as well

Also, Zerograd is on Tubi so I’m excited for that one.