Top 10 films about the life of Russians in America

Many Russian speakers live in New York. And the life of each of them could become an occasion for a film. Here are 10 films that tell about the fate of Russian-speaking immigrants in America. The list was compiled by Time-out.

Ninotchka (1939, dir. Ernst Lubitsch)

This is a film about Russians in Europe. Calling the Russians in "Ninochka" bad language does not turn: they are a little ridiculous, funny and terribly cute. And the image of the Russian revolutionary Nina, performed by Greta Garbo, is one of the most touching comedic images in the history of cinema.

"Russians are coming! Russians are coming!" (1966, dir. Norman Jewison)

Because of the Cold War, the image of Russians in America became associated with a threat. Then Norman Jewison's film was released about a small unnamed island in Massachusetts, to which a Soviet submarine accidentally nailed. Despite the peaceful intentions of the arrivals, this news puts the island on alert. And the inhabitants begin to panic as before the end of the world. This is very funny.

The Deer Hunter (1978, directed by Michael Cimino)

Why the author decided to make the heroes of the Oscar-winning film come from Russia is not known. But here, American filmmakers treat with great reverence the reflection of the life of Russians in the United States. They don’t drink vodka every five minutes, they don’t wear hats with earflaps, but they go to the American Orthodox Church. Saint Theodosius in Cleveland. However, this did not prevent the Soviet delegation at the premiere of the film in Berlin defiantly leaving the hall.

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Moscow on the Hudson (1984, dir. Paul Mazursky)

There are a lot of clichés in this film: Soviet refrigerators with vodka, kilometer-long queues for imported shoes and the ubiquitous KGB agents. On the other hand, the film has an obvious humanistic message. After escaping to dreamland America, Soviet musician Vladimir Ivanov (Robin Williams) finds that the problems here are no different. Here is the same poverty, the same queues and empty refrigerators. And the same people willing to help.

The Russians (1987, dir. Rick Rosenthal)

After the invisible confrontation between the USSR and the USA for a quarter of a century, the image of “Russians” on the big screen has changed. From absolute aggressors, they turned into just others, like the “Russians” of Rosenthal. A group of American boys (among them a very small Joaquin Phoenix) finds a nearly drowned Russian sailor Mikhail. And he dispels their ideas about the Russians as the evil of the world.

"Little Odessa" (1994, dir. James Gray)

The director of The Lost City of Z began his career with a drama about Jewish emigrants from the USSR. One of them, Josef Shapiro, works as a hitman in Brighton Beach, also called “Little Odessa” because of the huge number of Russian speakers.

“Brother 2” (2000, dir. Alexey Balabanov)

Balabanov made a cult film about how Russian emigrants live in America. He showed that the gulf between the indefatigable Russian mentality and the democratism of American rationality is deeper than one could imagine.

The Mechanic (2005, dir. Dolph Lundgren)

This film reflects how Americans perceive Russians visiting them. Dolph Lundgren's character flees to America from a never-ending banditry that hasn't ended since the 1990s. And finds peace in the new country. However, the restless homeland still finds and calls to itself. So the former Afghan, who remembers the Russian language a little, returns to his homeland to repair a vendetta.

Vice for Export (2007, dir. David Cronenberg)

Continuing to understand human psychology, Cronenberg turned his gaze to Russia. In this film, the Russian mafia appeared in a new guise. Terribly plausible, but at the same time incredibly attractive. They eat borscht and are covered in tattoos from head to toe. But at the same time they do not look like cranberries in a raspberry jacket, but inspire fear and respect.

Welcome Home (2013, dir. Angelina Nikonova)

Nikonova's film is about several Russian Americans at once. On their example, we see how unexpected life stories can be: an Armenian transvestite, a woman studying English at meetings of anonymous alcoholics, and an elderly toilet cleaner. Perhaps there is a lot of irony in these portraits, but more than love.