2003

Two men travel from Moscow to Koktebel changing their place of place of residence. The reason is: the woman`s death. That woman was the wife for one of them and the mum to another. After the wife`s death the 40-year-old aircraft designer (Igor Chernevych) went on a drinking jag and spent the flat on drink. So he is homeless and moneyless now. The 12-year-old son is a silent dreamy boy. They are to make a one thousand and five hundred kilometres journey, there in Koktebel the other woman is waiting for them being ready to help.

The film is incredibly beautiful. It is as silent dreamy and flapping its eyelashes as one of the main heroes. Two men with their two lonelinesses are walking trough the one road along one country. While our mutual journey we see the country being the sad tired woman watching her sons. She Is the woman waiting for them in Koktebel. The only thing now we can do - to hope for the better…

Directed by:

Boris Khlebnikov, Alexey Popogrebskiy

Cast:

Gleb Puskepalis, Igor Chernevych, Yevgeniy Sytiy, Vladimir Kucherenko, Agripinna Steklova, Alexander Ilyin, Anna Frolovtseva

Production:

PBOUL Borisevich R.U., Russia, 2003

Feature:

Drama

Duration:

100 min.

Additional information:

Internet Movie Database

In the small seaside city there live two bothers Andrey (Vladimir Garin) and Ivan (Ivan Dobronravov). They quarrel and make peace, potter like any other teenagers. The boys are brought up by the women: mother and grandmother. Once their father (Knstantin Lavronenko) comes back home after a long absence. The boys meet him in different way: the elder Andrey with delight and Ivan “charges with bayonet”. In the morning father takes them to fishing. The long way is full of dramatic dialogs and deeds. The father`s behaviour starts to threaten brothers. For a minute the stream of negative emotions leads to the tragedy.

Andrey Zvyagintsev`s film debute causes the real sensation of the year 2003 in Europe. The film was awarded by the Golden Lion in Venice Film Festival and received the French César award as the best foreign film. Unfortunately, the gifted film recognition was darkened by the fact, that actor Vladimir Garin, who played Andrey, drowned shortly after the end of shooting in a lake nearby. “The Return” tells us about the unusual triangle “son-father-son” broken under the weight of misunderstanding. Father wants his sons to become the “man’s men” in his own interpretation. The boys merely need a father`s love, the warmth of his heart. It`s impossible to reach a compromise, so the death comes on the stage. The dénouement makes the viewer to sit silently in the state of stupor.

Trailer:

Directed by:

Andrey Zvyagintsev

Cast:

Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Natalya Vdovina, Galina Petrova

Production:

REN FILM, Russia, 2003

Feature:

Drama

Duration:

105 min.

The weather was wonderful; the sun was shining brightly, Petersburg was going to celebrate its 300th anniversary. Olya slammed the car`s door and went for a walk along the radiant Nevsky avenue. «Hi, how are you?» asked Alyosha lost in contemplation of her. Firstly the girl didn`t want to keep up the ball, but Alyosha was persistent. And then they walked along the Nevsky, flirted, bought tickets to leave for Moscow at night. Olya told, how she imagined herself to be the Bill Clinton, how she loved horses and why it was impossible for her to sit down. Alyosha was surprised by the exact psychological characteristics Olya gave to the people around and to him also. Alyosha complained, that he had no luck with the girls. According to the words of Alyosha his best friend Petya could easily read the girls like a book. In order to prove Petya that love from first sight exists and that Olya is quite different from the previous girls, they agreed to meet Petya on the Dvortsovaya square.

Together they will walk through the city in real-time, find themselves in the crowd of joyous zenitovtsi, run up the Isakievsky sobor, come upon the Gipsy in tram and lose their money. They will also quarrel and make peace, will be caught in the rain…but all along the viewer might feel that Olya is holding something back…

Directed by:

Alexey Uchitel

Scenario:

Dunya Smirnova

Camera operators:

Yuriy Klimenko, Pavel Kostomarov

Cast:

Iryna Pegova, Pavel Barshak, Yeugeniy Tsiganov, Yeugeniy Grishkovets, Karen Badalov, Madlen Dzhabrailova, Andrey Kazakov, Alexey Kolubkov, Mikhail Krylov, Yekaterina Krupenina, Oleg Nyryan, Natalya Kurdyubova, Kseniya Kutepova, Polina Kutepova, Kirill Pirogov, Sergey Puskepalis, Tagir Nahimov, Yuriy Stepanov, Galina Tyunina, Rustem Yuskayev

Production:

TPO “Rok” with the assistance of Cinematography service by the Ministry of culture of Russian Federation, Russia, 2003

Feature:

Melodrama, Romantic comedy

Duration:

90 min.