Schedule of Reading Assignments
(NOTE: Readings listed in blue can be found in the course packet.)

Introduction to the course
January 23:
Liudmila M. Budiak, "We Cannot Live: Reflections on the Soviet Film"
Richard Taylor, "Now that the Party's Over: Soviet Cinema and Its Legacy"
Louis Menashe, "Moscow Believes in Tears: The Problems (and Promise?) of Russian Cinema in the Transition Period"
 

Burnt by the Sun (1994)
Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov
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Cast and Characters

January 23:
Background reading: Vadim Rogovin, "Stalin's Great Terror: Origins and Consequences"
Literary reading: Anton Chekhov, Act I of The Cherry Orchard

January 25:
Reviews: James Berardinelli, Reelviews
Scott Rosenberg, San Francisco Examiner
William Powers, Washington Post
Leah Garchik, San Francisco Chronicle
Analysis: Susan Larsen, excerpt from "National Identity, Cultural Authority, and the Post-Soviet Blockbuster: Nikita Mikhalkov and Aleksei Balabanov"
 

The Thief (1997)
Directed by Pavel Chukhrai
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Cast and Characters

January 30:
Background reading: Jake Fey, "Cinematic Deconstruction of Stalin"
Literary reading: Fyodor Dostoevsky, excerpt from Crime and Punishment

February 1:
Reviews: James Berardinelli, Reelviews
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Maria Garcia, Film Journal International
Analysis: Natasha Zhuravkina, "Fathers for the Fatherland: The Cult of the Leader in Russian Cinema"
 

Adam's Rib (1990)
Directed by Vyacheslav Krishtofovich
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Cast and Characters

February 6:
Background reading: Elena Chinyaeva, "An Identity of One's Own"
Background video: Frontline report on Russian "Sex in the City"
Literary reading: Anton Chekhov, Act II of Three Sisters

Taxi Blues (1990)
Directed by Pavel Lungin
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Cast and Characters

February 13:
Background reading: Yakov Etinger, "Is There a 'Jewish Question' in Russia?"
Literary reading: Anton Chekhov, "Rothschild's Fiddle"

February 15:
Reviews: Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Hal Hinson, Washington Post
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle
Analysis: Anna Lawton, analysis of Taxi Blues
Sergei Lavrentiev, analysis of Taxi Blues
 

Lilya 4-Ever (2003)
Directed by Lukas Moodysson
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Cast and Characters

February 20:
Background reading: BBC News, "EU 'to protect' sex slaves"
CNN, "Sex Slavery: The Growing Trade"
The Sunday Mirror: "Russian Mafia Behind European Sex Slave Trade"
CNN: "Russia's Sex Slave Industry Thrives, Rights Groups Say"
Sylvia Poggioli, "Sex Slave Trade Flourishes in Eastern Europe"
Literary readings: Leo Tolstoy, excerpt from Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth
Lydia Zinovieva-Annibal, "The Monster"

February 22:
Reviews: James Berardinelli, Reelviews
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
Desson Howe, Washington Post
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Interviews with director Lukas Moodysson: 
#1   #2  #3

Brother (1997)
Directed by Aleksei Balabanov
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Cast and Characters

February 27:
Background reading: BBC News, "So Who Are the Russian Mafia?"
BBC News, "The Rise and Rise of the Russian Mafia"
Galina Dutkina, excerpt from "The Zone" (from Moscow Days,1996)
Literary reading: Fyodor Dostoevsky, "Baklushkin's Story"

Prisoner of the Mountains (1996)
Directed by Sergei Bodrov
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Cast and Characters

March 5:
Background reading: Anup Shah, "Crisis in Chechnya"
Lee Banville, "Conflict in Chechnya: Russia's Renegade Republic"
Chechen War Timeline
The Moscow Tribune: "Kadyrov Jr. Flexes His Muscles in Chechnya"
Literary reading: Leo Tolstoy, "A Prisoner in the Caucasus"

March 7:
Reviews: James Berardinelli, Reelviews
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Desson Howe, Washington Post
Barbara Shulgasser, San Francisco Examiner
Margaret McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Interview: Sergei Bodrov, Sr.
 

House of Fools (2002)
Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
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Cast and Characters

March 19:
Background reading: Pavel Felgenhauer, "Was It Just a Warning Shot?"
ReliefWeb, "Devastated by War, Chechnya's Civilian Population Faces Approaching Winter"
Irina Lagunina, "Chechnya: Doctor Works To Save Lives -- Chechen and Russian"
Literary reading: Vsevolod Garshin, "The Red Flower"

March 21:
Reviews: Andrew O'Hehir, Salon
Erica Abeel, Film Journal International
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
Dave Kehr, New York Times
Analysis: Marcia Landy, Kinokultura
 

Sideburns (1990)
Directed by Yuri Mamin
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Cast

March 26:
Background readings: Charles R. Sauer, "Pamiat's Tocsin Sounds, But Do the Russian People Answer? Life on the Russian Extreme"
Steven Lee Myers, "Youth Groups Created by Kremlin Serve Putin's Cause"
Literary readings: Alexander Pushkin, "To Chaadaev"
Vladimir Mayakovsky, "Our March" and "Left March"
Evgeny Zamyatin, excerpt from We

March 28:
Reviews: Thomas E. Billings, rec.arts.movies.reviews
Phillip Scott, Russian Review
Analysis: Anna Lawton, analysis of Sideburns
Interview: Yuri Mamin
 

Dust (2005)
Directed by Sergei Loban
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Cast and Characters

April 2:
Background reading: Galina Dutkina, excerpt from "Through the Russian Looking Glass" (from Moscow Days,1996)
Wikipedia, "New Soviet Man"
Leonid Ragozin, "Thorny Legacy of 'Soviet Man'"
Evron Kirkpatrick, excerpt from "Homo Sovieticus"
Literary reading: Nikolai Gogol, "The Overcoat"

April 4:
Reviews: Sergei Chernov, St. Petersburg Times
Anna Malpas, The Moscow Times
Analysis: Elena Prokhorova, Kinokultura
Reminder: FINAL PAPER ROUGH DRAFT OR THESIS STATEMENT/OUTLINE DUE TODAY

Urga (Close to Eden) (1991)
Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov
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Cast and Characters

April 11:
Background reading: Gerhard Rempel, "The Tartar Yoke"
Dustin Hosseini, "The Effects of the Mongol Empire on Russia"
Literary readings: Andrei Bely, excerpt from Petersburg
Alexander Blok, "Russia" and "Scythians"

Russian Ark (2002)
Directed by Alexander Sokurov
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Cast and Characters

April 18:
Background reading: Sokurov's Open Letter to the American Public
Pamela Kachurin and Ernest A. Zitser, "After the Deluge: Russian Ark and the (Ab)uses of History"
Literary readings: Alexander Solzhenitsyn, "Address at Harvard University, 6 June 1978" (skim)
Fyodor Dostoevsky, "On the Mission of Russia" and "On Russian Distinctiveness and Universality"
Reviews: Kenenth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Joe Cooper, eFilmCritic
Eric Snider, eFilmCritic
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Analysis: Birgit Beumers, Kinokultura
Interview: Alexander Sokurov

Window to Paris (1993)
Directed by Yuri Mamin
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Cast and Characters

April 20:
Literary readings: Peter Chaadaev, excerpt from "Apology of a Madman"
Alexander Pushkin, "The Queen of Spades"

April 23:
Reviews: Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle
Barbara Shulgasser, San Francisco Examiner

April 27: FINAL PAPERS DUE