Learning the Russian language can be a big challenge. Learning the Cyrillic alphabet, and mastering its complicated grammar takes most of students' time. Those exercises leave little time for listening and reading practice, but Superprof proposes a fun solution. Watching popular Russian movies helps you make quick progress in Russian speaking, listening, and reading.
| Title | Year | Director | Cast (leading only) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears | 1979 | Vladimir Menshov | Vera Alentova Aleksey Batalov Irina Muravyova |
| Leviathan | 2014 | Andrei Zviagintsev | Aleksey Serebryakov Elena Lyadov Vladimir Vdovichenkov |
| Russian Ark | 2002 | Alexander Sokurov | Alexander Sokurov Sergey Dreyden Mariya Kuznetsova |
| Kidnapping, Caucasian Style | 1967 | Leonid Gaidai | Aleksandr Demyanenko Natalya Varley Vladimir Etush |
| The Fool | 2014 | Yuri Bykov | Artyom Bystrov Boris Nevzorov Natalya Surkova |
| Short Stories | 2012 | Mikhail Segal | Andrey Merzlikin Darya Nosik Andrey Petrov |
| Taxi Blues | 1990 | Pavel Lungin | Piotr Zaitchenko Piotr Mamonov Vladimir Kashpur |
| Stilyagi | 2008 | Valeriy Todorovskiy | Anton Shagin Oksana Akinshina Maksim Matveev |
| Corrections Class | 2014 | Ivan I. Tverdovsky | Maria Poezzhaeva Filipp Avdeyev Nikita Kukushkin |
| The Postman's White Nights | 2014 | Andrei Konchalovsky | Aleksey Tryapitsyn Timur Bondarenko Irina Ermolova |
| Stalker | 1979 | Andrei Tarkovsky | Alisa Freyndlikh Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy Anatoliy Solonitsyn |
| Solyaris | 1972 | Andrei Tarkovsky | Natalya Bondarchuk Donatas Banionis Jüri Järvet |
| The Blackout | 2019 | Egor Baranov | Aleksey Chadov Pyotr Fyodorov Svetlana Ivanova |
| The Calculator | 2014 | Dmitriy Grachev | Evgeniy Mironov Anya Chipovskaya Vinnie Jones |
| Attraction | 2017 | Fedor Bondarchuk | Irina Starshenbaum Alexander Petrov Rinal Mukhametov |
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears
This 1979 melodrama paints a fresco of Soviet Union from the 70s. It introduces the lives of three young friends from a provincial town, who decide to move to Moscow to give a new start to their lives. We follow the three protagonists as they search for their destiny, which will take for each of them a very different path.
Crowned by the Academy Award for best foreign language film in 1981, 'Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears' was a huge success in Russia.
If you're considering, or are taking a beginner-level Russian language course, this film's easy dialogue will help train your ear to this language's sounds.
🍅 Rotten Tomatoes score: 40%
🍿 Popcornmeter: 80%
Leviatan
Leviatan borrows a news item from the United States, and sets the all-too familiar plot in today's Russia. Kolia pushes back against the village mayor, who wants to seize his home and car repair shop, for an absurdly low price. The mayor justifies himself by saying industry will make the town a lot of money.
This film was controversial, even before its release. Critics accused the director of 'seducing Western countries' by filming all the clichés attached to Russia, such as alcoholism and corruption. This film's relatability might help you learn Russian as a beginner,
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
🍿Popcornmeter: 80%
Russian Ark
Taking place in Saint Petersburg, Russia, 'Russian Ark' takes you to the nooks and crannies of Saint Petersburg's most beautiful museum. Its plot is as unusual as it is original.
A 21st Century museum director lands in the Hermitage Museum at the beginning of the 18th Century. He, and a French diplomat, go through all the pieces in this palace.
We discussed this title in our online Russian course. This avant-garde historical film was the first movie filmed in a single sequence shot, without cuts and editing.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%
🍿Popcornmeter: 80%
Kidnapping, Caucasian Style
This is a romantic musical comedy that offers liberal doses of all three genres. The story is original, too, despite having old-world, arranged-marriage echoes. And, it offers one last take on the Russian 'Trio' concept: the fool, the pro, and the coward.
A naive young student travels to the Caucasus region. He somehow gets caught up in a plot to snatch a lovely lady, but falls in love with her. Still, he delivers her to the 'pro' who commissioned the kidnapping. Soon, he realises what he's done, and fights to get her back. If you're taking Russian language course Sydney, you might discuss this clever move in class.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: --
🍿Popcornmeter: 89%
The Fool
For all this poster's comedic appearance, this film is anything but. A crime drama, and a sad reflection of societal apathy, is more like it. 'The Fool' is a shocking film, that both exposes, and denounces corruption in today's Russia.
Dima is a young plumber in charge of the management of social housing pipes in a small Russian city. One day, during one of his inspections, he discovers that the building is in ruins and on the verge of collapsing. He launches into a race against time to save the inhabitants
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
🍿Popcornmeter: 91%
Short Stories
This 2012 drama is original in its construction. It spans four different stories, dealing with various topics in contemporary Russian society, mixing social, cultural and ethical issues. It starts with a publishing house receiving a manuscript that will influence the lives of all those who read it.
This film is a satirical comedy, but the real-life issues are no joke. Human ambition, and depth of feeling, are laid bare, all with a modern Russian twist. And packaged into a thoroughly watchable film.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: --
🍿Popcornmeter: 76%
Taxi Blues
We witness a friendly meeting between two characters who are opposites in every way. Schlikov is a Moscow taxi driver. One night, Liocha, a saxophonist, calls on Schlikov to drive him through Moscow for a night of debauchery. Unable to pay for his race, Liocha will have to work for Schlikov to pay off his debt.
Taxi Blues is a beautiful story of friendship between a taxi driver and a Moscow saxophonist. Immerse yourself in Russian culture as you study these characters, and how they work out their issues.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: 71%
🍿Popcornmeter: 74%
Stilyagi
Picture Moscow in 1955, two years after Stalin's death, and the life of a young student named Mels. Partisan of communist youth, Mels falls in love with Polya, and then joins a group of 'zazous', fans of American jazz and eccentric outfits.
Over time, he changes his worldview, and becomes the star of the dance floor, finding new friends on the Moscow 'Broadway'. This film gives you Russian youth culture in the 50s, especially music and lifestyle of the time. This film's easy dialogue and catchy tunes will help you continue learning Russian quickly.
Stilyagi is more than a film title. It was a counterculture movement in Soviet Russia, that lasted from the 1940s to the 60s.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: 80%
🍿Popcornmeter: 90%
Corrections Class
Watching this film in its original version is heartbreaking and heartwarming, in equal measures. It deals with physical limitations, and how society treats those who are less than 100% fit. Still, it's an interesting look at how Russian society manages disability issues.
Lena has physical limitations, so she's been studying at home. She's finally accepted into a school, in a specialized class for students with various mental and physical handicaps. They all have one year to prove that they can fit into a 'normal' class.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: --
🍿Popcornmeter: 100%
The Postman's White Nights
This is the story of Aleksey Tryapstin, a postman who connects the inhabitants of villages along Lake Kenozero. From his motor boat, he delivers mail, food and pensions. For those who live in remote corners, virtually cut off from the world, he is a lifeline.
One day, Aleksey's love interest decides to leave the remote area to sample city life. His troubles grow when someone steals his boat motor, making it impossible to deliver anything. He makes an agonising choice, but soon discovered he chose wrong.
This poetic drama plunges us into the heart of Russian nature. Notably, this film features no trained actors. Director Konchalovsky spent a year on casting, before finding the perfect characters.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%
🍿Popcornmeter: 66%
Stalker
Imagine there's a room where all who enter may have their wishes granted. Getting there involves trekking through a wasteland, where suspicious, alien artefacts lie. The government forbids entering this Zone; anyone caught doing so goes to prison for a very long time.
The Stalker just completed a prison term and, needing money, accepts the job of guiding two people through the Zone. His wife is horrified, but he sets off with his clients, anyway. They make their way through that alien territory, to discover the room's true secret.
Andrei Tarkovsky was a top film director during the Soviet era, weaving human elements into the supernatural. One thing's for sure: if you're taking a Russian language course Melbourne, you might forget to focus on listening skills while watching this film.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
🍿Popcornmeter: 92%
Solyaris
A psychologist is launched into space to find out why everyone on an old, but still operational space station seems to have lost their mind. He gets there, and discovers the space base in total disarray. Two crew members act erratic, and people who've never been sent there lurk in the shadows.
From there, the situation gets more fractured and unhinged. Director Tarkovsky's masterpiece far outshines its 2002 remake, both in imagination, and in storytelling.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
🍿Popcornmeter: 89%
The Blackout
The whole of Earth goes dark, save for a small region comprising Moscow, and parts of Belarus, Finland, and Ukraine. Only a small population survives the event. They call their zone the Circle of Life, and start building defenses.
Hostile creatures appear, some in known form, and others, alien. Viewers learn how and why the blackout happened, and who will survive, as the story progresses.
Russian cinema produces top-tier science fiction films, as well as dystopian visions. This film is a bit of both, with love sprinkled in for good measure.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: 57%
🍿Popcornmeter: 62%
The Calculator
Another Sci-fi thriller, this time more gritty and more dystopian. It tells the story of convicted prisoners, sent to live on a hostile planet. Supposedly, the planet has an Island of Happiness, the only place safe from native creatures and other harms. But, the convicts must find a way there, before the planet's horrors do them in.
Australian viewers might find this film a hard watch, considering our ancestors' fates. But, it's more likely the Director Grachev had exile to Siberia on his mind, rather than our penal colonies.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: --
🍿Popcornmeter: --
Attraction
Our last film brings you another serving of Sci-fi, hold the dystopia. 'Attraction' delivers action, and a few echoes of current worries/fears. It all starts when the military shoots down an alien craft, compelling the government to impose martial law.
The aliens manage to infiltrate society, and make alluring promises of a new life. Our heroine is torn between sticking with what she knows, her life till then, and something new and exciting. Watching this film, you might forget you're taking Russian language for free by watching Russian movies.
🍅Rotten Tomatoes score: 36%
🍿Popcornmeter: 50%
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