Watchable Late Soviet & Post-Soviet Movies 1985-2015
by ab-275 | created - 26 Nov 2016 | updated - 8 months ago | PublicGood, Not Bad, OK & Masterpieces
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1. Courier (1986)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The story of a teenager boy in times of the comunism fall in the Soviet Union.
Director: Karen Shakhnazarov | Stars: Fyodor Dunayevsky, Anastasiya Nemolyaeva, Oleg Basilashvili, Inna Churikova
Votes: 5,619
Shakhnazarov's only watchable movie. It's OK.
2. Assa (1987)
153 min | Crime, Drama, History
ASSA is set in Crimea during the winter in the mid eighties. A young musician (Bananan) falls for mobster's (Krymov) young mistress (Alika). The parallel story line involves an 18th century assassination plot.
Director: Sergey Solovyov | Stars: Natan Eidelman, Anatoly Slivnikov, German Shorr, Ilya Ivanov
Votes: 3,163
What can I say... Best Soviet film from the 80s.
3. The Needle (1988)
81 min | Drama, Thriller
Moro returns to Alma Ata to collect money owed to him. While waiting out an unexpected delay, he visits his former girlfriend Dina, and discovers she has become a morphine addict. He ... See full summary »
Director: Rashid Nugmanov | Stars: Viktor Tsoy, Marina Smirnova, Pyotr Mamonov, Aleksandr Bashirov
Votes: 2,937
Nothing special, but an OK B-movie from the Glasnost era.
4. Deti chugunnykh bogov (1993)
80 min | Drama
The films hero is a metal worker named Ignat who is as strong and tough as the steel that his sprawling factory produces in the Ural Mountains. Its a great cheerless environment; life is ... See full synopsis »
Director: Tamás Tóth | Stars: Evgeniy Sidikhin, Aleksandr Kalyagin, Yuriy Yakovlev, Nikolai Karnaukhov
Votes: 164
A very Russian movie made by a Hungarian director.
5. Okraina (1998)
95 min | Drama
The hero is an ordinary farmer, Philip Safronov, whose peaceful life is aggressively interrupted when his land is appropriated by a mysterious group to exploit its oil resources.
Director: Pyotr Lutsik | Stars: Yuriy Dubrovin, Nikolay Olyalin, Aleksei Pushkin, Aleksey Vanin
Votes: 864
The best post-Soviet movie to date.
6. The Return (2003)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
In the Russian wilderness, two brothers face a range of new, conflicting emotions when their father - a man they know only through a single photograph - resurfaces.
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev | Stars: Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Nataliya Vdovina
Votes: 47,516 | Gross: $0.50M
Zvyagintsev's only good movie to date. Actually, it's great.
7. Pyl (2005)
107 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
The genre of the film DUST could be called fantastic realism or existential drama with elements of the fantastic. Dust means the haste in which people live. Dust is a common misconception, ... See full summary »
Directors: Sergey Loban, Marina Potapova | Stars: Aleksey Podolskiy, Pyotr Mamonov, Gleb Mikhaylov, Nina Yelisova
Votes: 1,642
A Masterpiece.
8. Cargo 200 (2007)
89 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young woman is taken hostage by a police officer gone mad.
Director: Aleksey Balabanov | Stars: Agniya Kuznetsova, Aleksey Poluyan, Leonid Gromov, Aleksey Serebryakov
Votes: 11,389
The most truthful movie about life in the USSR.
9. Konstruktor krasnogo tsveta (1993)
Unrated | 76 min | Documentary, Sci-Fi
Engineering Red is a Russian surrealist film released in 1993, directed by Andrei I and animator Armen Petrosyan. The script is based on Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain and idea of creating artificial people in the Soviet Union.
Directors: Andrey I., Armen Petrosyan | Star: Anna Syomkina
Votes: 229
Labeled as 'documentary', it's not. Classical fakeumentary and a good one for that matter.
10. Kosmos kak predchuvstvie (2005)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
A story of a simple, naive Russian man Konek and the people around him: his love and her sister and a mysterious man. The film is set in 1957, time of changes, time of waiting for something big to happen.
Director: Aleksey Uchitel | Stars: Evgeniy Mironov, Evgeniy Tsyganov, Irina Pegova, Elena Lyadova
Votes: 736
Great movie from a questionable director.
11. Progulka (2003)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
A look at Saint Petersburg at the dawn of the 21st century.
Director: Aleksey Uchitel | Stars: Irina Pegova, Pavel Barshak, Evgeniy Tsyganov, Evgeniy Grishkovets
Votes: 2,040
Nice little movie.
12. Angels of Revolution (2014)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama
Together with five Soviet avant-garde artists, hero of the Russian revolution Polina Schneider travels to Siberia to 'civilize' the native Khanty and Nenets tribes, for whom interaction ... See full summary »
Director: Aleksey Fedorchenko | Stars: Irina Ermolova, Polina Aug, Konstantin Balakirev, Pavel Basov
Votes: 360
Not bad!
13. Brother (1997)
99 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ex-soldier with a personal honor code enters the family crime business in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Director: Aleksey Balabanov | Stars: Sergey Bodrov, Viktor Sukhorukov, Svetlana Pismichenko, Mariya Zhukova
Votes: 24,549
Controversial and a little straight forward, but still good and unimaginable in making today.
14. 4 (2004)
Not Rated | 126 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Two men and a woman happen to meet in a bar. We learn from their conversations both the intriguing and banal details of their lives. But is anyone really telling the truth? From the meat ... See full summary »
Director: Ilya Khrzhanovskiy | Stars: Yuriy Laguta, Marina Vovchenko, Sergey Shnurov, Andrei Kudriashov
Votes: 2,259
For reasons unknown I like it.
15. Brat 2 (2000)
122 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Arriving in Moscow, Danila discovers Konstantin dead and he sets out to avenge his death; a journey that leads him to Chicago and a whole new experience.
Director: Aleksey Balabanov | Stars: Sergey Bodrov, Viktor Sukhorukov, Sergey Makovetskiy, Irina Saltykova
Votes: 17,348
A little bit heavy on anti-Americanism but still good.
16. The Castle (1994)
120 min | Drama
Mostly inspired from Kafka's unfinished novel "The Castle", a man gets called to a village for a job that no one called for, finds himself tangled up in a super-bureaucratic mess, and now he needs to fight his way around it.
Director: Aleksey Balabanov | Stars: Nikolay Stotskiy, Svetlana Pismichenko, Anvar Libabov, Viktor Sukhorukov
Votes: 937
A unique situation when the movie is actually better than the book.
17. The Chekist (1992)
93 min | Drama
Depiction of "troika" type of mass murder trials and it's influence on those who carried out plans to mass murder million of people. Somehow Russia was able to produce such movie, which easily could be documentary about actual events.
Director: Aleksandr Rogozhkin | Stars: Igor Sergeev, Aleksey Poluyan, Mikhail Vasserbaum, Sergei Isavnin
Votes: 1,149
'So Bad It's Good' formula actually doesn't work here... More like 'So Atrocious It's a Masterpiece'.
18. Lokh pobeditel vody (1991)
86 min | Crime, Thriller
The protagonist, a talented geek, avenges a gang of racketeers for killing a best friend, using his extensive knowledge in various fields of technology. He traces them, collects material ... See full summary »
Director: Arkadiy Tigay | Stars: Sergei Kuryokhin, Larisa Borodina, Andrey Ponomaryov, Vladimir Eryomin
Votes: 162
Unique.
19. Dukhov den (1991)
117 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
Ivan Khristoforov discovers the strange property of involuntarily blowing up surrounding objects. Trying to understand the reason and meaning of this unusual ability, he turns to family ... See full summary »
Director: Sergey Selyanov | Stars: Yuriy Shevchuk, Boris Golyatkin, Gennadiy Garbuk, Viktor Semyonovsky
Votes: 125
Questionable acting, laughable special effects, plot unpenetrable for non-Russians... but what a great movie!
20. The Duelist (2016)
R | 109 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
In the times of Imperial Russia, a former military man of honor makes his own way in life participating in the deadly fights for other people as professional duelist.
Director: Aleksey Mizgiryov | Stars: Pyotr Fyodorov, Vladimir Mashkov, Yuliya Khlynina, Yuri Kolokolnikov
Votes: 3,304
Some cliches, questionable CGI - quite entertaining overall!
21. Prokhindiada, ili Beg na meste (1985)
89 min | Comedy
Early 80s era Russian wheeler dealer pursues a business of trading favors so he can live above the salary he gets at his regular job.
Director: Viktor Tregubovich | Stars: Aleksandr Kalyagin, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Tatyana Dogileva, Irina Dymchenko
Votes: 160
An excursion into the life of different species.
22. Den angela (1988)
76 min | Drama, Comedy
A country family seen through the eyes of, and with often comical commentary by, the young son who is considered the village idiot: the pettiness, greed and criminality of the household stand in for larger Soviet society.
Directors: Nikolai Makarov, Sergey Selyanov | Stars: Leonid Konovalov, Aleksandr Belov, Vyacheslav Govallo, Aleksey Annenkov
Votes: 29
Find it if you can and watch it.
23. Gongofer (1992)
98 min | Comedy, Horror, Mystery
Group of Cossacks are coming to Moscow to buy an ox. Moscow turns out to be a devilish hole crowded with witches. Some local witch seduces Kol'ka Smagin (one of the Cossacks) and robs him ... See full summary »
Director: Bakhyt Kilibayev | Stars: Viktor Stepanov, Ivan Martynov, Yekaterina Kmit, Mariya Vinogradova
Votes: 468
Russian collective subconscious manifests itself!
24. Utoli moya pechali (1989)
Drama
After his marriage with Lyuba (Yelena Safonova) breaks down, Boris (Sergei Koltakov) begins to search for an apartment of his own. He locates an apartment for couples which is being ... See full summary »
Directors: Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Viktor Prokhorov | Stars: Sergey Koltakov, Varvara Soshalskaya, Elena Safonova, Artyom Mironov
Votes: 41
Messy & Great!
25. Shura i Prosvirnyak (1988)
86 min | Drama, History
Director: Nikolay Dostal | Stars: Tatyana Rasskazova, Aleksandr Feklistov, Konstantin Stepankov, Valeriy Nosik
Votes: 19
Russian/Ukrainian conflict explained.
26. Svoy krest (1990)
152 min | Drama
Director: Valeri Lonskoy | Stars: Elena Yakovleva, Viktor Rakov, Igor Bochkin, Maria Pastukhova
Votes: 14
Young historian starts researching British involvement in Russian revolution. Gets in trouble.
27. Pomiluy i prosti (1988)
77 min | Drama
Director: Aleksandr Muratov | Stars: Sergey Taramaev, Stanislav Stankevich, Tatyana Tashkova, Yuri Lazarenko
Votes: 10
Life of an artist in a 'transitional period'.
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