Revolutionary Rising: The Soviet Film Vanguard
Screening Dates
  • November 13, 2017 6:30

“One of the best films made anywhere in the ​’30s—droll, pathetic, powerful, charming, and atmospheric.”

Georges Sadoul

Relatively unsung, but admired by several giants (including Godard, Rivette, and Tarkovsky), Boris Barnet, a disciple of Lev Kuleshov, was one of the finest Soviet filmmakers of his time. The ambitious Outskirts, Barnet’s first sound work, is an enduring Russian masterpiece. The film is a tragicomedy set in a small town on the Russian-German border during WWI. Its drama of rising nationalism, divided loyalties, and revolutionary fervor includes Yelena Kuzmina as a young Russian woman who falls in love with a German POW. Outskirts impresses with its visual and aural expressiveness and Chekhovian sensibility.

“It’s rare that a textbook classic proves wildly exciting to watch years later, but this sure does.”

Tony Rayns, Time Out