The Return

As I watched this movie I felt myself so interested in what was going to happen next. I really enjoyed this movie and when it first started out I had no idea the director was going to take it into the direction he did. I thought Ivan, the youngest of the boys was a cry baby as soon as he would not jump down into the water. Then when the father came around Ivan put all of the work on Andrei because he would not do it. Andrei had to carry everything and do all of the dirty work because Ivan would complain about it. When Ivan kept complaining about leaving the spot where the fish were biting I knew that the dad was going to give him a punishment. When he left him on the side of the road I really did not ever think he was going to come back. I really did not understand how Ivan had so much hatred for his father but then I could see him getting really upset when he watched him slap his brother. It was really sad when the dad died because I never expected that to happen. I really enojyed watching this movie but felt like there were a lot of points I was missing out on in the end.

Brother

I really enjoyed watching the film Brother because of various reasons. First off, it reminded me of an American movie such as The Godfather because of all of the killings and violence. Sergei Bordov truly fulfilled the role of his character,Danila, by being so violent but yet still being able to have normal qualities. For example, how he was so into listening to music and I think used as a way to set his mind free from reality. I felt really bad for him in the beginning of the movie when the only thing he wanted to know was the name of the song "Whistle" and the director was so rude and he was beaten up. I think a lot of his skills he used to survive were thanks to serving in the war. I was really amazed how he created his own gun and used the nail heads as the bullets. The one specific part of this movie that really kept me on edge was when the "creep" had his Danila's brother  held hostage and Danila called him. I was really nervous that when Danila walked in they were going to kill him but I was totally wrong. Another thing I really liked about Danila was how he always kept his word. Once in the middle of the movie to the Radio one director and another time at the end when he told one of the men not to move and he didn't kill him because of that.

Little Vera

WOW! This movie was crazy! While watching this movie I really did not even know what to think at first. This gave a totally different look on Russian lifestyle. Before we started watching this I kind of thought it was going to be like Irony of Fate or Burnt by the Sun but, I was really wrong. This family was crazy and at some points I felt really bad for Vera. I think her dad, some raging insane alcoholic, had a big impact on the poor decisions she made in her life. I hated the sex scenes that the movie displayed which showed Vera was out of control. Although, her dad was crazy she shouldn't have been as crazy as him! Another thing I found crazy was how her dad stabbed her fiance. Also, the amount of alcohol everyone was drinkning was so crazy. I feel like the alcohol consumption is related to a lot of the Russian people. It seems as if everyone can have a ful glass of straight vodka and smell or eat something after they drink it and it is normal. Overall, I really did not enjoy this movie because it was so crazy and Vera's family and lifestyle was so depressing!

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, was overall a great movie that I really enjoyed watching. This movie gave me a feel of the personalities of different Russians and also the various classes of people. I found it funny how the women who lived in the workers dormitory tried so hard to pretend that they were something else. They really went out of their way to pretend that they were intelligent especially by going to the library. They always had great plans but also had to make up so many lies to go around their plans. The lying began when they stayed at the Professor's apartment and had all of the men over. I don't think that they should have pretended that they were something they were not just to get higher class men to like them. One thing that really surprised me was when Katya found out she was pregnant. Rudolph's response and also his mothers really surprised me. In part two of the film I would have reacted the same way as Katya and would have not allowed Rudolph to see Alexandra. He did not want anything to do with her while she was really young so, he should not want to be with her now. I think that Gosha was helpful with Alexandra especially when the group of men were trying to mess with her boyfriend. I also enjoyed the ending because I did not think that Katya and Gosha were going to end up together but, I was happy that they did.

Ivan's Childhood

I really enjoyed the beginning part of class today when we had the chance to sing the songs. I never predicted any Russian music to sound the way it has today. I feel like I am learning a lot of Russian words that I will put to good use when I visit Moscow in the summer.
The film Ivan's Childhood and The Mirror had significant improvements in my perspective. I really enjoyed watching Ivan and his brave character throughout the movie. He was not afraid of anyone or to stand up for himself. I found it interesting that he did not want to attend school but rather stay and fight on the front. The little boy who played Ivan's character did a great job acting and being so bold especially to the soldiers. I enjoyed this film much more than The Mirror because it actually had a set plot and did not show different shots that jumped back and forth. Tarkovsky used many of the same weird shots and angles just like he did in the other film. I noticed that he paid a lot of attention to detail on some of the shots that we watched. I had mixed feelings about the ending of the film. I liked it because it showed how they had a victory but then it also showed the struggles on the Russian side. After watching both movies now I get the feeling of why Tarkovsky's work is considered genius.

The Mirror

The Mirror, written by Tarkovsky, was a really confusing film and watching it alone did not make it any better. The movie did not have a set plot but it seemed like he added many images or clips that flowed well together. Although the movie jumped around a lot it seemed like all of these images had meaning to Tarkovsky’s life. Most of the images that jumped back and forth seemed like they might have had a lot of meaning to him but none to me. One of the reoccurring images throughout the film that I noticed was a set of hands. I wish I could elaborate o the different images of the hands but I do not know what point or idea Tarkovsky was trying to portray. I really enjoyed how Tarkovsky used black and white and also color in this film. In my perspective Tarkovsky is a genius because I was not really able to understand his film. I really enjoy seeing the images of his life, news footage and also childhood images.

Ballad of a Soldier Response

At first I thought this film was going to be an intense war film but then i realized it really was not. Although I received a good view of what Russia was like during World War II the film was more of a love story. Aloysha's and Shura's relationship was what kept me interested in this movie. Another thing that made this movie come off as a love story is when Aloysha went to give the gift to one of his friends who is also a soldier and found that his fiance was cheating on him with another man. I really enjoyed how Aloysha snuck Shura around with him all the time. This movie really made me think about the life of a soldier and how a lot of people are affected by it. Aloysha's mother was one of the characters in the movie i really felt bad for. When the man drove him to look for her he had to go search for her in the fields. The mom expected him to stay for dinner but he was only to stay for a shirt period of time. I think anyone not just Russians would appreciate this film because they would get the feel for a soldier's life. Overall I really enjoyed this movie but I do not really think it reflects communism or the Soviet Union.

Ivan the Great Response

Ivan the Great describes Russian history well. I found the costumes and people in this movie very interesting to watch and analyze. I thought Ivan was a little scary looking with his beard and how he came back from death. This movie very well describes the way the Royal Russians were treated by other civilians and other people. Although I found this film very confusing and hard to understand which characters were which. I also didn't understand why the man poisoned Ivan's wife and killed her. I think in general Ivan was very brave and a man with heart and courage to have the best for Moscow. This movie is very hard to follow as well and although I am having difficulty understanding this film, I am anxious to see what will happen in Part 2.  

Burnt By the Sun

Burnt by the Sun, was by far my favorite film we watched thus far. I loved the story line which kept me interested in the film the entire time. My favorite character was of course Nadya, the daughter of Sergei and Marusia. Nadya was one of the main characters of the film who had a very strong relationship with her father. When she ran off to the gate located around the cottage she really made me nervous because I thought she was going to get kidnapped by the "summer Santa Claus." It  first seemed like the "summer Santa" was trying to convince or persuade her to do something she should not be doing. Then after he plays the joke to the entire family inside of the cottage he takes off his clothes and shows that he is Mitya, Maruisa's long lost love. Mitya really confused me in the beginning of the film when he almost tried to kill himself. When Mitya came to visit I knew right away that there was going to be tension between him and Sergei. Mitya was a quiet character who seemed as if he kept a lot of what he wanted to say inside and never let anyone know how he truly felt. Mitya had a good relationship with Nadya also because he played with her and told her a story. I also think Sergei handled the situation well because he allowed Mitya and Marusia to catch up on the past and things they missed out on. I also felt bad for Sergei because as soon as Mitya came around I feel like he was not included as much in the family acitvities as he was before. I could tell that Sergei was a true soldier when he explained to Marusia that he was not scared like Mitya and he wanted to fight for his country. I was shocked at the end of the movie when the men came to pick up Mitya and Sergei because I never really understood how important Sergei was until the man in the pick up truck asked if it was really him. The only thing I wish was different was that Sergei did not get beat up as bad as he did because I was unable to watch when they kept showing his bloody beat up face.

Circus

As each day goes on I find that each character becomes more developed and the quality of the movies keep increasing. I really enjoyed watching Orlova in the film who played Marion Dixon. I really enjoyed watching Marion who was a well rounded character with great acrobatic skills. When she first performed the cannonball scene I did not think it was going to be sucessful but then it was a great outcome. The couple Rayechka and Skamejkin had a great relationship and provided a lot of humor throughout the entire movie. My favorite scene was at the end of the movie when they announced to the circus that the woman had a black child. The man tried to explain to everyone that the white woman having a black child was a racial crime which was totally absurd. Then they started to pass the child around to each member of the audience to keep him from the outraged man. Then I do not quite recall the mans name who explained that you  can have a child that is black, white, purple, blue even pink with stripes but this was my favorite line of the movie. I think the director did a good job overall including making all of the main characters well rounded and keeping the audience interested!

Thursday January 8th

Battleship Potemkim

Today we watched another silent film, but this one was created by Sergei Eisenstein, Battleship Potemkim, and was much more interesting than the others. This film showed many different shots and angles unlike Bauer's silent film. I found myself more interested in this silent film rather than the ones Bauer created, because there was more acting and action. One of the scenes that really caught my attention was when the sailors were gathered the meat. The doctor said the meat was perfectly fine even though the camera shows maggots crawling all over it. Another scene I found interesting was when all of the people were rushing down the stairs away from the soldiers. It looked like there were a great amount of people involved in making this film. I felt really bad for the little boy who was laying on the stairs and people were stepping on him and he started to bleed all over. I also felt bad for the baby in the stroller who was rolling down the stairs, although it didn't look very realistic. There was a huge transformation in the directing of both films. 

Wednesday January 7th

Evengi Bauer

Evengi Bauer was the director of the very early Russian cinema. All of his films were silent which I didn't think I would find interesting, but it was good to see what Russian films stemmed from. One of the films we watched that Bauer directed was Child of the Big City. In this film there are basically three characters Mary, Kramskoi, and Viktor. Mary is a seamstress who both of the men, Kramskoi and Viktor, are interested in. Mary ends up being with Viktor but not for long because she leaves him for another man. At the end of the movie the last scene is Mary stepping over Viktor's body which was placed in a gutter. While watching silent films I find them challenging to understand because there is no dialogue to steer you in the right direction. One of the lessons I think Bauer was trying to provide his audience with was how Mary, coming from the working class, took advantage of Viktor's wealth, although he didn't do so himself. I thought these three silent films we watched were not bad because it made me realize how much I should appreciate sound and color. The only other silent films I watched were made by Buster Keaton. Although these movies were silent they had a big comedic effect. Also, in Bauer's movies he uses a lot of still shots. 

tuesday january 6th

The second half of irony of fate was still enjoyable just like the first part. I think the second half was predictable hence the title irony of fate. Throughout the second half Ippolit and Zhenya provided a lot of comedy such as the arguments they shared and of course Ippolit's driving skills. I found it interesting that in this half Nadya tells Zhenya how Ippolit has been married for ten years and she is only allowed to see him on the weekends. The film ends like a typical american love story because Nadya and Zhenya end up falling in love. Zenyha, his mother, and his friends become shocked when they see Nadya in moscow. I think Nadya deserves to be happy because I don't believe Ippolit treated her with respect especially because he had a wife. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie because it gave me a great idea of what places were like in russia and how significant the new year celebration was for them. 

When I first read the book by Kenez I realized it was going to be a synopsis of early russian cinema. Kenez explains how it developed and that people were interested in cinema before it was even done being created. From the description provided by Kenez one was able to tell that cinema was going to be internationally known. 

Chapaev

I believe that this was a great historical film. It was clear that the sound in this film was a great beginning to film making and played a huge role in the entertainment world. Throughout the movie Chapaev displayed heroic characteristics while fighting in the Russian Civil War. It is obvious that the producers in the film focused much on keeping the audience constantly at the edge of their seats. Also, I believe that the romantic side of this movie balanced out the film perfectly, giving the audience a little time to calm down after the war scenes. It is made clear that Chapaev was greatly appreciated by the men around him because he was a strong fighter. I was confused when the movie showed the commander having someone who watched him when he was already a great fighter and a hero. I think he could have been upset when this took place as well. I was also confused when the village people came and thanked Chapaev. As each day goes on, the movies and the directors do a great job of keeping me interested more and more. I was surprised when I did research on this movie that 30 million people alone in the USSR watched this film within the first year it came out!