FROM RUSSIA WITH SUBTITLES

Soviet emigres Michael and Valentina Nyvalt got tired of seeing stereotyped Russians in American films, what Michael characterizes as “big hats, Siberia and everyone’s drinking vodka.”

So partly as a public service, partly for profit, the Ukranian-born Nyvalts are renting videocassettes of 340 Russian movies out of their food store in Brighton, Mass.

The collection (ordered through various Chicago sources) ranges from classics based on Chekhov and Tolstoy to contemporary favorites of Russian audiences, including eight films by popular director Aldar Razanov.

The films come with Greek, Polish, German and Israeli subtitles, and at only $1 a day, the Nyvalts have plenty of customers. They figure half are Russian immigrants in the Boston area, the rest foreign-language American university students.