‘Sputnik’ (2020)
Yegor Abramenko, 2020/ Vodorod Film Company
Russian sci-fi movies are, first of all, associated with meditative dramas like Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’ (1979) and ‘Solaris’ (1972). But ‘Sputnik’ definitively breaks the tradition – because it’s a chilling sci-fi thriller. A horror movie, even.
The concept of this movie could be put as such: “‘Alien’ of the late USSR.” It’s 1983 and yet another orbital launch has ended in an emergency situation. One of the two astronauts dies during landing, with the surviving one taken away to a closed-off experimental institute for examination. The main heroine – a neurophysiologist named Tatiana – is tasked with solving the mystery of the failed mission. The international title of the movie is identical to its original Russian title; after the launch of ‘Sputnik’, the world’s first artificial satellite, in 1957, this Russian word entered into all languages. But, here, it takes on a sinister undertone.
The rights for the American remake have already been bought by Matt Reeves, the director of ‘The Batman’ (2022) with Robert Pattinson. Egor Abramenko, director of the original, is currently working in the U.S. on a horror movie titled ‘God’s Country’ starring Melissa Barrera (‘Scream’, 2022) in the main role.
‘Battle for Sevastopol’ (2015)
Sergei Mokritsky, 2015/KinoDelo
Lyudmila Pavlichenko is known as the most effective female sniper in history. During the years of the Great Patriotic War, she eliminated 309 Nazis. And this movie is her biography. Apart from duels with enemy snipers, it has large-scale battles, the amazing story of her friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt and a strong melodramatic line throughout – during war, people especially long for love and support. Yuliya Peresild – considered one of Russia’s best current talents – plays the role of Pavlichenko. And, it seems, it’s roles like these that got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly to space to shoot scenes for the movie ‘The Challenge’ (‘Vyzov’, 2023) by Klim Shipenko (who accompanied her).
The soundtrack is also worthy of a separate mention. Apart from everything else in this movie, you can hear Viktor Tsoi’s ‘Kukushka’ in a new arrangement, performed by singer Polina Gagarina. And a Slavic lullaby that can also be heard in… ‘The Hunger Games’ (2012)! That’s because composer Evgueni Galperine worked on both movies; he’s also written music for ‘The Family’ (2013) by Luc Besson, ‘Loveless’ (2017) by Andrey Zvyagintsev, as well as the mini-series ‘The Undoing’ (2020) with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant.
‘Coma’ (2020)
Nikita Argunov, 2020 / Bolshoe Kino
If ‘Sputnik’ is the Russian ‘Alien’, then ‘Coma’ is, probably, the Russian ‘Matrix’. Or the Russian ‘Inception’. According to the plot, people who go into a coma appear in a virtual world, composed from the fragments of their recollections. The main characters are hunted by Reapers, quasi agents of death – if you die in the Coma world, you die in real life. Banding together, the coma patients try to survive – and wake up in actual reality.
Rinal Mukhametov, who plays Neo (no doubt a nod to ‘The Matrix’!), the leader of the resistance, is actually a popular Russian sci-fi actor. Apart from ‘Coma’, Rinal’s filmography also lists the ‘Attraction’ (2017) and ‘Invasion’ (2020) dilogy, where he plays an alien whose ship has crashed over contemporary Moscow.
‘Arrhythmia’ (2017)
Boris Khlebnikov, 2017/STB Film Company
It’s not a common occurrence when a movie is equally liked by movie festivals, critics and the audience. But, it seems that everyone liked Boris Khlebnikov’s ‘Arrhythmia’. Apart from winning awards at ‘Karlovy Vary’ and at ‘Kinotavr’ (the main Russian movie festival), the movie collected enthusiastic reviews from the press and is a crowd favorite to this day. It’s a motivational drama about a talented provincial emergency doctor named Oleg (Aleksandr Yatsenko), who saves lives, but can’t rebuild his broken relationship with his beloved wife. An analog of ‘Arrhythmia’ could be ‘Secrets & Lies’ (1996) by British director Mike Leigh.
‘Sobibor’ (2018)
Konstantin Khabensky, 2018/Patriot Productions
Konstantin Khabenskiy, known for his roles in ‘Night Watch’ (2002), ‘Wanted’ (2008) and ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ (2011), is not just one of Russia’s most famous actors, but also the artistic director of the Moscow Art Theater. He also directed the movie ‘Sobibor’ (2018).
This war thriller is based on the biography of Alexander Pechersky (played by Khabensky himself), who managed to organize the most successful ‘death camp’ (that’s what concentration camps were often called)) prisoner escape. Earlier, these events had already become the basis for another movie - ‘Escape from Sobibor’ (1987), where U.S. actor Rutger Hauer played the role of Pechersky, receiving his only Golden Globe Award for it.
It’s not a coincidence that the face of the villain, a non-commissioned SS officer, in Khabensky’s movie might seem familiar – it’s none other than French-American actor Christopher Lambert (‘Highlander’, 1987), who, by the way, rarely plays bad characters. However, he made an exception for Khabensky’s movie.
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