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ALEXANDRA (SOKUROV)
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Our Price: $29.95
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Russian opera star Galina Vishnevskaya appears in this politicized drama from the great Alexander Sokurov. On a train to visit her grandson on the front in Chechnya, Aleksandra is faced yet again with the bleakness of war. After a brief, pleasant reunion at his camp, the elderly woman's hard demeanor wears down in the presence of mechanical teenage soldiers and the shelled, ghostly terrain. The desaturated palette of cinematographer Aleksandr Burov helps bolster these themes of wasted youth and a crumbling Russian identity. Nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes. In Russian with English subtitles. Alexander Sokurov---Russia---2007---95 mins.
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CONFESSION
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Our Price: $39.95
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This powerful and unique documentary by Alexander Sokurov--a man considered by many to be Russia's finest living filmmaker--chronicles the lives of a soul-searching ship's captain and his young sailors as they sail the Arctic region in a Russian naval ship. Narrated mostly by the captain, the film focuses on the daily duties associated with a ship based in the Arctic, but it is also an engrossing study in human solitude and the effects of isolation. "A tremendously moving portrait of despair and its causes through imagery that's both sensuous and confined" (Chicago Reader). In Russian with English Subtitles. Alexander Sokurov---Russia---1998---210 mins.
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DIALOGUES WITH SOLZHENITSYN
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Our Price: $29.95
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In this evocative two-part documentary on Alexander Solzhenitsyn, director Alexander Sokurov interprets the Nobel Prize-winning novelist's life based on two lengthy talks with Solzhenitsyn and his wife. Also known as Uzel, Dialogues is not a straightforward biography, but instead focuses on the writer's monologues and his discussions with Sokurov about Russian literature, folklore, history, and language. The result is a portrait of a persecuted Russian legend through his own words. In Russian with English subtitles. Alexander Sokurov---Russia---1999---180 mins.
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ELEGY OF A VOYAGE
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Our Price: $29.95
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From Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark) comes two shorts caught in the cross-section of painting and film. In Elegy of a Voyage (2002, 47 mins.), "a rapturous meditation haunted by moonlight and falling snow" (Th e Village Voice), Sokurov crosses vast terrain, sails the high seas, and stumbles through congested cities to arrive at the doors of the empty Boijmans Museum in Rotterdam. Only then does he discover that the goal of his voyage was to bask in the power of St. Mary's Square, a beautiful landscape by Peter Saenredam. In Hubert Robert, A Fortunate Life (1996, 26 mins.), the director meditates on the work of French romantic artist Hubert Robert, whose paintings of lost ruins evoke the same nostalgia and lyricism of Sokurov's own moody films. In Russian with optional English, Spanish, and Alexander Sokurov---Russia---2002/1996---73 mins.
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ELEGY OF THE LAND
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Our Price: $29.95
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Two early short films by Russian auteur Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark) are collected in Elegy of the Land. Both of these moody, melancholy works emphasize the significance of the Russian land to its people on an almost spiritual level. Maria, made in memory of Russian peasant Maria Semionovna Voinova, serves as a requiem for a hard-working woman as well as a lament over the loss of her a way of life--after she died, her secrets and work methods died with her. The Last Day of a Rainy Summer, shot in 1 978 on a collective farm, captures the daily routines of a community whose lifestyle was fading even as it was being chronicled. In Russian with optional English, French, Spanish, or Italian subtitles. Alexander Sokurov---USSR---1977-1988---66 mins.
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FATHER AND SON (SOKUROV)
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Our Price: $29.95
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In the companion piece to his 1996 film Mother and Son, Aleksandr Sokurov (Russian Ark) looks at the bond between a widowed Russian fathe r and his son, a student at a local military school, who live together in a rooftop apartment overlooking the sea. From the innocently competitive games they play, to the hours spent quietly in the other's company, to the feelings of desperation, guilt and desired independence that threaten to tear them apart, Sokurov captures their intimacies with a dreamlike tranquility reminiscent of his mentor, Andrei Tarkovsky. "...offers a fresh and often startling vision of one of the most fundamental relationships between human beings" (Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times). In Russian with English Alexander Sokurov---Russia---2003---83 mins.
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MOLOCH
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Acclaimed Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov (Russian Ark), considered by many to be the living heir to Tarkovsky, has created a work that's "like nothing you've ever seen before on film" (The Guardian) with this compelling portrait of Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler. Elena Rufanova plays the mysterious mistress who struggles with the complexities of a volcanic, megalomaniac lover. Shot partially in the original fortress at Hitler's retreat in the Bavarian Alps, Sokurov's film blends surreal melodrama with archival footage, and functions as a fascinating inquiry into historical representation. Winner for Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival. With Alexander Sokurov---Russia---1999---108 mins.
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MOSCOW ELEGY
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Our Price: $29.95
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Originally produced to mark the 50th birthday of Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, Alexander Sokurov's film focuses on Tarkovsky's absence from the then-Soviet Union and meditates on what he left behind. Using thematically representative scenes from Tarkovsky's films, juxtaposed against political events in the Soviet Union, Sokurov captures the great director's struggle between personal expression and state-supported suppression. This stunning documentary also includes footage from Tarkovsky's funeral. "Tarkovsky has been the subject of many films, but few are as revealing as Sokurov's elegiac work" (Museum of Modern Art). In Russian and Italian with English subtitles. Alexander Sokurov---USSR---1986-87---90 mins.
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MOTHER AND SON (SOKUROV)
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In a stone cottage in the countryside, a son takes care of his dying mother. Aleksandr Sokurov takes this simple scenario and creates pure cinematic poetry. This is the kind of contemplative, hypnotic beauty that is rarely achieved in film, and then only by true masters. While very little happens in terms of plot, the film offers more truths--about life, death and devotion--than the most complex narrative could ever provide. "...one of the great films of the decade...(Sokurov) is one of the rare contemporary filmmakers who works directly from his heart, soul and imagination, without concession to pop sensibilities" (Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle). In Russian Alexander Sokurov---Russia/Germany---1997---73 mins.
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RUSSIAN ARK
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Our Price: $19.98
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"One of the most astonishing films ever made" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). Using a specially-designed digital camera, a massive crew, and a meticulously coordinated cast, director Aleksandr Sokurov created the longest shot in film history--a 95 minute long, uninterrupted journey through 300 years of Russian history. A revolutionary and overwhelming feat of filmmaking, Russian Ark effortlessly and seamlessly follows the narrator's travels through time and documents the lush extravagance of pre-Revolution Russia and its icons, culminating in the Great Royal Ball on the eve of the 1913 Revolution. "Magnificent" (Stephen Holden, New York Times.
Alexander Sokurov---Russia/Germany---2002---95 mins.
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SECOND CIRCLE
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Our Price: $24.95
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Susan Sontag calls Aleksandr Sokurov "perhaps the most ambitious and original serious filmmaker of his generation." In this film, considered Sokurov's best by many critics, a man confronts his father's death in a society cut off from spiritual values. "Rarely has so much visual and emotional power been generated...the film is extreme in its rigor, subtlety and its sublimity" (Christian Science Monitor). In Russian with English subtitles. Alexander Sokurov---USSR---1990---90 mins.
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SONATA FOR VIOLA
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Widely regarded as the definitive document on one of the 20th century's most important composers, this documentary on Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was begun by Semyon Aranovich and later shaped and edited by Alexander Sokurov, who gave the film its complex emotional mood. Sokurov famously clashed with Soviet authorities over his interpretation of the material, which resulted in the film being banned upon completion. Miraculously preserved from the hands of the KGB who wanted it destroyed, the film serves as a tragic requiem for an enormously gifted composer and pianist. In Russian with English subtitles. Semyon Aranovich/Alexander Sokurov---Soviet Union---1981---75 mins.
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SPIRITUAL VOICES
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Our Price: $39.95
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In 1994, Alexander Sokurov accompanied Russian troops assigned to a frontier military post at the Tajikistan/Afghanistan border to film their experiences. While unnamed tribal forces occasionally engaged the troops in skirmishes, Sokurov's haunting documentary chronicles the downtime between activity. He effectively captures what it is like to be there as a Russian soldier--the isolation, the mood of futility that afflicts the troops, and the harsh environment. "Alexander Sokurov is perhaps the most ambitious and original serious filmmaker of his generation working anywhere in the world today. Each of his films that I've seen has a visual power and moral depth that creates an unforgettable emotional experience." (Susan Sontag). In five parts. In Russian Alexander Sokurov---Russia / Germany---1995---340 mins.
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SUN, THE ( SOKUROV )
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Our Price: $69.95
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Alexander Sokurov's compelling film focuses on Japanese Emperor Hirohito (Issei Ogata, in a towering performance) and Japan's defeat in World War II, chronicling the events leading up to Hirohito's momentous speech, the historic renunciation of his divine status, and his meetings with General Douglas MacArthur. With Robert Dawson, Shiro Sano, Kaori Momoi, Shinmei Tsuji. Alexander Sokurov---Russia/France/Italy/Switzerland---2005---115 mins.
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