My Friend Ivan Lapshin (Aleksei German, 1984)

[aox]

Has anyone had the pleasure of viewing this film? I finally tracked down a copy from the new York Public Library with some English text on the case, and despite that, there are no English subs. The more I read about this director's 6 films, the more intriguing he becomes. It seems to me that this film will be impossible to track down for an English speaking audience. Any thoughts on finding a copy or on this film in general?

I watched some random scenes despite no English subs and it seems incredible.

[Cold Bishop]

English subs are out there, if you are so interested.

And yes, German is one of the Russian greats. I'm fairly certain this film made my top 10 or thereabouts during the last 80's list. I'm still patiently waiting for History of the Arkanar Massacre, which he's been working for over a decade (and which finished shooting five years ago).

His son's also a really promising talent. Paper Soldier was one of my favorite films of the last decade.

[stroszeck]

Yes, Paper Soldier is a masterpiece.

(please people don't get angry. This was a joke. That is all.)

[Cold Bishop]

Aleksei German and Kevin Hart are the next Bergman-Ullmann

[Ashirg]

Unfortunately, YouTube channel for Lenfilm does not have English subtitles, but his early films are available on there in full.

Sedmoy sputnik (The Seventh Companion, Седьмой спутник) (1968) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CHhv8a57ao" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Proverka na dorogakh (Trial of the Road, Проверка на дорогах) (1971) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPIX3KOox-Q" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Dvadtsat dney bez voyny (Twenty Days Without War, Двадцать дней без войны) (1977) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyWBD4f_2rc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Moy drug Ivan Lapshin (My Friend Ivan Lapshin, Мой друг Иван Лапшин) (1986) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L5l_GdXpLM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[sidehacker]

I tried uploading this with English subs on Youtube, but Mosfilm took it down. I don't get how stuff works on there.

[Ashirg]

Unlike Lenfilm, Mosfilm includes many films with English subtitles. I sent a comment to LenfilmVideo to add subtitles, but I doubt they will do anything about it. Just look at their "in development" web page.

[bunuelian]

I picked up the Russian DVD of this film that's available on Amazon. The disc is adequate for a barebones release. The image is fairly crisp, though there's occasional interlacing and bitrate issues visible on a large screen. The subs aren't so great, rendered in a font that's too large and with sync problems (often coming well before the dialogue is spoken). But the important thing is that the transfer is reasonably good. (This may be the same transfer that's on Youtube. I can't stand watching features there, so I can't comment on that.)

Very interesting film. Perhaps it's because I've been watching a good deal of Bela Tarr lately, but I see a lot of similarities between Tarr and German's approach here. Long, interesting takes that immerse you in another world. The deliberately understated performances made me think of Bresson. I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of German's filmography.