The Most Important Art: a late Soviet cinema playlist from Ian Christie
To accompany our interview with Ian Christie about the last years of Soviet cinema on the Klassiki Podcast, we present this special playlist.
Ian Christie is a pioneering figure in Russian and Soviet film studies. His many decades in the field are given voice in his new book, The Most Important Art: Exploring the Hidden Histories of Russian and Soviet Cinema, which collects his writings and interviews on subjects ranging from the silent era to contemporary figures like Andrei Zvyagintsev. Ian spent the tumultuous final years of the Soviet era travelling back and forth to the USSR, witnessing the social and cultural revolution that was unfolding and befriending many of the leading figures in the film industry. On a recent episode of the Klassiki Podcast, we spoke with Ian about those experiences. For Klassiki subscribers, here is an exclusive playlist featuring some of the films discussed on the show.
Listen to our podcast interview with Ian here and buy his book here.
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My Friend Ivan Lapshin
Directed by Aleksei German • 1984 • USSR/Russia
Russian auteur Aleksei German’s masterpiece journeys into the past, as an elderly man reflects on his childhood in a communal apartment in a mid-thirties provincial town. As a nine-year-old boy, he is witness to the lives of those around him – chie...
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Little Vera
Directed by Vasili Pichul • 1988 • USSR/Russia
A scandal upon release, this hugely influential eighties cult film captures the anguished cynicism of the “last Soviet generation”. Vera (the name means “faith” in Russian, hence the pun of the title) is a teenager in a provincial port town whose da...
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Repentance
Directed by Tengiz Abuladze • 1987 • USSR/Georgia
Tengiz Abuladze’s black comic allegory – the first instance of a Soviet filmmaker directly confronting the legacy of Stalin’s purges – caused a sensation when it first aired on Georgian television. Unfolding over two timelines, the film combines ...
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Is It Easy to be Young?
Directed by Juris Podnieks • 1986 • USSR/Latvia
Hailed as “the first bird of perestroika” by Mikhail Gorbachev, Juris Podnieks’ cult classic documentary is a vital document of a society on the brink of change. Podnieks shoots with compassion and anger, giving voice to a generation coming of age ...
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Some Interviews on Personal Matters
Directed by Lana Gogoberidze • 1978 • USSR/Georgia
A pioneering work of feminist filmmaking from the legendary Lana Gogoberidze, Some Interviews on Personal Matters is one of the most vital films produced in Soviet Georgia. The iconic Sofiko Chiaureli (The Colour of Pomegranates) stars as a jou...
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Commissar
Directed by Aleksandr Askoldov • 1967 • USSR/Russia
When a Red Army officer is forced to shelter with a Jewish family while seeing her unwanted pregnancy to term, she finds her fierce communist values at odds with their sprawling generosity. Over time, these two worlds are brought closer togethe...
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Days of Eclipse
Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov • 1988 • USSR/Turkmenistan
In the dying days of the Soviet experiment, a young doctor finds himself posted to a remote Turkmen town. Attempting to research the relationship between religious faith and medicine, he finds his efforts confounded by a series of mysterio...
