Пойдём в кино? – Russian movies: enjoy and learn!
Learning Russian language is a hard job, but there are many ways to make it a pleasure i.e. by watching Russian movies. Music and movies are among the most enjoyable solutions. Not only you practice your listening skills in this way, but you learn more about Russian culture and past and contemporary history and society. At the beginning it may take you some time and effort but it will soon turn into pure pleasure. You can improve very successfully through watching Russian children programs or movies , especially action movies at the beginning, because there are less dialogues or very simple ones. So I suggest you find a movie on the internet and watch in streaming or download it since there are many Russian websites that provide services and high quality movies. To watch Soviet movie for free, often with English subtitles you can check the YouTube Channel Киноконцерн “Мосфильм”.
Moscow Cinema
If you are in Russia, then you can take advantage of the many possibilities the Russian city life can offer you. First of all, going to the cinema it’s an excellent and cheap way to spend your free time and improve your Russian listening skills. The average ticket price is between RUB 150-250 in Saint Petersburg. There are plenty of cinemas close to Невский проспект (Nevsky Prospekt), such as Кинотеатр “Аврора“ (Kinoteatr Avrora) and Киноцентр Дом Кино (Kinotsentr Dom Kino) that are well located in the heart of the city centre.
I’ve been thinking about going to the cinema for three weeks and then last weekend a friend of mine invited me to watch a movie almost by chance. We watched the new film of the Russian director Андрей Звягинцев (Andrey Zvyaginzev), Левиафан (Leviathan). I was quite unprepared and I didn’t know much about the plot and the director, but I really enjoyed the movie. Everyone would have been able to understand what happened because it was really well shot. It was like going to an art exhibition, every scene in the movie is perfect and so the use of time; he balanced slowness and sudden accelerations achieving the best results. Zvyaginzev’s work depicts Николай Сергеев (Nikolay Sergeev) and his family’s life events, focusing on the striking aspects of the human nature, underlining social contrasts and deceiving moral values in society. In the background he portraits politic and religious issues in the contemporary Russian society, in particular the abuse of law, corruption and intimidations. Even if this film was shot in Russia the story and its meaning stretches beyond this particular country to acquire a universal sense.
Besides cinemas, film festivals take place regularly in the main cities. During this events you have the chance to watch movies or short films often for free. In addition many cultural associations in partnership with public libraries or museums organize free film screening.
Here are some websites you can check to find free film festival and screening in Saint Petersburg and Moscow.
http://atawaka.com/category/cinema/
http://www.nahalyavu.com/spb/cinema/
This post was brought to you by Jessica, currently studying Russian at Liden and Denz
Photo Credit: Creative Commons
