Movies by Kira Muratova
Three Stories
A man goes to see his former schoolmate working at a boiler house and persuades him to burn in the furnace the corpse of his communal flat neighbor whom he has just murdered after a quarrel. An orphaned girl gets a job in the archives of the maternity home to find out the identity of her mother who abandoned her years earlier. She finds her, befriends her and takes the first opportunity to throw her into the sea. An old intellectual tries to explain to the neighbor’s five-year-old daughter “all the abomination of her lumpen existence”. The g...
Two in One
This celebrated director's "exquisite cruelty" appears front and center when the death of a stage actor turns a theatrical drama into a real one. Two in One's two parts, "Stagehands" and "Woman of a Lifetime," celebrate the psychological richness that lurks just beneath the surface of banal reality - if murderous stagehands, lascivious fathers and vengeful daughters can be described as banal.
Eternal Homecoming
A woman is paid a surprise visit by her long-forgotten classmate, who needs her advice: should he choose a wife or a lover? An outrageously burlesque mise-en-scène is repeated many times but each time in a different place and performed by new actors. Why?
Second Class Citizens
The movie examines the lives of the not-so-fortunate dregs of society through airy but uneven absurdist comedy. The unfortunates of the title are mentally challenged people, some of whom could be termed insane - or merely inane.
Melody for a Street Organ
Two young orphan siblings travel to Moscow in search of their missing father. Scared of being separated and sent to orphanages, they hope to reunite with the last link of their shattered family.
Dummy
A strange man intervenes between ex-spouses on a matter directly related to a large sum of money one of them had secured after selling a piece of property.
Our Honest Bread
Makar has spent years overseeing work at a collective farm. After he is asked to retire, it is time for Makar's son to take the reins. Yet the farm workers' hopes are soon dashed, and it is up to Makar to right the ship.
Russia
The first uncensored documentary about the Soviet Union ever made by an outsider. The film takes viewers to 12 of the 15 states of the former USSR.
Letter to America
A couple of post-Soviet slackers want to record a video message for their friends who have moved to the United States. Muratova’s view of different types of freedom and pleasure.
The Sentimental Policeman
In this affectionate, leisurely paced comedy, an Odessa policeman is out walking his beat when he discovers an adorable infant abandoned in a cabbage patch. He does his duty and takes the baby to an orphanage, but later he and his wife, who have an unusually affectionate and cozy relationship, decide to try and adopt the little one. What they must go through to accomplish that goal is anything but straightforward.
Change of Fortune
A lawyer defends a wealthy woman accused of murder. She claims it was self-defense. The lawyer is not sure.