Soon is coming the holiday greatly loved by many Russians. We will buy and bring home christmas trees, smell the tangerines, prepare special presents for the family and heaps of small funny things for all we can meet these days, then cook lots of stuff including so boring but so dear 'Stolichniy' salad, watch famous films, drink champaign, listen to the president... Every year is all the same, but we are not tired! more than that - we are looking forward to this sweet new year buzz!
This year in our cinema club we watch a new film but again - about New Year, joy, christmas trees and love!
December, 11, (Tuesday) at 7 pm, CHRISTMAS TREES 2
(Comedy, Russia, 2011, 96 min)
About the film: Please read the attached letter VENUE: the classroom of RLC, 701, 7/F, Arion Commercial Centre, No. 2-12 Queen's Road West, Sheung Wan Admission is free, however please write to us (2teacher@rlc.hk) or call us ( 2598 8389) to book a seat.
Some famous quotations:
Это ж закон подлости. Только с остановки уйдешь, автобус сразу и приходит.
Под курантами сорок лет!
42% разводов связаны с психологической и практической неподготовленностью супругов к семейной жизни.
Господи, в таком красивом пакете человеку продали испорченные продукты!Спокойно! Якутская ветеринарная академия работает!
Новый год отменяется, сядь.
— Вы знаете, когда сердитесь, Вы такая сексуальная! — А Вы находчивый. И деньги тоже найдете.
Stilyagi
(Стиляги) is a 2008 film, named Hipsters
for its American release. It is a musical that deals with Soviet
youth subculture "hipsters" or literally "obsessed
with fashion" of the 1950s.
Mels,
a member of Komsomol (the youth wing of Soviet Communist Party),
helps break up a hipster’s party. He briefly meets and is
intrigued by a hipster girl named Polly, who invites him to hang
out with her friends on "Broadway." Mels is drawn to
Polly and seeks to win her over by becoming part of their world of
colorful fashions, dancing, and loud music. He begins to adopt
their fashions and even purchases a saxophone off the black market
which he learns to play in the illicit jazz style…
audience favorite at the Toronto International Film Festival,
Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (Иван Васильевич меняет профессию) is a Sovietcomedy film produced by Mosfilm in 1973.
This film is based on a play by Mikhail Bulgakov and was
one of the most attended movies in the Soviet Union in 1973 with more than 60
million tickets sold.
Cast
▪Yuri Yakovlev (Ivan the Terrible / Ivan
Vasilievich Bunsha)
The movie begins in
1973 Moscow, where Engineer
Shurik (Aleksandr
Demyanenko) is working on a time machine in his
apartment. By accident, he sends Ivan Vasilevich Bunsha (Yuri Yakovlev),
superintendent of his apartment building, and George Miloslavsky (Leonid Kuravlev), a
small-time burglar, back into the time of Ivan IV. The pair is
forced to disguise themselves, with Bunsha dressing up as Ivan IV and
Miloslavsky as a knyaz
of the same name (who everybody thought was executed by the tsar). At the same
time, the real Ivan IV (also played by Yuri Yakovlev) is sent by the same
machine into Shurik's apartment, he has to deal with modern-day life while
Shurik tries to fix the machine so that everyone can be brought back to their
proper place in time. As the police (tipped off by a neighbor who was burgled
by Miloslavsky) close in on Shurik, who is frantically trying to repair the
machine, the cover of Bunsha and Miloslavsky is blown and they have to fight
off the Streltsy, who have
figured out that Bunsha is not the real Tsar. The movie ends with Bunsha,
Miloslavsky, and Ivan IV all transported back to their proper places, although
the entire thing is revealed to be a dream by Shurik. Or was it?
Next Tuesday, 22 of May, we show the 3rd film of our 'Amazing May'
A she-prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures (Кавказская пленница, или Новые приключения Шурика) also known as Kidnapping, Caucasian Style, aSoviet comedy film dealing with the theme of bride kidnapping, that is a caucasian pre-wedding tradition (of course, only if a bride agrees to be kidnapped!)
Wiki says, that the title is a humorous interpretation of the Alexander Pushkin poem, "The Prisoner of the Caucasus", and Leo Tolstoy's adaptation of the poem to a short story.
The film was directed by Leonid Gaidai, one of the greatest comedy-makers and film-direstors. Almost all his films has become 'cult films' of the Russian cinema. Recently in our cinema club you have seen 'The Diamond Arm' which is also Gaidai's film.
It is the last film featuring the trio "Coward" (Georgy Vitsin), "Fool" (Yuri Nikulin) and "Experienced" (Yevgeny Morgunov), an act similar to the Three Stooges. The premiere of the film took place in Moscow on April 1, 1967.
PLOT
A kind, yet naïve, anthropology student named Shurik (Alexander Demyanenko) goes to theCaucasus to learn the ancient customs of the locals. While there, he falls in love with Nina (Natalya Varley). However, Nina's uncle (Frunzik Mkrtchyan) sells his niece without her knowledge, and arranges to have Nina kidnapped by the eccentric trio: Coward, Fool and Experienced. After a failed attempt, the uncle decides to trick Shurik into helping with the kidnapping, telling him that it is a traditional custom, and that it was Nina's own wish. Shurik goes through with the kidnapping but, after working through his initial confusion, enlists the help of a friend to eventually rescue Nina from her captors.
FAMOUS QUOTATIONS
— Затем на развалинах часовни…
— Простите, часовню тоже я… развалил?
— Нет, это было до вас, в четырнадцатом веке.
-then on the ruins of the chapel
- excuse me... the chapel was destroyed also by me...?
- no, it happened before you, in the 14 century
— Бамбарбия! Киргуду!
— Что он сказал?
— Он говорит, что если вы откажетесь, они вас… Зарежут…. Шутка.
— Шутка!
- bambarbia kergudu (indeed, it has no meaning)
- what did he say?
- he says that if you refuse, they will ... kill you. Joke..
- Joke!
— Жить, как говорится, хорошо.
— А хорошо жить ещё лучше!
— Точно!
- It's good to live!
- and to live good is very good!
- True!
- otherwise 'Memento mori' (in Latin it means 'Remember the death')
- immediately!
- into the sea!
— Могу я видеть прокурора?
— Можете. Где у нас прокурор?
— В шестой палате, где раньше Наполеон был.
- May I see the prosecutor?
- You may! Where is our prosecutor?
- In chamber 6, where Napoleon used to be! (means in the madhouse's chamber 6)
Студентка, комсомолка, спортсменка, наконец, она — просто красавица!
- student, comsomol-girl, sportswoman and simply - the beauty!
… и вот когда вся стая полетела зимовать на юг, одна маленькая, но гордая птичка сказала: «Лично я полечу прямо на солнце». И она стала подниматься всё выше и выше, но очень скоро обожгла себе крылья и упала на самое дно самого глубокого ущелья. Так выпьем же за то, чтобы никто из нас, как бы высоко он ни летал, никогда не отрывался бы от коллектива!
Имею желание купить дом, но не имею возможности. Имею возможность купить козу, но… не имею желания. Так выпьем за то, чтобы наши желания всегда совпадали с нашими возможностями…
- I have a desire to buy a house, but have no
opportunity. I have an
opportunity to buy a goat, but ... have no desire. Let's drink for that our desires always coincide with our
opportunities!
Тост без вина — это всё равно что брачная ночь без невесты.
- Toast without wine is like a honeymoon without a bride!
Чей туфля? Ой, моё! Спасибо.
- Whose shoe? - Mine, thanks!
Неплохо очень совсем без жены,
Гораздо лучше с любой стороны!
- It's not bad to have no wife,
Much better from all sides!
— Это, как его, волюнтаризм!
— В моём доме не выражаться!
— А чего я сказал?
- It's ...what's that.. voluntarism!
- In my house no abuse words!
- But what did I say?
The Diamond Arm (Бриллиантовая рука) is a 1968 Soviet comedy film filmed by Mosfilm and first released in 1968. The film was directed by slapstick director Leonid Gaidai and starred several famous Soviet actors, including Yuri Nikulin, Andrei Mironov, Anatoli Papanov, Nonna Mordyukova and Svetlana Svetlichnaya. The Diamond Arm has become a Russian cult film.
The boss of a black market ring (known only as "The Chief") wants to smuggle a batch of jewelry into the Soviet Union by hiding it into the orthopedic cast of a courier. The contraband ends up in the cast on the arm of "ordinary Soviet citizen" Semyon Semyonovich Gorbunkov who gets mistaken for the courier while on a cruise shore excursion. He lets the militsiyaknow about this, and the militsiya captain uses Gorbunkov as bait to catch the criminals. Most of the plot are various attempts of two inept crooks, Lyolik and Gennadiy Kozodoyev,to lure Gorbunkov into a situation where they could have quietly, without a wet job, taken the cast off him.
"A dog is man's best friend!" ---"Well, maybe in London a dog is man's best friend, but over here it's the UPRAVDOM (apartment manager)." (The upravdom woman finally became a caricature of a seemingly petty but influential social bureaucrat.)
"Only aristocrats and degenerates drink champagne in the morning..." (Шампанское по утрам пьют только аристократы или дегенераты) (pauses, checks out the bottle and drinks right from it)
A mocking reproach: "Semyon Semyonych!..." (Of an absent-minded person to wake him up.)
"Flowers for his woman, ice cream for the kids. And don't mix it up, Kutuzov!" (Дитям мороженое, бабе цветы.... и не перепутай, Кутузов!)
"I'm innocent! I'm innocent! He came by himself!"
"I'm not a coward... But I'm scared..." "Я не трус, но я боюсь!"
"I've got an idea: what if we could..." -- "We couldn't." -- "I see... Then, maybe we should..." -- "No, we shouldn't." -- "Okay... In that case, maybe I'd rather..." -- "Why not, you could try that one." (A caricature of a militsiya commander who is so astute that he is almost a mind-reader)
"As they say, that is c'est la vie!" ("такова се-ля-ви") (c'est la vie is French for "that is life", in other words the phrase is a double mis-translation: "that is that is life" Also, cf. later Dovlatov's catch phrase "таково се-ля-ви" ("such is c'est la vie", where "such" is used in the neuter gender, as if alluding to the Russian word for "crap"), which is clearly patterned on this quote.)
"But Lyolik, that is not aesthetic!" -- "That's cheap, reliable and practical!" (rhymes nicely in Russian: "Лёлик, но это же не эстетично!" - "Зато дёшево, надёжно и практично.") (As preparing to hit Semyon Semyonovich on the head with a metal tool.)
"Our people don't take a taxi to the bakery!" (In Russian: "Наши люди в булочную на такси не ездят!"
Smuglyanka(Смуглянка"the girl with swarthy skin",
alsoСмуглянка-МолдаванкаSmuglyanka-Moldovanka"the darkMoldovangirl") is a Russian song written in
1940 byYakov Shvedov(lyrics) andAnatoliy Grigorevich Novikov(music)
It is written
in the mood of a Moldovan folk song.
The song was intended as glorifying the
girl-partisans of theRussian Civil
War. The lyrics tell how the singer
met a pretty girl gathering grapes and fell in love with her, but she answers
that she is a partisan, and convinces him to join the partisans as well.
Later is was taken as a reference to the
then-contemporarySoviet
partisansof theGreat
Patriotic War(WWII).
Smuglyankawas used in the 1973Soviet filmOnly «Old Men» Are Going to Battle(В бой идут одни „старики“), an "easy movie about
love, airplanes and girls". In the film, a young fighter pilot introduces
the song to his squadron and so gets nicknamed "the dark girl".
The
film was first shown on 27 December 1973. Hero of the Soviet UnionAlexander
Pokryshkinwas reportedly wiping his eyes as the
lights came back on. The film became a blockbuster, seen by 54 million viewers
within five months, andSmuglyankaas a consequence became known
throughout the Soviet Union, entering the standard repertoire ofRussian folk
songs.
The full text
of the song.
Как-то летом на рассвете
Заглянул в соседний сад,
Там смуглянка-молдаванка
Собирает виноград.
Я краснею, я бледнею,
Захотелось вдруг сказать:
"Станем над рекою
Зорьки летние встречать".
Припев:
Раскудрявый клен зеленый, лист резной,
Я влюбленный и смущенный пред тобой,
Клен зеленый, да клен кудрявый,
Да раскудрявый, резной!
А смуглянка-молдаванка
Отвечала парню в лад:
"Партизанский молдаванский
Собираем мы отряд.
Нынче рано партизаны
Дом покинули родной,—
Ждет тебя дорога
К партизанам в лес густой".
Припев:
Раскудрявый клен зеленый, лист резной,
Здесь у клена мы расстанемся с тобой!
Клен зеленый, да клен кудрявый,
Да раскудрявый, резной!
И смуглянка-молдаванка
По тропинке в лес ушла.
В том обиду я увидел,
Что с собой не позвала.
О смуглянке-молдаванке
Часто думал по ночам...
Вдруг свою смуглянку
Я в отряде повстречал!
Припев:
Раскудрявый клен зеленый, лист резной,
Здравствуй, парень, мой хороший, мой
Клен зеленый, да клен кудрявый,
Да раскудрявый. резной!
Few years ago the popular radio station 'Our radio' organised a New Year concert where many rock and rock'n'roll stars of Russian music sang old songs. So 'Smuglyanka' was renewed by Moldovian group Zdob si Zdub
Only Old Men Are Going to Battle(Вбойидутодни «старики») is a 1973Soviet filmabout World War IIfighter pilots, written and directed byLeonid Bykov, who also played the lead role as the
squadron commander. The story is based on the memoirs of Russian fighter aceVitaly Popkov.
The title comes from two scenes in the
film, where the squadron is facing very harddogfightswith German fighter planes, so only
"old men" (i.e. veterans) are sent up, while those fresh from flying
school have to wait on the ground together with the mechanics. Soon, of course,
the newcomers have replaced most of those veterans and have become "old
men" themselves, taking to the skies while a new group of newcomers wait
on the ground with the mechanics...
The film won the first prize in the 7thAll-Union Film
FestivalinBakuin 1974.
In 2009 acolorizedversion was released for TV and DVD,
which resulted in a legal battle in Ukrainian courts between the copyright
owners, Leonid Bykov's daughter and UkrainianDovzhenko Film Studios, and the company behind the
colorization, as the copyright owners claim that the colorization has been done
against the wishes of Bykov, who intentionally chose to do the film in black
and white, in order to match newly shot scenes with the newsreel material in
the film. In May 2011, the District Court of Kiev ruled that the colorization
was a breach of copyright and that the colorized version can't be showed or
rented in Ukraine.
Cast
Leonid Bykov- "Maestro" Titarenko,
commander of the 2nd "Singing" squadron
... Макарыч, принимай аппарат! Во! Махнул не глядя!... И в тот же миг влюбленное созданье, включив форсаж,
умчалось на свиданье. /Кузнечик/
... Как сказал Шекспир в восемнадцатом... нет, в
девятнадцатом сонете: "Гуляй, Вася!" /Зоя/
... Тебя я понял, умолкаю! Не то по шее получу и подвиг
свой не совершу! /Кузнечик/
... Пилотом можешь ты не быть, летать научим все равно, но
музыкантом быть обязан. /Титаренко/
- Ну как у тебя там? Как у тебя там, Маэстро?
- Нормально... Падаю... /Комдив - Титаренко/
... Не махни на танк, "не глядя"... /Комдив/
... Самое тяжелое в нашей работе - ждать... /Макарыч/
... Нет, это ты хорошо придумал, гм... Самое главное -
вовремя... /Титаренко/
...Будем жить! /Скворцов/
A thing that became greatly famous after this film is a song ‘Smuglyanka’
which is sang in the film. Read the next post about it.
You may watch this film in our Russian cinema club. The screening will take place a day before the Victory Day, on the 8th of May in the Russian language center, at 7 pm
Admission is free, however please contact us in advance to reserve a seat ( 2598 8389 2598 8389 or 2teacher@rlc.hk). The screening will take place at the following address: Room 701, 7/F, Arion Commercial Centre, No. 2-12 Queen's Road West, Sheung Wan.
