The Films of Nikita Mikhalkov

AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER IN THE FILMS OF NIKITA MIKHALKOV BOXSET BEGINNING 8/24/10

Hailed by the New York Times as "An unexpected masterpiece," A Slave of Love is a witty and haunting film about moviemaking from the acclaimed Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov (Burnt by the Sun).

Within the sun-drenched beauty of the Crimean summer, a Russian movie crew grapples with film shortages, Tsarist secret police scrutiny, and their own dysfunctional dynamic to churn out one more silent melodrama before the revolution in Moscow consumes the nation. While awaiting the arrival of her missing co-star husband, silent film diva Olga (a character inspired by tragic real-life screen siren Vera Kholodnaya), a star so luminous that dissidents risk arrest to see her latest film "Slave of Love," becomes enmeshed in a romance with handsome young cameraman Pototsky. But what begins as a casual dalliance becomes an awakening as Olga's lover reveals his true allegiance. Ultimately, their romance leads Olga to an unforgettable high-speed date with destiny that unites movie heroism with historic martyrdom.

Though lavished with praise by such admirers as Jack Nicholson and director Monte Hellman during its 70's theatrical run, A Slave of Love is a "very funny, very moving Russian film" (Variety) that has remained unavailable on US DVD until now.

AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER IN THE FILMS OF NIKITA MIKHALKOV BOXSET BEGINNING 8/24/10

Five Evenings is Nikita Mikhalkov's brilliantly cinematic and achingly poignant mounting of Alexander Volodin's comedy-drama stage masterpiece.
During a brief visit to late 50's Moscow, Alexander rings the bell at a threshold he hasn't crossed since before the war. Wistful nostalgia collides with kitchen-sink reality when Tamara (Lyudmila Gurchenko, Siberiade), the dawning love Alexander left behind 17 years before, answers the door. Reunited within a brilliantly recreated Khruschev-era communal apartment, the couple struggles to rekindle a still gestating romance with neither the mature bond of trust nor the blind hope of youth to guide them. The ensuing quintet of days and nights before Alexander must return to his life in the Soviet provinces lifts successive veils of self-deception and pain, separating past from present and longing from love.
Conceived, adapted, and rehearsed while Mikhalkov was simultaneously making the costume drama Oblomov and shot in a mere 25 days during a scheduled lull in production, Five Evenings is a valedictory and heartfelt celebration of the risks and rewards of second chances.

AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER IN THE FILMS OF NIKITA MIKHALKOV BOXSET BEGINNING 8/24/10

Nikita Mikhalkov (Burnt by the Sun) has a reputation as an actor's director, adroitly guiding his players through complex material and obtaining some of the finest performances in Soviet cinema. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Oblomov, his moving and authentic distillation of Ivan Goncharov's great 19th century tragi-comic novel.

Oleg Tabakov brings to the title role a delicate dignity as the gentle aristocrat who would rather sleep than compete in a modern world of expanding industrialization -- a character lovable and ludicrous. And Elena Solovei invests with giddy charm her role of the delightful country belle, Olga, with whom Oblomov has a brief springtime of passion.

Set in glittery St. Petersburg during the heyday of the czars, Oblomov is also full of enchanting scenes of lush interiors and ravishing landscapes. The delicate story about friendship, family, and daydreams becomes a warmly nostalgic portrait of Russia before the turn of the century. Kino presents Mikhalkov's Oblomov on video in this new, digitally remastered version.

AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER IN THE FILMS OF NIKITA MIKHALKOV BOXSET BEGINNING 8/24/10

"A psychological war-of-words in the best tradition of Chekhov and Gorky,"(Variety) Without Witness is an unflinchingly intimate and wickedly plotted two-actor tour de force pitting a divorced couple against each other and themselves.

Confining the action to a single highly realistic contemporary Moscow apartment setting, and relentlessly ramping up the stakes through confessional camera asides from both characters, "Nikita Mikhalkov's best film" (Variety) transforms from a sharp theatrical chamber piece into a nail-biting pressure cooker. While watching TV at home alone, a woman (Irina Kupchenko) receives a visit from her now remarried ex-husband (Mikhail Ulyanov). But as banalities about old friends, old times, and their absent teenage son give way to increasingly confrontational verbal barbs, the threadbare camouflage of hospitality and cheap nostalgia masking the couple's raw wounds and harsh agendas is ripped away.

Essaying a script that evokes Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage, and Edward Albee and Harold Pinter's gloves-off relationship dramas, "Irina Kupchenko and Mikhail Ulyanov are more than excellent, they are impeccable." (Village Voice).