Meaning #1:
A few weeks ago, I saw, “The Last Station”, a movie about the final years of Lev Tolstoy’s life.

Photo by Design Haus

I don’t think it’s showing in theaters anymore, but you can eventually get it on Netflix. I enjoyed it, but honestly, it’s probably more of a renter, anyway, even though both leads were nominated for Academy Awards. And of course, к сожалению, it’s in English, not Russian.

Meaning #2:
Heading home from the film, my husband and I couldn’t help but notice that we live at “the last station”. Take a look this map of the Washington subway system:

Photo by dbking

BUT…..thanks to our current landlord for raising our rent, we decided we can afford to move in to “the city”!

So that’s my breaking news: We’re moving!!! (And I just used the movie as an excuse to blog about how excited I am.)

So have a great weekend, everyone, and let me know if you want to help us move!

If you watched the Oscars (another one I missed) you know that “Ward 6″ did not even receive the “honor of just being nominated”. It got me thinking about what Russian films have been nominated, or even won Oscars in the past.

Photo by shaun wong

So here is a list of Russian films that have been nominated for academy awards. If the title is a web link it will take you to Netflix where you can and should rent it! Most of these that I have seen are really great – especially Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears and Burnt by the Sun – I own both of them!

Which ones are your favorites??

• 12 – Nominee ’07
• Вор (The Thief) – Nominee ’97
• Кавказский пленник (Prisoner of the Mountains) – Nominee ’96
• Утомлённые солнцем (Burnt by the Sun) – Winner ’94
• Урга (Close to Eden) – Nominee ’92
• Частная жизнь (Private Life) – Nominee ’82
• Москва слезам не верит (Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears) – Winner ’80
• Белый Бим Черное ухо (White Bim Black Ear) – Nominee ’78
• Дерсу Узала (Dersu Uzala) – Winner ’75
• А зори здесь тихие (The Dawns Here Are Quiet) – Nominee ’72
• Чайкoвский (Tchaikovsky) – Nominee ’71
• Братья Карамазовы (The Brothers Karamazov) – Nominee ’69
• Война и мир (War and Peace) – Winner ’68

Here is a list of all of the films that have been submitted by Russia.

Recently I tried something a little different: Animated Soviet Propaganda. There are four discs in all: 1. American Imperialists 2. Fascist Barbarians 3. Capitalist Sharks and 4. Onward to the Shining Future: Communism. Each disc has 10 or so animated shorts, followed by a “making of” documentary. So far I’m halfway through the series. (I’m on the cheap Netflix plan; two movies per month.)

I watched “American Imperialists” a while ago and really enjoyed it. It’s interesting to see what the stereotypes of your own culture are – or were – even if it was just propaganda. If you’re not a Netflix subscriber, you can find a lot of the shorts online. Here is one of my favorites from that disc:

Two more of my favorites from disc 1 were Someone Else’s Voice and Mister Twister.

The other night, I finally got around to watching the second disc in the series, “Fascist Barbarians”. I’m sorry to say, I just didn’t enjoy this disc as much as the first one. There was one short, however, that is a must watch if you are interested in Russian culture and history. It’s called “To You Moscow” and was made to commemorate the 800th anniversary of Moscow. It depicts the history of Moscow up to that point. Here is part 1:

I am going to take a break from animated propaganda for now, but I’ll check in when I’ve watched the rest of the series. Has anyone seen any of these films? What did you think?

Since it’s the holiday season, I thought I’d start us off with a few holiday movies.

First, one of my favorite movies of all time: “It’s a Wonderful Life”. The Russian version is pretty much a direct translation from English: “Эта замечательная жизнь”.

The next one is also pretty straightforward: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is translated as “Гринч – похититель Рождества”. This (loosely) translates back into English as “The Grinch – Thief of Christmas”. I’d never seen the word похититель before. The online dictionary I mentioned in a previous post gives the definition, thief; kidnapper; abductor; hijacker.

“Shrek the Halls” poses one of the translation problems I mentioned early. But I love how they handle it.

If you’re familiar with Russian culture, you know that Дед Мороз (Father Frost) brings the gifts, not Santa. So they’ve combined Дед Мороз with Shrek to come up with Шрек Мороз, then added Зеленый Нос (green nose) for a little rhyming action: “Шрек Мороз Зеленый Нос” – I love it!

What’s your favorite holiday movie??