5 Russian movies everyone needs to watch

1. The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (1979 Mini-Series)Original title: Место встречи изменить нельзя

   Genre: Adventure, Crime, Mystery

   Director: Stanislav Govorukhin

   Stars: Vladimir Vysotskiy, Vladimir Konkin, Sergey Yurskiy

   After WWII is over, a young officer Volodya Sharapov returns to Moscow to work in MUR – Moskovskiy Ugolovny Rozysk (Moscow Criminal Police). There he meets Gleb Zheglov who is a chief of a squad which fights organized crime. Their main task is to track down a gang “Chernaya Koshka” (Black Cat) which terrorizes the city. Also, they have to find out who murdered Larisa Gruzdeva. Zheglov believes it was her husband Ivan Gruzdev, but Sharapov has his doubts about it… – Written by Boris Shafir <shafir@hsi.com>

2. The Diamond Arm (1969)Original title: Бриллиантовая рука 

   Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Crime

   Director: Leonid Gayday

   Stars: Yuriy Nikulin, Nina Grebeshkova, Andrey Mironov

   Semyon Gorbunkov goes on a cruise. In Istanbul, he slips and breaks his arm. What he didn’t know is that this was a signal for a gang of smugglers (a real smuggler – Gena – was also on board the same ship). So his arm gets bandaged with gold and diamonds. After he returns home, the gangsters are trying to get their stuff back, while the police try to catch them using Gorbunkov and his arm. – Written by Boris Shafir <shafir@hsi.com>

3. An Ordinary Miracle (1979)Original title: Обыкновенное чудо

   Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Musical

   Director: Mark Zakharov

   Stars: Oleg Yankovskiy, Irina Kupchenko, Evgeniy Leonov

   A wizard invents characters who all come to life and start to arrive at his house: a King, his servants, a princes, a bear trapped in a man’s body – the usual lot. The Plot mainly rotates around the bear, who the wizard had turned into a man. The Bear, who wishes to be a bear once again, can turn into his old self if he were to kiss a princess. It gets complicated when he falls in love with that princess, that arrived at the wizard’s house. For how can they be together, if a single kiss will destroy their love? – Written by DrStrangelife

4. The Irony of Fate or “Enjoy Your Bath!” (1975 Mini-Series)Original title: Ирония судьбы, или С легким паром!

   Genre: Comedy, Romance

   Director: Eldar Ryazanov

   Stars: Liya Akhedzhakova, Aleksandr Belyavskiy, Barbara Brylska

   A group of old friends have a tradition of going to a public bathing house on New Years eve. Incidentally, too much vodka and beer makes two of them unconscious. The problem is that one of them (Sasha) has to go to Leningrad but another one (Zhenya) goes. Zhenya wakes up at Leningrad airport. Believing that he is still in Moscow he takes a taxi and goes home. The street name, building and even apartment number, the way an apartment complex looks the same and the key coincide completely – just typical Soviet-type ‘economy’ architecture. Imagine the surprise of Nadya when she enters her apartment and finds a man without trousers in her bed. What’s more – Nadya’s fiancé also finds him there… – Written by Konstantin Dlutskii <kedlutski@mailexcite.com> and sergiek

5. Andrei Rublev (1966)Original title: Андрей Рублев

   Genre: Biography, Drama, History

   Director: Andrei Tarkovsky

   Stars: Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolay Grinko

   The life, times and afflictions of the fifteenth-century Russian iconographer.

Already seen all of the above? Tell us which is your favorite, or recommend another great Russian film not mentioned in this list. We will publish the best reviews on our site.