1612 (also known as 1612: Chronicle of the Time of Troubles, 1612: Хроники смутного времени) is a 2007 Russian epic drama. It is based on true events of that year. The film takes place during the Time of Troubles (Смутное время), the period from 1598 to 1612, after the Rurik dynasty was deposed but before […]

Mongol (Монгол; known as Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan in its English release) is a 2007 film about Genghis Khan, the Mongol warrior who conquered Russia (among many other places) in the thirteenth century. The stars are well-known actors from Japan, China, and Mongolia. Tadanobu Asano, who plays Khan, is well-known in his native […]

Kandahar (Кандагар; called The Crew in its English-language release) is a 2010 Russian drama. It takes place in 1995, unsurprisingly in Kandahar, a city in Afghanistan, several years after the withdrawal of Soviet troops after the end of the Soviet–Afghan War. The film is based on true events—the Airstan Incident. The film hewed pretty closely […]

Legend Number 17 (Легенда №17) is a 2013 Russian biopic about Russian/Soviet hockey player Valeriy Kharlamov (Валерий Харламов). He was one of the best-known Soviet hockey players and was recognized worldwide. He participated and was successful in several Olympics and other Soviet and international competitions. He died in 1981 at the age of 33 in […]

Poddubny (Поддубный; The Iron Ivan in English) is a 2014 Russian biopic about Ukrainian/Soviet professional wrestler Ivan Poddubny. Poddubny was born in 1871 in what is now central Ukraine (it was part of the Russian Empire at the time), and he began a career in the circus and then in wrestling. He won championships all […]

Christmas Trees 2 (Ёлки 2; also called Seven Degrees of Celebration in English) is the sequel to the popular 2010 Christmas Trees (Ёлки). Released in 2011, it did even better than its predecessor, both at the box office and in reviews. It is less a true sequel in terms of plot and characters and more […]

Christmas Trees (Ёлки; also called in English) is a 2010 Russian comedy, the first in a multi-film series. Six different directors created different parts of the film. The film consists of nine loosely connected stories that all center on New Year’s (which is one of the most important holidays in Russia and more or less […]

Burned by the Sun 2 (Утомлённые сольнцем 2) is the sequel to the 1994 critically acclaimed Burned by the Sun. It consists of two parts, Exodus (2010; Предстояние) and Citadel (2011; Цитадель). The film takes place almost a decade after its prequel, during World War Two. In Exodus, Kotov (played by Nikita Mikhalkov, who also […]

Burned by the Sun (Утомлённые сольнцем) is a joint Russian and French Russian-language film released in 1994. The title of the film refers to a 1937 song, “The Burned Sun” (“Утомлённое сольнце”), which is featured several times in the film. The film was influenced by the real-life Nikolai Skoblin, a White Army officer who later […]