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The first one could not be recommended any stronger, and the good news is it is available here in the US.The film is called "Komissar" and it comes with extremely interesting history attached. I don't know about you, but I can't recall another movie in history that was the first and last effort of a director, who managed in that only work of his life, to reach the level normally associated with the titans of movie art.
Its director Alexander Askoldov was fired after nearly finishing his work in 1967, and the film was shelved until being finished and released in 1988.
As I said, its artictic qualitied put it squarely among the best films ever made. It is simply unbelievable that someone could hit his target this well with the first throw.
That alone would make it a worthwhile viewing, but as I said, it is a great film by any measure.
The second one you will have great difficulty locating in the US. But if your search is fruitful, you will enjoy its results... I promise. The film is "Gorod Zero" (City Zero) by Karen Shakhnazarov.
It is simply a MARVELOUS film. It in incredibly witty and full of good humor, intermeshed - as is probably mandatory with any film maker who lived through the horrible Soviet times - with great dose of history. Most definitely not your traditional film, but the mood it creates is so palpably surrealistic in good sense of that word, that it keeps you involved and laughing all the way to the finish line. There is an undeniable line going back to Bunuel's Avenging Angel, but let it not fool you - it is a completely different work.
If you CAN get it by any means (the imdb says it has only been released in Finland... hmmmmm...) you will not regret.
Follow Ups:
Komissar is good, and Grossmann's story has more than one true story behind it. My grandmother was adopted in 1920 by a Jewish family in about the same places - except that the parents were fleeing for Crimea away from the Reds (survived and returned a few years later) and the foster family's sons died - one in the Reds, one in the Jew militia. Weird times. It is strange that those shtetls survived when waves of Reds, Whites, etc. chased each other over the steppe.Zero is, well, zero... But must be more available than the rest, given the director's current rank.
For true surreal 1984 art - see Parad Planet. This one you won't find easily. (http://www.podsolnuh.ru/movies/Parad_planet/).
Not a bad film, interesting in several spots. The episode with women was the best part, even if detrived from the Rublev's scenes. It really had something going.The rest was quite uneven and with too much of Bunuel flavor borrowed. Not too much in your face, mind you.
Overall definitely an interesting work, but more interesting than the Zero? I don't think so. I would rate them about the same.
Agree on both counts.
Zero was nice, but completely forgettable.
As to finding Parad Planet, if you have 10 bucks to spare :http://www.rbcmp3.com/store/product.asp?dept_id=3015&sku=8487
***Zero is, well, zero...I told my wife what you said about that film... you don't want to know what she said about you... I didn't know she could curse like that... a esche intelligentnaia zhenschina!
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