News

Dmitriy Kiselev’s overlooked Russian thriller is an exciting and inspirational true account of the first walk in space by a Soviet cosmonaut — a mission that nearly became a tragedy. It’s almost as emotional an experience as Apollo 13 — the worthy cosmonauts demonstrate ‘the right stuff’ under much more trying conditions. The beautifully produced and splendidly acted show makes it seem a crime that foreign movies this good are routinely denied theatrical exhibition here. The Blu-ray comes with an excellent pair of featurettes, with the participation of the original spacewalker Alexey Leonov.

Spacewalker

Blu-ray

Capelight

2017 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 137 min. / Vremya pervykh (The First Time); Spacewalker / Street Date January 19, 2021 / Available from Amazon / (pretty cheap)

Starring: Evgeniy Mironov, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Vladimir Ilin, Anatoliy Kotenyov, Aleksandra Ursulyak, Elena Panova, Aleksandr Novin, Gennadiy Smirnov, Yuriy Nifontov, Sergey Batalov.

Cinematography: Vladimir Bashta

Visuyal Effects supervisors: Kirill Kulakov, Sergei Nevshupov, Pavel Perepyolkin

Film Editors: Anton Anisimov,...

Sweeping, big-budget war films are a tricky proposition in this day and age--if they aim for action/adventure audiences, they risk being perceived as glorifying combat. If they instead position themselves as serious-minded social/political dramas punctuated with the occasional bloody interlude, they're in danger of seeming preachy or heavy-handed. Which makes director Fyodor Bondarchuk's achievement in 9th Company, a 2005 release which is only now enjoying a R1 DVD bow, all the more impressive.  

Avoiding the temptation to over-sentimentalize his young Soviet soldiers or to demonize their Mujahideen adversaries, Bondarchuk nonetheless crafts a muscular film that skimps neither on pathos or action, but never feels like its indulging in them to make easy points. Make no mistake:  this is not an art film, nor does it share much with the moralism of Platoon or the subversiveness of Full Metal Jacket, two obvious titles for comparison. Instead, Bondarchuk shoots for...

CHICAGO -- One screenwriter on this picture spent 10 years in a Lubianka-like prison, undeniably accounting for the hellish realism and insider revelations of ''Lost in Siberia, '' about the horrors of Stalin's prison system.

Set during the early days of the Cold War, this engrossing and entertaining film is the story of Andrei Miller (Anthony Andrews), a British archaeologist who is snagged away from his Middle Eastern dig by the KGB and incarcerated as a ''Western spy.''

It's a gut-turning story of cold sadism and bureaucratic brutality. (The KGB soon learns they have the wrong man, but petty officials refuse to free him.) And it's a story that conveys with a David Lean-ish sweep the natural horrors of Siberia. The grueling day-by-day hazards and indignities are overwhelming throughout.

Structured not as a documentary or even as an expose, ''Lost in Siberia, '' screened here at the Chicago International Film Festival, is laid out in what Hollywood executives would characterize as a ''love story in an extreme environment.'' Somewhat surprisingly, this does not detract from the production's power as a social document but rather layers it with a personalized dimension, making it more accessible.

Such a narrative framework actually facilitates our understanding of the icy, Kafka-like hell of a Siberian prison, and director Alexander Mitta's visual compositions further imbue the monstrous experience of political imprisonment from a human perspective. Credit to Mitta and cinematographer Vladimir Shevtsik for their evocative framings which convey the daunting grandeur of the countryside as well as the stirring vigor of the human spirit.

Andrews is well-cast in the role of the innocent archaeologist: his performance is full of survival mettle and crackling fortitude. Although her role seems straight from the big Hollywood scope of ''Dr. Zhivago, '' Yelena Mayorova as the beautiful prison physician, Dr. Anna, steels her performance to a sharp and empathetic edge, while Ira Mikhalyova, as a local urchin, is similarly credible as a spirited survivor.

All technical contributions are tempered to perfection: particularly gripping is composer Leonid Desyatnikov's swirling, minor-keyed sounds.

LOST IN SIBERIA

Spectator International Film

Producers Gagik Gasparyan, Alexander Mood

Director Alexander Mitta

Screenwriters Alexander Mitta, Valery Fried, Yuri Korotkov, James Brabazon

Director of photography Vladimir Shevtsik

Costume designer T. Lichmanova

Production designers Valerey Yurkevitch, Vitali Klimenkov

Color/Stereo

Cast:

Andrei Miller Anthony Andrews

Doctor Anna Yelena Mayorova

Lilka Ira Mikhalyova

Capt. Malkovich Vladimir Ilyin

Running time -- 107 minutes

No MPAA rating

(c) The Hollywood Reporter...