[Mersault]

The Russian film. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice festival.

I will briefly outline the film and trust that it might interest some of you enough to watch it or engage those who have already seen it to comment and share a thought on it. I have chosen to speak about this film on this forum because it is relevant to the theme of this forum and ought therefore to interest you guys on here.

This is the outline.

Two young boys (perhaps 14 and 12 years old) have grown up without their father, in a house controlled by their mother and grandmother. One is susceptible to peer pressure and the other is a type of chicken. Then the father turns up and, essentially, in the space of a week turns two followers into two potential leaders. To use the parlance of this forum the father is an alpha male, to put it lightly, and the children appear destined to be beta's until the father turns up and turns their whole destiny around. Watching him do so is mesmerising. You see the transformation of two young children from naive fools into, well, the opposite.

Now i'll add some extras. It is beautifully shot, in that timeless style developed, or rather created, by Tarkovsky. The acting is stupendously good. The father and the two children are splendid. Their are countless other motifs too, however i won't mention them here because this isn't a film forum and having read some threads on this forum about films i'm not sure it would be appreciated. That said, i'm not even entirely confident this thread will garner much action.

Still, all being said, this Russian film is ideal viewing for all those who have lamented the all too typical predominantly maternal upbringing prevalent in our contemporary Western worlds. If you have ever wondered why so many men in the west now, raised in women only households, are such weak justifications for the wonder of testosterone then watch this and see why the absense of such fathers, strong quiet disciplined types, might be all there is to it. Naturally, it isn't as simple as that, however for a forum that proclaims to be alpha male red pill and all the rest blah blah then this film is appropriate viewing.

If you are learning Russian, as i guess many on this forum are, then this is another reason to watch it.

ps. the film is available on youtube (return 2003) in 11 parts with English subs.

[InternetMarketer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZo5PnGHIGc

(Full movie, in Russian)

The father plays in a number of my favorite shows.

[Prosal]

Very good movie indeed.

Have you seen "My Joy" ? Recommended to anyone interested by a harsh tale about contemporary "deep" Russia, which has yet to civilize itself and is rotted to the core.

One of my favorite russian movie remains "12", the Russian remake (by Nikita Mikhalkov) of "12 Angry Men". A cut through the Russian Soul (twelve jurors must decide the fate of a Chechen teenager charged with murdering his stepfather).

Also "Alexandra" is a great movie, the story of a Russian babushka roaming the chechen front.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/mov....html?_r=0

[Prosal]

In a different register ...the Viktor Pelevin's most famous novel, 'Generation P", has been adapted for cinema.

For those who ignore it, Pelevin is the most popular (and totally insane) modern author in Russia, and "Generation P" is his cult book. The book tracks the adventures of a young intellectual who becomes a kopiraiter (an advertising copywriter) in kioks held by Chechens, and is adrift in the glamorously corrupt Moscow of the early 90s. But while the novel ends with the 90s, the film continues until a near future.

[Prosal]

"Vysotskiy. Spasibo, chto zhivoy" is also great. Action is mostly in Tashkent as a side note.

Vladimir Vysotsky is the biggest icon of the 20th century for russian people.

[Menace]

Great thread guys. I've been wanting to watch some Russian movies.

[Prosal]

Not russian (the director is french), but a really really good movie. I've watched it twice in 48 hours.

A beautifully textured drama about the Chernobyl disaster and its long-term legacy (shot on location).

Furthermore, with the gorgeous Olga K.

[InternetMarketer]

http://www.kinopoisk.ru/top

Top 250 movies (Includes Russian films and other films like Gladiator, Inception, Forrest Gump, etc...)

The site is a great resource in general.

[ms224]

I don't think they went from naive fools to the opposite.
The whole story is really sad, in a Tolstoy sense.


How about, Brigada?

[Teutatis]

Damn, what a list, now there's no reason for me not to try to learn some Russian.

[Jura]

Another thumbs up here for The Return.
And thanks Prosal for the suggestions.

[Prosal]

Pajalsta.

Besides the fact that russian culture is fascinating (and not only literature or poetry, but also painting, cinema, music, ect), my opinion is that many guys underestimate the fact that you get much more bonus points when you know about their culture. Russian girls/women cultural knowledge is astounding, and they are suckers for their own culture .... even the ditziest chicks go bonkers for russian (or ukrainan for that matter) culture. A bit of cultural knowledge is not a ticket to their panties, but it definitely wins you points (and it's also true for Ukraine). Which russian authors do they prefer, Bunin, Lermontov, Bulgakov ?...... or do they prefer modern authors like Pelevin ? Which poet, Turgeniev, Pushkin, Tyutchev ? .... and what are their favorite stanzas ? Which composer, Rachmaninov, Serov ? Which legend rock band, which classic movies, ect ect ?

Speaking a bit of russian is important, but knowing about their culture is equally important, if not more. I find that cultural knowledge can wither the defenses of even the most suspicious of russian and ukrainian females.

[The Fantasist]

(07-04-2013 01:56 AM)Prosal Wrote:  

Speaking a bit of russian is important, but knowing about their culture is equally important, if not more. I find that cultural knowledge can wither the defenses of even the most suspicious of russian and ukrainian females.

+1

Cultural knowledge and understanding, the great Slavic pussy moistener.

Every trip I have taken to the FSU has added a little bit of cultural knowledge that at the time seems useless or unnecessary but then you are sitting with a girl not getting anywhere and you mention something innocuous and suddenly the ice queen begins to melt a little, you have blurred the line between 'them and us'. As you say Prosal knowledge alone will not get you a bang BUT it moves you a step closer and allows for the possibility by separating you from a tourist or a sex tourist.

It does not have to be high cultural knowledge either. Contemporary culture works just as well ( especially with younger chicks ). I can give so many examples of this from my personal interactions with women there. My tip is to learn songs, easy ones such as by Bravo or Zemfira or Leontiev. Those singers have helped me get laid so many times I should send them all a royalty cheque. Just showing an interest in Russia gets panties wet.

True recent story: I invited a girl to come stay with me a month back. She was young and her mum said that she could not stay in my home with me but had to go to a hotel. I and the girl knew it was stupid to do so but she wouldn't deceive her mum as she was a good type. One day I said let me speak to mum. So I phoned her in Siberia. We got talking and I said what town in Siberia are you in anyway? And she said Barnaul. "Oh Barnaul" I said "I know that city it's not too far from Novosibirsk. I think there are about 600,000 people living there right?" Well this woman suddenly melted and could not believe how I knew this, how an Englishman could know about her little city in Siberia and even the population statistic, she was so proud that the name Barnaul was known in London! She melted, never knew someone could love Russia so much as I do she said. Of course by the end of the call we were like lifelong friends and the daughter was given permission to stay with me in my home. What she did not know was that I had been researching cities that might make good places to bang women in just a week before and had looked at Barnaul's statistics. A little innocuous piece of info that I thought irrelevant turned out to be a great help.

So I would say that cultural knowledge and understanding is a big piece of the jigsaw possibly more so that language.

Great links for the films guys. Next time I have a couple of hours free I will catch up with them.

[Prosal]

(07-04-2013 04:12 AM)Vorkuta Wrote:  

Cultural knowledge and understanding, the great Slavic pussy moistener.

Well done V, you nailed it with your GF's mother ))

You couldn't have described better how cultural knowledge is important when dealing with russian girls/women (as with ukrainian girls for that matter, even if it is to a lesser extent), and you are totally right, being able to talk about contemporary culture is as efficient, if not more, than being able to talk about classical culture. In any case, cultural knowledge and understanding makes the difference between viewing you as a sex tourist vs. viewing you as an intelligent person who is not solely there to fuck girls.

Zillions of guys want to bang russian/ukrainian girls, but very few of them know about the culture, the tastes, ect of the girls they want to bang. It's ludicrous.

[The Fantasist]

...

[Prosal]

I don't really know where to put that, and sorry Mersault for hijacking your thread, but as a side note Romanian cinema is also interesting.

I have enjoyed a lot this short romanian movie ("Marilena de la P7"), set in Bucarest outskirts. Really good, about teenage emotion, and a heartbreaking look at innocence among the indigents. Andrei, a 13 year old teenager, falls in love with Marilena, a young prostitute. A little gem.

Full film (the Elvis impersonator "Elvis Romano" from 21:30 is worth watching):

[DiogoFC]

Prosal: have you got the English subtitles for Vysotskiy. Spasibo, chto zhivoy? Can't find any but Bulgarian, which doesn't help much.

[InternetMarketer]

(07-04-2013 12:19 AM)ms224 Wrote:  

I don't think they went from naive fools to the opposite.
The whole story is really sad, in a Tolstoy sense.


How about, Brigada?

Brigada is hands down the best t.v. series in the post-Soviet era.

After Sasha Belov "Beli" comes back from his army service, he wants to become a vulcanologist. He finds out that his girlfriend became a prostitute and then beats the shit out of her pimp. Along with his three childhood friends, they dive into the drug and arms trade. Eventually, all of them die.

Sergei Bezrukov a.k.a. "Beli"
   

[Prosal]

"Elena" was a good movie.

"..... Post-Soviet Russia in Andrei Zvyagintsev’s somber, gripping film “Elena” is a moral vacuum where money rules, the haves are contemptuous of the have-nots, and class resentment simmers. The movie, which shuttles between the center of Moscow and its outskirts, is grim enough to suggest that even if you were rich, you wouldn’t want to live there...."

[The Fantasist]

Just watched Bumer ( BMW ) for the first time. Found it with subs up on Youtube.

It is a film I have heard a lot about over the years in Russia almost always from males and taxi drivers that I meet. You need to add it to your cultural arsenal and it's a pretty good film if you like action thrillers with a bit of comedy.

The story is of 4 small Russian gangster types who steal cars, change the numbers and drive them to Moscow to sell. The film shows them as they steal a BMW and head back to their home town however they get into a brawl and shoot someone and so the story begins which is basically the four of them driving through provincial Russia heading to a town where they can hide out until things die down. It's actually quite funny and shows you the hard life of the provinces where you find alcoholics, bandits, corrupt policeman and mud, lots of mud. The 4 guys in the BMW get into some scrapes, they steal petrol, rob a policeman, get into a fight with some truckers, screw some girls and then they finally reach the safety of their hideout. Whilst there 2 of them screw a couple of girls and find out that there is a computer shop in town holding a lot of cash. And so the big finale happens which I won't spoil.

It has little artistic merit, it's nothing like The Return or other modern Russian classics such as Father And Son etc but it does give a good insight into the provinces and how Russian men talk and behave ( a certain type of Russian man that is ). And if you watch it, next time some Russian dude on a long train journey drunkenly asks you if you have seen Bumer you can say yes.

[The Fantasist]

Everybody Dies But Me

Watched this Russian film last night. It's basically the tale of three female school friends who are about 16 years old. They are at school in the suburbs of a city and are all rebellious. One is getting beaten by her father, the other cuts her wrists early in the film and the other who is the quiet one seems to be following the other two. The story revolves around the school disco that will soon be happening and how the girls are preparing for it. They make a bond to stick together and not shag each other's boyfriends until they are 18 but when one of them runs away from home and is not allowed to go to the disco the other two decide to go without her which causes a break in the friendship. All the time we see the girl's despairing parents who cannot control them. Eventually the disco happens and one girl loses her virginity to a local boy on the floor of a factory of some sort, the other one gets pissed in the toilets and has to b e carried home whilst the other meets some boys and smokes some drugs with them. It all culminates in a big fight where one of the girls gets heavily beaten by the local alpha bully girl.

Overall a somewhat boring coming of age drama showing the realities of some lower economic family's children. Every box is ticked: parental abuse, suicide attempt, sex, drugs, rebelling at school. I never connected with the characters enough to care however and only continued watching hoping to see some tits on show. If it sounds like your thing here is the link:

[Prosal]

(07-05-2013 01:15 PM)Vorkuta Wrote:  

Everybody Dies But Me

Great movie. I love the song of the closing credits (that was also played at the party).

[Prosal]

Gloss (Glyanets)

A pretty young girl from Rostov on Don comes to Moscow with dreams of becoming a supermodel - a satirical look at the Russian fashion industry.

Many beautiful long legs and slender bodies

[The Fantasist]

A fascinating documentary from RT about an African family who live in rural Russia. Gives us hope that racist attitudes have not yet spread from the cities to the smaller towns.

Well worth a watch:

Prosal, where do you watch Russian films usually, Youtube or elsewhere? I'd really like to find 'Generation P' with subtitles somewhere. Any ideas where I might find it?

[Mersault]

Prosal, don't apologise Sir. With the quality links you are adding here i ought to thank you, and, on that note, thanks. You and Vorkuta have been discussing some good films, so i'm presuming the ones i haven't seen are equally as good and once i have finished watching I Claudius i will get on to them. I Claudius? No, i'm not old, yes, i'm watching it because of an off the cuff mark from Clive James. Eh, who cares.

Ok, whilst we are linking to other Russian language films and documentaries, here. It's the somewhat known documentary about the modelling industry, following one ex model, now working as a model scout, on her ventures into deep Russia, usually Siberia, looking for the latest 'talent' and then whisking that 'talent' off to Japan to tout it to the larger agencies and the fashion industry at large. It's called Girl - Model : Documentary
http://www.solarmovie.so/watch-girl-model-2011.html