|
There's so much interesting stuff in this thread that it's good that it updates at a relatively slow pace, it gives you time to appreciate all the content.
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2013 16:05
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 01:24 |
|
|
Definitely keep writing those posts Xander77, they're great. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2013 16:11
|
|
|
Xander77 posted:I wanted to do another post about perestroika cinema, contrasting it with Soviet movies from the previous details, but apparently I almost killed the thread with my last few posts, so maybe not. Should I change formats a bit, abbreviate things, or did the topic just reach the end of its natural lifespan regardless? Seriously, I really have appreciated your posts here for whatever that is worth.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2013 19:03
|
|
|
An anecdote stolen from... somewhere or another: "Once upon a time, there was an old tyrant. He wanted to immortalize himself in portrait form, and called for well known painters to come from around the kingdom. The first to come painted the tyrant as he truly was - a hunchbacked, one-eyed deformed man. "This may be true, but it is not beautiful", said the tyrant, and ordered the painter executed. That was the death of realism. The second painter composed a portrait of the tyrant as he was in his youth - a slender straight backed youth with a faced unmarred by battle scars. "Beautiful, yet false", decreed the tyrant, and soon another talented head dropped into a basket. That was the death of romanticism. The third (brave) painter came to an original solution: He painted the tyrant riding a horse, with a cape that covered his back and a waving flag obscuring the less flattering bits of his face. The tyrant was pleased enough to make said painter the Minister of Arts, and thus was born Social Realism. " And up until the mid/late 80's that was the prevailing form of art in the Soviet Union. Yes, there are (still) certain issues, but we must, will and shall overcome each and every one of them, and build communism by [30 years from now]. "Life is getting better, life is growing more joyful" (a certain Joe Steel). Emphasize the positive, minimize the negative, few if any unhappy endings (with the exception of WWII films, where reality was just too harsh for happy endings proper) etc etc. All that changed once the Perestroika came along. Perestroika, as I understand it, was Gorbachev's attempt to I'm not as big a fan of Perestroika movies (which is a bit of a overtly broad term in general, in that tends to encompass everything between 1985 and 1995) as I am of Soviet cinema in general, so feel free to mention / review any outstanding films I never heard about. A game [in which the prize is] of millions: A rather lovely (and unjustly forgotten) comedy of errors - a naive veterinarian gets involved in a turf war between two criminal gangs who labor under the mistaken impression that our hero is in fact a master criminal. Both gangs are sponsored by corrupt officials / up and coming businessmen with absolutely obvious criminal connections. (One gang is composed of former professional [classical] musicians, which is... more or less true to life.) A maximum security comedy: In the 1970's, the inmates of a maximum security prison get to put on a theater production in honor of Lenin's centennial. They get so into their roles that they organize a genuine revolution / great escape. Weather Is Good on Deribasovskaya, It Rains Again on Brighton Beach: The CIA and KGB combine their efforts to eradicate the Shirli-Myrli. For once, wikipedia has a decent summary: "While digging in the mine Unperspective in Yakutia an unprecedentedly large diamond is found. It is christened as the Savior of Russia. Officials proclaim that the sale of the diamond could pay for every Russian citizen to take a three-year-long vacation at the Canary Islands. When the diamond is being transported to Moscow (by Antonov An-124 Ruslan) it is stolen by the crime boss Kozulskiy (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan), who is then robbed by professional thief Vasiliy Krolikov (Valeri Garkalin). For the remainder of the film, the plot revolves around Krolikov and his two [hitherto unknown] identical Multiple birth brothers [of different ethnicities, specifically a Jew and a Gypsy rights advocate] being pursued by the police and Kozulskiy's mafia." This is one of the few Post-Soviet comedies that are absolutely hilarious. The one fault I can find with the film is that there is just... too much. Both objectively (2 hours and 15 minutes is a bit long for a comedy) and subjectively (it does drag a bit). This is a movie basically made for youtube - when you watch it in 5 minute sketch bits, it seems like the best comedy of the decade. City Zero: An absurdist allegory about the collapse of the USSR taking place in a certain city which you can enter, but never leave. Can a fan put up a better summary here? I realize this movie is one of the better known perestroika films, but I never got it. A window into Paris: A mild and intelligent (a description I try not to overuse, as that's an extremely common hero type in USSR comedies) music teacher discovers that a window in his newly appointed communal apartment room leads into Paris. A take on the experiences of a new immigrant / people stuck between the new world and the old follows. Not necessarily the best of films, but it does feature an incredible episode re: nostalgia and Russian expatriates babbling about the rude materialism of Western countries. The Black Rose - An Emblem of Sorrow, The Red Rose - An Emblem of Love: One of my favorite perestroika films, and one of the few that actually features popular rock musicians (Boris Grebenshchikov <3 ) and a popular rock soundtrack in an organic manner. It's a dialog heavy melodrama that plays out almost entirely within the boundaries of a single communal apartment (with dream sequences taking place in Stalin's private quarters and on board a battleship). The dialogs are good, the soundtrack is great, the absurd touches seems appropriate rather than mindless rebellion against Social Realism standards. It works as a whole, which I can't say about a lot of perestroika films. The Needle with Victor Tsoi (one of Russia's original Rock Gods - I think there's a proper post on the last page). This is an example of a slightly less appropriate use of rock stars and rock soundtracks (Victor Tsoi as a karate avenger... eh). Tsoi plays a young rebel who starts a conflict with a group of local drug dealers who turned his girl into a junky. The soundtrack is fantastic, and the ending is... the ending is something. Sample Song: spoiler warning Cold Summer of 1953: After Stalin's death, Beria announces an amnesty for (non-political!) criminals - and a gang of newly freed gangsters decides to terrorize the nearest village. Two political prisoners - the (formerly) sullen officer and (formerly) resigned elderly intellectual decide to oppose them. A number of reviews go into something like "if you remove the political undertones and the identity of the protagonists, this is just an ordinary action movie", which to me is basically the equivalent of "once you remove the melody, this song turns into a rather indifferent poem". This is the last movie Anatoliy Papanov (another prolific actor, and the voice of the wolf in Nu Pogodi) made before his untimely death. It also has an amazing theme. I was about to write something about "Brother", but apparently that was made in 1997 and is outside the preview of this post. I also decided to leave various terrible early 90's action movies alone - there were many, they were bad, and few of them left an imprint on the cultural landscape. Xander77 has a new favorite as of 20:57 on Dec 8, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2013 20:00
|
|
|
In lighter news, re: revanchist and alternate history sci-fi poo poo:  Also, a collection of Soviet political cartoons I compiled in the Political Cartoons thread: 
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2013 20:43
|
|
|
Xander77 posted:In lighter news, re: revanchist and alternate history sci-fi poo poo: Why not romanticize a halfway decent Tsar? Nicholas II's incompetency is only overshadowed by his father's.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2013 21:11
|
|
|
.
MC Hawking has a new favorite as of 17:43 on Jun 15, 2014 |
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2013 22:01
|
|
|
Raskolnikov38 posted:Why not romanticize a halfway decent Tsar? Nicholas II's incompetency is only overshadowed by his father's. Alexander III had many flaws, but he was way more competent and above all responsible than that. His worst mistake was dying too early. Nicholas II really only compares to Paul as far as incompetent Tsars go, if anyone, but he's officially a martyr now, so...
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2013 22:09
|
|
|
I just watched Come and See. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2013 08:55
|
|
|
If you haven't watched Cheburashka, you have no soul. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKaRb28b0NU
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2013 09:26
|
|
|
Kheldragar posted:If you haven't watched Cheburashka, you have no soul. ... (Took me forever to finally figure out which song that reminded me of. Possibly because I repressed the poo poo out that particular traumatic memory.)
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2013 15:50
|
|
|
Xander77 posted:Obviously you meant to post this. Parody, not sure if it is actually Soviet or merely "post": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=950bEPNNlQk
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2013 18:42
|
|
|
Kopijeger posted:Parody, not sure if it is actually Soviet or merely "post": 1. That's definitely "post" and off topic. 2. I used to think their albums were the funniest thing ever. I wonder what happened? (I stopped being 12)
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2013 19:27
|
|
|
Present posted:Some of the old Soviet cartoons made just after WW2 had absolutely incredible animation because they were made by FILMING ACTORS AND THEN TRACING THE FOOTAGE. Here's a good example, a fairy tale similar to Beauty and the Beast: What's your point? Disney did this with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, too. The same technique was used in Titan AE, Anastasia, and other Bluth films. Rotoscoping was even used in the French/Czech animated masterpiece Fantasic Planet.
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2013 20:00
|
|
|
Pick posted:What's your point? Disney did this with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, too. The same technique was used in Titan AE, Anastasia, and other Bluth films. Rotoscoping was even used in the French/Czech animated masterpiece Fantasic Planet.
|
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2013 20:51
|
|
|
Pick posted:What's your point? Disney did this with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, too. The same technique was used in Titan AE, Anastasia, and other Bluth films. Rotoscoping was even used in the French/Czech animated masterpiece Fantasic Planet. No it wasn't. Fantastic Planet was cut out animation. I mean it might have been used in parts I guess.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 04:31
|
|
|
Post N# whatever - USSR videogames. You might be surprised to learn that the USSR had videogames. You probably won't be surprised to learn they were not exactly of top quality. The most popular (possibly only?) Soviet made games were the various Nintendo Game & Watch clones made by "Electronica: Nu Pogodi Secrets of the Ocean, The Happy Cook (like half of all Electronica games had the happy/joyful prefix, including the math edutainment games and chess). A popular urban myth - when you get X points in Nu Pogodi, the game will show a previously unknown episode of the cartoon. I know next to nothing about various arcade games - As a kid living in Moscow, I had to travel far and wide as a birthday gift to get my rear end kicked in a Karate Champ clone, so I doubt they were quite as common as the second link claims, but I guess they weren't all as primitive as the first link shows. I've learned about the Russian gaming scene in the 90's mostly by watching the following youtube series: Curse of the Little Grey Elephant and Dendy Chronicles (subtitled and fairly interesting): Pirated consoles and pirated games, nulti-game hint books and 999:1 cartridges. But what I find seriously interesting (and relevant to the previous discussion of USSR media) is the infamous Russian quest. The lovely unlicensed quest is pretty much the Russian equivalent of the lovely licensed platformer. Pick any movie from my previous posts, and chances are there's a terrible adventure game (or two, or a dozen) based around nostalgic kitch, reference humor, (PG-13) drawn erotica and *faaaaarts*. Does a civil war general seem like an inappropriate subject for an adventure game? Hah. at least, five sequels, about Chapaev (not counting spin-offs specifically about Pet'ka. (To be fair, Chapev and co have been the heroes of various anecdotes from the moment the movie came out, and the games are based more that popularity than on the actual historical character) Seventeen Moments of Spring (at least two sequels, see above re: Chapaev) The Adventures of lieutenant Rzhevsky (from the Hussar Ballad) (ditto above) The Twelve Chairs (at least two sequels, nothing for the Golden Calf [thankfully] ) Sherlock Holmes: This one makes sense at least - There are a bunch of (equally terrible) Western adventure games about Holmes on Steam right now. (Suddenly) Nine Princes in Amber (12 year old Xander would have been SO disappointed) The Pilot Brothers (k, this one is not entirely terrible. The sequels, on the other hand) How the Cossacks searched for the Mona Lisa: Yeah, I think you get it. The point I'm trying to make is that nostalgic reference kitsch a-la "Stalin vs the Martians" isn't an exception, it's the rule Xander77 has a new favorite as of 11:55 on Dec 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 11:53
|
|
|
Ensign Expendable posted:I don't know if any of them are actually good, but these books sell at train stations by having the coolest cover art. They are typically thrown out when you're done or when you reach your destination, whichever comes first.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 16:18
|
|
Xander77 posted:
I would totally play this.
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 18:20
|
|
|
A well written Lieutenant Rzhevskiy game would be the pinnacle of computer software.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 19:35
|
|
|
Ensign Expendable posted:A well written Lieutenant Rzhevskiy game would be the pinnacle of computer software.
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 21:12
|
|
|
Pierzak posted:Where do I pledge for a Kickstarter? Just ask! Some slap, that's true - but some pledge!
|
|
#
?
Dec 10, 2013 22:08
|
|
|
my dad posted:I can't recommend that book enough. Seriously, you there, the person reading this post: Go get that book and read it! Just make sure you get a decent translation - I remember someone mentioning that there's a really atrocious English translation which completely ruins the book. For The Master & Margarita fans, a well-made miniseries adaptation (in Russian) came out in 2005. It follows the plot of the book closely and is well worth watching if you can find it with subtitles. 79% approval rating on rottentomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-master-and-margarita2005/ rzeszowianin 44 has a new favorite as of 01:20 on Dec 11, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2013 01:18
|
|
|
There was a Twitter based Master and Margarita adaptation from the point of view of Fagot, but it petered out really quickly.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2013 02:58
|
|
|
rzeszowianin 44 posted:For The Master & Margarita fans, a well-made miniseries adaptation (in Russian) came out in 2005. It follows the plot of the book closely and is well worth watching if you can find it with subtitles. 79% approval rating on rottentomatoes: YouTube also has multiple copies of it up (subbed and unsubbed). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t6W9hkXV6g I keep debating picking it up.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2013 03:01
|
|
|
Someone posted a Sviridov piece earlier in the thread. One of his other compositions managed to make it into modern western culture in a pretty bizarre way: 'Winter Road', written for a Soviet film in 1975, was later used as the theme tune for the Metal Gear Solid series.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2013 04:28
|
|
|
2005 Master and Margarita is pretty bad, unfortunately. It is worth watching for amazing Voland and Pontius Pilate, but the production design is atrociously cheap, the music is obnoxious and the director decided to hammer down STALIN BAD SOVIET BAD with some documentary footage, which clashes with the subtleties in the novel. Same director did Bulgakov's "Heart of a Dog" in the 80s, a nearly perfect adaptation and an amazing movie.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2013 06:50
|
|
|
Speaking of terrible Russian sci-fi, imagine my surprise at discovering the rear end in a top hat kid from  Quite the common practice, apparently. (I really should do a survey of Soviet literature, genre or otherwise, but that would require  )
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2013 20:09
|
|
|
The situation behind that guy looks cribbed from Tank Girl.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2013 21:53
|
|
|
Two pretty sweet posters I came across the other day. "Together, we will kill all the fascists!"  Some things never change. "The detective is alert and proud, happy to please, he'd even accuse a toddler of espionage!" The cap says "FBI". Obviously, the USSR would never resort to such measures!
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2013 00:25
|
|
|
Xander77 posted:Next up: Russian cartoons. Unlike the usual 5 recommended movie classics, chances are that the only thing you've ever heard about cartoons between France and China is this. If so, remember that Matt Groening is an rear end in a top hat who never saw a single Second World cartoon, and prepare for this: It's just a joke dude Farecoal has a new favorite as of 01:58 on Dec 12, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2013 00:51
|
|
|
Xander77 posted:Speaking of terrible Russian sci-fi, imagine my surprise at discovering the rear end in a top hat kid from
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2013 06:30
|
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L1Eh5iJBS4 There's a lot of good soviet music.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2013 20:49
|
|
|
Fascinating preamble - how I came up with the idea for the monumental work that is this post: At first I thought "Hell, I guess I might as well do a collection of WWII / Red Army songs". But then again, everyone knows those, so what kind of interesting twist can I come up with? I happened to run into a totally irrelevant Vladimir Fridman song, and recalled working as a waiter at one of his events, where he did a bit about waking up on his first day in the Holy Land to the sounds of the Red Army choir beneath his window - presumably having staged an invasion specifically to bring him back. His friends quickly assured him that what he thinks of as traditional Red Army songs were traditional settler / Palmach / folk songs in Israel. (Israel was, after all, built by Russians I hit a slight snag due to the fact that the Hebrew portion of the world wide web is unfortunately tiny and filled with huge gaping assholes. You wouldn't (you probably would) believe how often I encountered "this song (full and utterly irrelevant details about the song itself follow) was probably based on some Russian song. What Russian song? Like we give a gently caress." Thankfully, I encountered this useful blog: http://onegshabbat.blogspot.co.il And moved on from there in a haphazard fashion. The Blue Kerchief is one of the seminal sentimental songs of WWII. Soldiers have actually charged into battle with the cry of "For the Motherland! For Stalin! For the Handkerchief!" Or at least, that's the sort of stupid story I'm happy to repeat. אריק איינשטיין - תכול המטפחת - the Hebrew version is sung by Arik Einstein, RIP - a singer from a different sort of Israel. Bonus track - the Polish Original First and foremost - Wait for Me - Read by Sir Laurence Olivier (apparently this is still moderately popular for educated US people off to Afghanistan / Iraq etc, believe it or not). In fact, I've encountered a number of adaptations, and most just recite the poem. Arik Lavi's take is one of the few to use a tune that's specific to the song: אריק לביא - את חכי לי ואחזור. The original: Константин Михайлович Симонов -- Жди меня и я вернусь A lost and recently rediscovered 70's song: שוקולד מנטה מסטיק - שלום עירי נוחמה . Muslim Magomaev's version: Вечер на рейде - Муслим Магомаев Certain popular pop songs (is that redundant?) were "smuggled" into Israel and positioned as containing dissident subtext: שונרא- תמי ספיבק- הלוך הלכה החבריא . I'm not sure if this swing band would agree: Чёрный кот. The klezmer version works surprisingly well: Klezmania: Di Shvartse Kats A song may count itself lucky to be intentionally misrepresented. Some may fall into the hands of people who don't actually speak Russian, and so a ballad of two comrades separated by space and time: Товарищ мой would turn into a melancholy description of cranes in flight: העגורים - הגבעטרון (Never mind that there's a lovely song about actual (metaphorical) cranes from the time: Марк Бернес. Журавли that no one bothered to adapt) Oh poo poo, I forgot to mention Volga Volga (among others) in my movie list. Shame, because it's pretty good: Волга-Волга Молодежная. Gevarton version: שמלתך השזורה - הגבעטרון (How does the Gevatron not have an English wiki page or something? They're kinda an important... relic). Someone decided that the drumming bits of Полюшко-поле are close enough to horses charging to make it into a cavalry song חיל פרשים אנו - חנה אהרוני (you all remember the fabled exploits of such ... Hmmmmm. Here's an interesting travel story of a song going backwards (and sideways and every which way): The traditional Jewish melody Kuma Echa made it into a USSR propaganda film Искатели счастья about a Jewish family finding a home in Birobidzhan. And THAT version was used to introduce the Russian antagonists in the latest (and, hopefully, last) (and definitely least) Indiana Jones movie. The world works in mysterious ways. The black and white version of The Children of Captain Grant has this little comic number. Eduard Hill (yes, the trololo guy) covered it, and it's iconic enough to feature in Russian action movies made in the 21st century. Shlomo Artzi made a serious cover, while Uri Zohar made a comic one (the man had a sense of humor back when he wasn't brainwashed) Смуглянка-молдаванка נעורי זהר=הגבעטרון Прощание славянки בין גבולות Another song with an interesting history - from a White army song to a Red Army song По долинам и по взгорьям to the (unofficial) Palmach anthem המנון הפלמ"ח המקורי A surprisingly Gaelic-influenced Hebrew take on a simple Russian song: Black Velvet - Rehov aroch קטיפה שחורה - רחוב ארוך . The original: Ах улица, улица широкая These aren't (as far as I can tell) songs that were adapted into Israeli folklore back in the day, but rather modern translations done just for kicks. Still, a song about three tank-driving friends dealing with a Japanese invasion works unexpectedly well in Hebrew: Три танкиста שלושת הטנקיסטים The Aurora Cruiser fired to signal the start of the (second) 1917 Revolution - and the USSR / Russian regime has made drat sure to guard it night and day every since to make sure it never has a chance to do so again (or so goes the common subversive joke). The Hebrew version doesn't change much: Крейсер "Аврора" / Cruiser 'Aurora' אברורה And of course, how can I leave this post without a Hebrew version of Murka: Murka מורקה Full list here: https://archive.org/details/Russian_Songs_Translated_to_Hebrew (This song and following one are only marginally connected to the "Israel" theme, but who cares) Soldiers in Budyonny's army Марш Будённого are suddenly converted into soldiers in the army of On the other hand, taking this Ilya Alekseevich Shatrov - "On The Hills Of Manchuria" lovely waltz to tell the story of an alleged general who bloody well freed Berlin only to realize that the common soldier in heaven's army is far superior to all his worldly glory, as well as smarter, more moral and more useful: הגנרל - אברהם פריד (who then proceeds to toss all his medals aside!)... well, I generally wish only the worst of ills to various scum, and my idle wish for the composer of this song to meet one such general in his prime is merely internally consistent. Xander77 has a new favorite as of 18:35 on Dec 18, 2013 |
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2013 13:03
|
|
|
Ensign Expendable posted:Two pretty sweet posters I came across the other day.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2013 18:52
|
|
|
I found this while messing around on YouTube, but I couldn't find much info on it. Soviet Library Jazz Fusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz1ojjdUqfA
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2013 21:02
|
|
|
Soviet Electro from the album "Safari" by N. Sokolov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDbL7YhN5cY
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2013 21:59
|
|
|
BasicFunk posted:I found this while messing around on YouTube, but I couldn't find much info on it. Thanks a lot for leting me go broke on finding these. i already emailed the guy
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2013 00:46
|
|
|
newreply.php posted:Thanks a lot for leting me go broke on finding these. This one has a touch of Zawinul's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MC0llblMcM
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2013 06:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 01:24 |
|
|
What is this song from Stormovik: The SU-25 Soviet Attack Fighter? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8gchB3UIJI Xander77 posted:Polygon / The Firing Range: You've seen this mentioned in the thread before. The simple tale of a boy and his mind reading tank. Poligon is really well-known, but its title unfortunately gets it confused with Tir ("Shooting Range"), which has a pretty kitschy plot but is animated and scored like a train wreck between Western animation/early anime/Expressionist film. Really worth checking out. Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OkqSvw7Mw Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzceGUNrPK8
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2013 21:56
|
|
