MestnyiGeroi's "20 Classic Russian Film Comedies"

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Ask your average non-Russian fan of world cinema about Russian movies, and you are likely to hear names such as Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Dovzhenko, and Vertov from the early Soviet years, and Tarkovsky, Sokurov, Paradzhanov, Klimov and Shepitko from the later years. These are all great filmmakers, all known for their serious, often dark and austere films.

But if you ask Russians themselves about the best Russian movies ever made, other names less known in the West will come up just as frequently—names like Gaidai, Ryazanov, and Daneliya. These are the directors of comedies, and it can rightly be claimed that Russia has an illustrious history of cinema comedy.

Some rather goofy and broad, some wry and subtle, here, roughly in order of popularity, is a selected list of the comedies that, to my mind, have become the most beloved entries in the annals of Russian cinema comedy.

(Any suggestions – about order or choices—are welcome.)

  1. 3.
    Mimino [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Netherlands ]
    by Georgi Daneliya

    Drag me to re-order


  2. 6.
    Kidnapping Caucassian Style
    by Leonid Gaidai

    Drag me to re-order


  3. 7.
    Gentlemen of Fortune
    by Aleksandr Seryj

    Drag me to re-order


  4. 9.
    The Carnival Night / Karnavalnaya Noch
    by Eldar Ryazanov

    Drag me to re-order


  5. 10.
    Bootleggers/ Samogonshiki - Russian Soundtrack Only
    by L. Gaidai

    Drag me to re-order


  6. 14.
    Business romance / Sluzhebny Roman
    by Eldar Ryazanov

    Drag me to re-order


  7. 15.
    Beware of the Car! / Beregis' Avtomobilya
    by Eldar Ryazanov

    Drag me to re-order


  8. 18.

  9. 19.
    Dont grief! [NTSC] [Russian Language Only]
    by Georgij Daneliya

    Drag me to re-order


  10. 20.
    Peculiarities of the National Fishing
    by Aleksandr Rogozhkin

    Drag me to re-order


This is MestnyiGeroi's list. Only MestnyiGeroi can edit it. You can make your own version of this list.
Created by MestnyiGeroi on Jul 17, 2008.
 

Comments

MestnyiGeroi
New York City

Untitled — 15 weeks ago

Hm. Maybe The Striped Trip (Polosatyi reis) should have made the cut … ?

Also, clearly, Don’t Grief! should be Don’t Grieve!, but I went with the entry with the nice picture, nonetheless.


MestnyiGeroi
New York City

Untitled — 19 weeks ago

There is a spoof of hyped-up blockbusters out now in Russia, breaking opening box office records. It is called The Best Movie (aka The Very Best Movie)(Samyi luchshii film)(K. Kuzin, 2008).