8 Recent Films Explore Ironies, Upheaval in Russia

The Russian American Cultural Exchange launches six days of screenings of eight recent films today at 11 a.m. at the Sunset 5 with Michael Dovlatyan’s “Labyrinth,” a symbolic and philosophical film from Armenia defined by the ironies and contradictions of the post-perestroika period. In honor of this retrospective, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will screen “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears,” winner of the 1981 Academy Award for best foreign film, as part of its ongoing “Academy Standard” series Friday at 8 p.m. in its Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Only three films were available for preview but all of them are worth seeing and two are outstanding.

In the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union, the largely taboo subject of Russian anti-Semitism has now become the subject of numerous films. Alexander Proshkin’s “To See Paris and Die” (Wednesday at 7 p.m.) stars elegant blonde Nina Usatova as the 40ish manager of a luxe and exotic Moscow restaurant who has always yearned to go to Paris. But she has transferred her dreams to her son (Vladimir Steklov), a concert pianist of great promise for whom participation in an upcoming international competition in the City of Light is crucial for his career. Since the film is set not long before the disintegration of the Soviet Union, it is out of the question for mother to accompany her son.

Indeed, he must get married so that a wife will ensure against his defection in the West. At first she seems to have struck gold right off by finding a lovely young woman with whom Steklov promptly falls in love--and vice versa. The only trouble is that she has seen no reason to mention that she is Jewish, which precipitates an ever-widening crisis.

Swift and stylish, “To See Paris and Die” is dominated by Usatova’s galvanic star portrayal--you can imagine a Crawford or Stanwyck tearing into this role--and it evolves into a classic women’s picture that uses melodrama to reveal the terrible toll bigotry and a resulting denial of identity exacts.

Even more ambitious is Andrei Konchalovsky’s lusty, earthy satire “Kurocha-Ryaba” (A Speckled Hen), screening Saturday at 11 a.m. It takes a rueful, seriocomic look at the chaos created by the advent of capitalism on a small village that, while not that far from Moscow, looks to be still in the 19th Century. Nonetheless, it has its local budding capitalist (Alexander Surin), who runs his new sawmill all night, making it nearly impossible for his neighbors to sleep. He incurs the wrath of a feisty middle-aged peasant (veteran star Inna Churikova), who is also a natural spokesperson for her neighbors in the call for preserving the collective farm system, which has served the community well. When her Moscow gangster son turns up with a purported Faberge egg stolen from the Hermitage, the fun begins in earnest.

This is a lively, complex film of much affection and many nuances from a long-established filmmaker who’s also made a number of American films, including “Runaway Train” and the neglected “Maria’s Lovers.”

Valery Teodorovsky’s “Moscow Suburb Nights” (Thursday at 11 a.m.) is a minor effort but offers American audiences a unique opportunity to see a conventional Russian genre film. Ingaborga Dapkunaite, the beautiful young wife in Nikita Mikhalkov’s Oscar-winning “Burnt by the Sun,” plays the dutiful daughter-in-law of a popular novelist (veteran actress Alisa Friedlikh) whose rebellion against her imperious and demanding mother-in-law sets off a tale of suspense and murder.

The program may be subject to change. Calling for late updates is advised: (310) 858-1990.

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Midnight Shocker: Midnight movie fans ever in search of the authentically outre should be pleased with the Sunset 5’s new Friday-Saturday offering, Jorg Buttgereit’s “Nekromantik,” a darkly amusing and even poetic tale of necrophilia that brings to mind the French horror classic “Eyes Without a Face” (which isn’t even about necrophilia) rather than an entrails shocker like “Blood Feast.”

Information: (213) 848-3500.