Russian film industry, is it bad? Compared to the Soviet one?

[Ihavewaffles]

I'm not Russian and I haven't kept up with post-Soviet movies that much, but I can't think of a single memorable Russian movie or director..

I also don't like the cinematography, that has...well, it feels like they went n bought cameras to create TV-movies, which makes them feel tacky.
I don't say this because I prefer the world's cinematography from 60's n 70's cameras to todays (which has the annoying habit to make things too on the nose realistic, feels less like a story, todays cameras are awesome though for documentaries n action movies, but what else?

I also find the characters pretty annoying and hamfisted..


When it comes to Soviet movie industry, it's totally different for me, if it's sci-fi it can be Solaris, Stalker
if it's war movies, it's that Come and See movie
there's more, but since most won't know any other than those I mentioned, no point in mentioning lots of them, how many have seen Irony of Fate?

I can think of directors like Tarkovsky, but I can't name a single current Russian director, or rather I don't care to remember.


The Soviets had their A game, the Russians...well, it feels like B-movies to me..


Also, do you think George Lucas is right, about how constrained Hollywood is?
Can it be said that Russian movie industry succumbed to it, tried to copy it and thereby became bland?



I also feel that Russian cinema is like the Chinese, too focused to appeal to home audience n don't do something that will become universally popular..

[Shadowferal]

Well, if their version of the Avengers was any indication, I'd say it's bad. But I have no way of comparing Soviet movies.

[Ihavewaffles]

I saw that Ru scifi movie Sputnik, well, it's like that American movie Life, it's no Alien..

It has litttle re-watchability..

[Doctor Amadeus]

Lmfao

Russian possible films:

Fantastic 5

Mr Doubtfire

Star Space

[Ophenia]

I’ve seen a handful of Russian movies and some are cool. Biggest issue is probably the actors though.

Guardians was pretty shit, Attraction was a cool movie (but the second one, what the hell man). Koma was entertaining enough. The Blackout had an interesting introduction but it went weird really quick… enjoyable as well if you don’t want to care about the story lol

Russian movies have good potential if you take them for what they are. Low budget stuff, with no-name (for non-Russian) actors. But on the script side they seem to be quite creative sometimes.

[Ivanstone]

When it comes to Soviet movie industry, it's totally different for me, if it's sci-fi it can be Solaris, Stalker
if it's war movies, it's that Come and See movie
there's more, but since most won't know any other than those I mentioned, no point in mentioning lots of them, how many have seen Irony of Fate?

I can think of directors like Tarkovsky, but I can't name a single current Russian director, or rather I don't care to remember.

Whilst Tarkovsky was considered to be a great director, it’s difficult to think of him as a representative of Soviet or Russian films. He once said:
“I am only interested in the views of two people: one is called Bresson and one called Bergman.”
He wasn’t really making stuff for the folks back home.

I have watched Andrei Rublev and enjoyed it. It’s a good example of how the Soviets wanted to make a great film about Russian culture. Money wasn’t much of a concern.
I would like to see War and Peace although finding 8 hours to watch the fucking thing would be hard. Money was even less of a concern although I’d say it paid off in the long run.

I’ve seen two Russian Fed movies.
In The Fog is a bleak movie about Belarusian partisans in WW2. I liked it but it’s not a happy movie.
The Edge on the other hand is fucking fun movie. Roughly, it’s about a Russian penal camp shortly after the end of WW2. A crazy train obsessed prisoner tries salvaging an old locomotive from a disused part of the rail line. Hijinks ensue.

[Ihavewaffles]

Whilst Tarkovsky was considered to be a great director, it’s difficult to think of him as a representative of Soviet or Russian films. He once said:
“I am only interested in the views of two people: one is called Bresson and one called Bergman.”
He wasn’t really making stuff for the folks back home

What's wrong with that attitude? It should be about the movies n not narrowed down to a select audience, otherwise u basically have something like bollywood..

One of his famous movies is in Swedish, not Russian.

U gotta respect directors that don't hold back otherwise they are no different than type casted actors..

[Ivanstone]

What's wrong with that attitude? It should be about the movies n not narrowed down to a select audience, otherwise u basically have something like bollywood..

One of his famous movies is in Swedish, not Russian.

U gotta respect directors that don't hold back otherwise they are no different than type casted actors..

Nothing is wrong with it but he was working within a closed system for a while. His first two movies were made during a time when the Soviet government wanted to make Russian movies and he did just that because it suited him. He later had difficulty getting movies made with one running afoul of Soviet censors and getting shitcanned half way through.

I don't really consider him to representative of the Soviet film industry. John Ford was a talented American director but he was very American in his movie making. He made high quality crowd pleasers that made money for his capitalist film producers. I don't know which Soviet director I would compare to Ford but it wouldn't be Tarkovsky.