Russian Film Series Fall 2006

Presented by the CSULB Russian Club

Starukhi (Old Ladies) November 2nd, 7-9:30, USU Alamitos Bay Room

Gennadii Sidorov’s Starukhi (Old Ladies), Russia 2003, lyrical comedy

It is a debut film, showing real life in a secluded Russian village near Kostroma performed by non professional actors. A family of refugees from Uzbekistan arrives into the village where some old women and a village fool live. The humor of the film largely derives from the clash of cultures. Starukhi also investigates the relationship between the former empire and its colonies in a paradoxical fashion: if in Soviet times civilization spread from center to periphery, now the central Asian refugees develop the Russian provinces erecting a small power station to supply the village with electricity.

Russkoe (Things Russian) November 16th, 7-9:30pm, USU Alamitos Bay Room

Aleksandr Veledinsky’s Russkoe (Things Russian) Russia, 2004 drama

This film borrows its title from a book by a controversial Russian dissident writer Eduard Limonov whose early autobiographical novels (Memoir of A Russian Punk, 1990 and Le Petit Salaud, 1988) in particular have inspired Russkoe's maker, Aleksandr Veledinsky. Set in 1960’s Kharkov, the film shows the experiences of a delinquent teenager Ed exploring the connections between Russian past and present through poetry, writing and violence. In fact, Russkoe is a misnomer of sorts, as Kharkov is a Ukrainian city (and even was the capital of Soviet Ukraine in 1919-34). The events of the film could have taken place in the urban area anywhere in the world, and yet theirs representation makes the film quintessentially Russian.

Nastroischik (The Tuner) November 30th, 7-9:30pm, USU Alamitos Bay Room

Kira Muratova, Nastroischik (The Tuner), Russia, 2005, drama

Former nurse, Liuba (Nina Ruslanova), seeking marriage through newspaper personal ads, is bilked by a stranger whom she mistakes for her new date. Liuba's elderly, well-to-do girlfriend, Anna Sergeevna (Alla Demidova) is defrauded in a different fashion: having placed a newspaper ad for a piano tuner, she is entrapped by Andrei (Georgii Deliev), who is not only an excellent tuner and musician, but also a reasonably good petty thief and scam artist. Andrei and his current lover, Lina (Renata Litvinova), attempting to further secure the women's trust by returning Liubas money, which had been scammed yet again by a second potential husband cum con-artist, place their own fake personal ad in a newspaper so as to locate the suspect. Having returned Liuba's stolen money, Andrei finally swindles both Liuba and Anna Sergeevna through an elaborate bank forgery scheme-in a word, a portrait of normal human nature a la Muratova.

Ironia sud’by, ili, s legkim parom! (Irony of Fate), December 14th, 7-9:30pm, USU Alamitos Bay Room

Eldar Ryazanov’sIroniia sudby, ili, S lëgkim parom! (Irony of fate, or enjoy your bath), Russia romantic comedy 1975

This film enjoys the status of a cult Russian New Year comedy. A group of old friends have a tradition of going to a public bathing house on New Years Eve. Unfortunately, too many drinks make two of them unconscious. The problem is that one of them has to go to Leningrad and one of them goes... but it is the wrong one. At Leningrad airport, believing that he is still in Moscow, Jenya takes a taxi and goes home. The street name, the apartment number, the way an apartment complex looks and even the key coincide completely - just typical Soviet-type 'economy' architecture. Imagine the surprise of Nadya when she enters her apartment and finds a man without trousers in her bed. What's more - Nadya's fiance also finds him there...

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