Hacker Cinema
Hard to Be a God
Трудно быть богом
2014 · Film · 177 min
Directed by Aleksei German
A group of scientists is sent to the planet Arkanar to help the local civilization, which is in the Medieval phase of its own history, to find the right path to progress. Their task is a difficult one: they cannot interfere violently and in no case can they kill. The scientist Rumata tries to save the local intellectuals from their punishment and cannot avoid taking a position.
5 positive2 mixed1 neutralfrom 8 commenters
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9 comments on Hacker News
Some that I've watched that I think qualifies, depending on how loosely you want to interpret it. Been a while since I watched most of these, so won't fight anyone if they disagree. Also didn't consider comedies or war, horror and very low budget movies as there are so many that fit from those categories.
Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8518302/
Good One - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30319516/
Hard to Be a God - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2328813/
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100519/
The Wanting Mare - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2267554/
In a Savage Land - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151047/
Welcome the Stranger - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5716280/
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340800/
The Hourglass Sanatorium - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070628/
What's wrong with propaganda? Is that a reason why you haven't seen for example Apocalypse Now?
You might want to watch Andrei Rublev, at its inception a controversial movie heavily disliked by the Soviet state:
https://sovietmoviesonline.com/drama/andrey-rublev
Edit: And then the post-soviet Fairy, which ruminates on the legacy of Tarkovsky's masterpiece.
https://sovietmoviesonline.com/fantastic/fairy
The rest of Melikyan's movies are also quite interesting and fun.
They also distribute post-Soviet russian movies and television series. You should watch the two takes on The Master and Margarita, both high profile projects based off one of the most beloved books in Russia, from two very different times in russian society:
https://sovietmoviesonline.com/drama/master-i-margarita-mini-serial
https://sovietmoviesonline.com/melodrama/the-master-and-margarita-2
The Soviet was especially good a adventures for kids and science-fiction, of which you'll find a lot there, for example Alice in Wonderland and Hard to be a God. You should watch the takes on the latter to get a feel for differences between soviet and post-soviet societies. If the younger version feels hard to watch you might need to watch The Green Elephant and other movies from the russian nineties to prepare yourself and better understand the feelings and mindset of the time.
And if you want you can watch old propaganda movies about the Donbass or whatever, you'll learn a lot about places you likely know very little about.
Andrey Tarkovsky - Stalker (1979) - one of the best films ever. Aleksey German - Hard to Be a God (2013) - definitely silent but not exactly well detailed.
Both films were made according to brothers Strugatskys' novels.
Parajanov's works are also incredible. A lot of his stuff was not "acceptable" in the U(kr)SSR because of their regionalism and stark non-realist aesthetics, but Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a fascinating and gorgeous look at traditional Ukrainian folktale and visual culture.
If you like Hard to Be A God, you should check out Aleksei German's other films, especially Khrustalyov, My Car! from 1998, which is nominally a comedy film, but plays much more like a surrealist horror film that riffs endlessly on the Kafkaesque paranoia of Stalinist Russia. It would make a brilliant double feature with Iannucci's Death of Stalin from 2017, which was definitely influenced by German's film.
Soy Cuba contains lush and gorgeous B&W cinematography. The film opens up with the camera flying over the waters of Cuba; the reflection of the water is glistening in a way unlike other films. I believe they used an X-ray film strip to achieve this shot.
Mikhail Kalatozov has included another impressive shot at the end of his previous work, "The Cranes Are Flying." (Palme d'Or at Cannes 1958) The camera follows the protagonist, then gets seamlessly lifted up by a crane to depict the entire street parading.
While Soviet-era films does not have much exposure in the English-speaking world, there are so many gems, critically and technically. The filmmakers were acutely aware of great filming techniques.
Also check out:
Walking the Streets of Moscow (1964) - B-roll scenery contains another lush reflection of the Moscow waters
Ivan the Terrible (1944/1958) - Eisenstein is an ardent practitioner of the montage, and prefers to static camera shots. However, his compositions are very imaginative, and there is no shot you want to miss. His film also briefly experiments with color, and he exploits colored lighting to emphasize the characters' psyche.
Anything by Andrei Tarkovsky - Tarkovsky is indisputably a master of Russian cinema after Eisenstein. He often shoots in nature, but no director shoots with such rich texture of the mud. His long shots emphasizes the bleakness inherent in the Russian psyche.
The Ascent (1977) - Set in WWII, the film shows the resistance escaping the Nazis covered in snow and panting in the cold. Great snow photography.
Hard to Be a God (2013) - A sci-fi story on the immigration of humans to a different planet, the colonizers inhabit the inhospitable environment. Like Tarkovsky, the slow dragging in the mud conveys the dreary lives.
These are recommendations I came up off the top of my head relating to cinematography, but there are definitely many more to appreciate.
Some of the films recommended in this thread..
- The Nice Guys
- I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore
- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
- Don't Worry
- He Won't Get Far on Foot
- The Favourite (2018)
- Druk (2020)
- Amélie
- The Lobster
- Turist (2014)
- Parasite
- El Hoyo (The Platform)
- Quo Vadis
- Aida?
- 200 Meters
- Luzzu
- El robo del siglo (The Heist of the Century)
- Knives Out
- Us
- Get Out
- "Tokyo Story" (1953, Yasujirō Ozu)
- Aleksei German's Hard to be A God
- Edward Yang's A Better Summer's Day
- Maren Ade's Toni Erdman
- Luca Guadagnino's I Am Love
- Wings of Desire
- Do the Right Thing
- Drugstore Cowboy
- Gates of Heaven
- Beauty and the Beast
- Life Is Sweet
I agree, it sounds like this person either 1) hasn't looked very hard and is relying on streaming services to feed him a selection of movies, or 2) has no interest or experience with "world" cinema.
Stuff like Aleksei German's Hard to be A God, Edward Yang's A Better Summer's Day, Maren Ade's Toni Erdman, or Luca Guadagnino's I Am Love, are recent movies that are incredible and very different from Hollywood style movies. They're long, not in English, and situate the viewer in a different cultural context that requires some effort for understanding, but the payoff is immense. They are movies you can get lost in.
Also Toni Erdman is the last comedy movie I watched where I truly came close to pissing myself from laughing so hard.
two versions of "It's hard to be a God" (in Russian) one from 1989, another from 2013:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ_D_eI6KMQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBoyjleXFz0
The final scene in 1989 movie is clearly influenced by Dune (1984).
Likeiwse it's clear that this movie influenced modern American/Canadian Sci-Fi series like Stargate Atlantis [1] and Defiance [2]. I.e. both Wraith and Votan look like noblemen from "It's hard to be a God" (1989).
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wraith_%28Stargate%29
[2] http://en.defiance-wiki.com/wiki/Votan
A.German is one of my favorite directors, but something keeps me from watching Hard to Be a God. Probably out of fear of being disappointed after reading so many negative reviews.
But he does have a unique, inimitable style. His cinematography is as far from the mainstream as it can get. His signature chaotic dialogues and remarks, as if you are watching casual home video, except as we know everything that happens in German's films is staged and well thought through to the smallest detail. He can be sadistic to the viewer, as well as warm and melancholic. One thing I can guarantee you, watch any of his films and you will never forget it, whether you liked it or not.