Category

Russian and Soviet Films

Reviews of films from Russia and from the Soviet period (1917 – 1991) including all films made during that time in countries that are now independent.

Russian and Soviet Films

The Beautiful Leukanida: early animated fable of love, jealousy, war and annihilation in an insect universe

3 min read

Wladyslaw Starewicz, “The Beautiful Leukanida / Prekrasnaya Lyukanida” (1912) In a long career spanning some 55 years in stop-motion puppet animation, Russian-Polish animator Wladyslaw Starewicz produced…

Read article The Beautiful Leukanida: early animated fable of love, jealousy, war and annihilation in an insect universe

Northern European Films, Russian and Soviet Films

MH17 – Call for Justice: independent journalists’ investigation and findings create more questions than answers about the official investigation

4 min read

Yana Yerlashova, “MH17 – Call for Justice” (Bonanza Media, July 2019) Five years after the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 passenger jet was shot down in eastern…

Read article MH17 – Call for Justice: independent journalists’ investigation and findings create more questions than answers about the official investigation

Japanese Films, Russian and Soviet Films

A society fragmenting in “Dying Alone: Kodokushi, Japan’s epidemic of isolation through the eyes of a ‘lonely death’ cleaner”

4 min read

Artyom Somov, “Dying Alone: Kodokushi, Japan’s epidemic of isolation through the eyes of a ‘lonely death’ cleaner” (RT.com, March 2019) Since 1945, the increasing Westernisation of…

Read article A society fragmenting in “Dying Alone: Kodokushi, Japan’s epidemic of isolation through the eyes of a ‘lonely death’ cleaner”

Russian and Soviet Films

A dense and really hard-hitting documentary in “Nationalized Finance: Russian Direct Investment Fund Focuses on Helping Country Expand and Grow”

3 min read

“Nationalized Finance: Russian Direct Investment Fund Focuses on Helping Country Expand and Grow” (Vesti News, 6 August 2018) An interesting and informative news documentary from Vesti…

Read article A dense and really hard-hitting documentary in “Nationalized Finance: Russian Direct Investment Fund Focuses on Helping Country Expand and Grow”

Russian and Soviet Films

A superficial survey of how far a society has recovered a decade after years of war and destruction in “Chechnya: Republic of Contrasts”

4 min read

“Chechnya: Republic of Contrasts” (RT Channel, 2013) Made in 2013, this RT documentary is probably due for an update but it remains an interesting introduction to…

Read article A superficial survey of how far a society has recovered a decade after years of war and destruction in “Chechnya: Republic of Contrasts”

Australian and New Zealand Films, Russian and Soviet Films

Exposing and satirising British news media propaganda idiocy in “The Hooligans: Joining the Kremlin’s Football Army”

3 min read

Pavel Serezhkin, “The Hooligans: Joining the Kremlin’s Football Army” (2018) Here’s a very funny mockumentary that pokes fun at Western (and in particular British) news media…

Read article Exposing and satirising British news media propaganda idiocy in “The Hooligans: Joining the Kremlin’s Football Army”