Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears [VHS]

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears [VHS]
by Vladimir Menshov

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Product details

Actor: Aleksandr Fatyushin, Aleksey Batalov, Irina Muravyova, Raisa Ryazanova, Vera Alentova
Director: Vladimir Menshov
Cinematographer: Igor Slabnevich
Editor: Yelena Mikhajlova
Writer: Valentin Chernykh
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: Russian (Original Language), Analog
Format: Color, NTSC, Original recording reissued, Subtitled
Running Time: 150 minutes
Release Date: 2004-02-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Kino Video
Studio: Kino Video

VHS Movie Reviews of Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears [VHS]

Movie Review: Heartwarming
Summary: 5 Stars

It is interesting to me that such a warm, human film came from "behind the Iron Curtain." We in the US were led to believe that life in the USSR at that time was unbearable and that everyone was fixated on bombing us. What a gift this film is, if only to dispell those illusions. These people are definitely Russian but they are shown in such a realistic way that anyone can identify with them, and want to have them over for dinner! Or go on a picnic with them!

I won't recount the story as others here have done that. 'Just want to recommend it highly for the plot and the remarkable acting. It's a very worthwhile way to spend an evening watching this fine film.

Movie Review: Making one way in the old USSR
Summary: 4 Stars

An exceptional movie of 5 women who went to Moscow in 1958 and how their lives developed over 30 years. Anyone who has been to Russia will find it interesting, particularly how people lived and acted.

Movie Review: Simply charming
Summary: 5 Stars

This is a heart-warming and pacy film with almost enough wry humour to qualify as funny. The recreation of the changes in living standards during the Soviet era make it worthwhile viewing in itself for a Western audience. For anyone with a taste in unpredictable story-line or sitcom, this is an enjoyable experience. The Russian screenplay is complemented by an excellent English subtitling.Apparently the film was a hit in Russia, and I would say deservedly so.It is simply charming.

Movie Review: Very Interesting
Summary: 5 Stars

This film provides an interesting glimpse into a slice of Russian life from a time gone by. Real life -- no contrived mysteries, exploding helicopters, dancing penguins, etc. typical of today's Hollywood fare. None of us can go back in time and live in the Soviet Union of the 1960s and 1970s, but you CAN view "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" and get a flavor for what life may have been like in Moscow then. I wouldn't call it a 'chick flick' per se, but there is a love story that resonates as genuine. Made by Russians, about Russians, for Russians. If you are at all interested in Russia and Russian culture, this film is a must.

Movie Review: What a great movie!
Summary: 5 Stars

This is one of the most captivating love stories I've ever seen on film. It starts with a young woman (Katya, played by Vera Alentova) reporting to her Worker's Dormitory friends that she has flunked by two points the exam to get into university. It ends with the most incredible sweetness of life.

It is like a French film done by a Russian company (which is what it is). The Moscow we see that does not believe in tears does believe in love, and it is not a Moscow of politics, although some people do call one another "comrade." This is a woman's point of view film (a "chick flick") that transcends any genre cage. It begins slowly, almost painfully dull in a way that will remind the viewer of all the cliches about Russia, the unstylish dress, the worker's paradise that isn't, the sharp contrast between Moscow and the peasants who live outside the city. Katya works in a factory. She works at a drill press. She is obviously underemployed. Lyudmila (Irina Muravyova) works in a bakery. She is probably gainfully employed for the time and place. They are friends, twentysomethings who are on the make for a man, but not a man from the sticks. They pretend to be university post docs or something close to that and they impress some people as they house-sit a beautiful Moscow apartment.

This is how their adult life begins in a sense. Lyudmila falls in love with an athlete; Katya becomes infatuated with a television cameraman. One thing leads to another and before we know it they are forty. Neither relationship worked out. The athlete becomes an alcoholic, the cameraman, in the sway of his mother, believes that Katya is beneath him (once he finds out that she works in a factory). How wrong he is, of course.

But no more of the plot. I won't spoil it. The plot is important. The characterizations are important. The story is like a Russian novel in that it spans lots of time, but once you are engaged you will find that the two and a half hours fly by and you will, perhaps like me, say at the end "What a great movie!"

My hat is off to director Vladimir Menshov and to Valentin Chernykh who wrote the script and to the cast. I've mentioned Vera Alentova and Irina Muravyova, but Aleksey Batlov who played Gosha was also excellent. I don't want to say anymore. Just watch the film. It is one of the best I've ever seen.

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