20 ms·

Eastern European Movies

388 points by danielam 6y ago

dzhiurgis 6y ago
Corpus Christi is a good recent one I loved. I love watching movies in local language, will have to look into these. Others being Aurora and Parasite.
jowdones 6y ago
I have the same level of interest in artsy movies as artists are interested in partial differential equations.
- REDDitMen 6y ago
  they are the same thing
- dang 6y ago
  Ok, but please don't post unsubstantive comments here.
- tropdrop 6y ago
  Partial differential equations are indeed interesting to artists - https://processing.org/ https://processing.org/
jagrsw 6y ago
My favorite is 'The Saragossa Manuscript' - https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-saragossa-manuscript https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-saragossa-manus... - a word of warning: it's ~3h long (but well worth it) - a masterpiece of scenography and camera handling. The second would be probably The Pharaoh - https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/drama/pharaoh https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/drama/pharaoh - for its scenography + for the script which focuses on a quite interesting problem (politics + well.. astronomy;) The vast majority of those movies will most likely seem quite atypical for a person who is mostly familiar with modern Hollywood/world cinema, as they're in most cases slow-paced, melancholic, and in many cases focusing on intellectually-interesting problems (e.g. The Pharaoh's 'dilemma') I can maybe compare them to video games from 80's and 90's. Today's games are visually beautiful and movie-like, but it's those games from 80's/90's which have 'soul' and ability to captivate players through well thought-out stories and hand-drawn art.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
  > they're in most cases slow-paced, melancholic, I wonder if national experience rubs off on movies. Many Hollywood movies have historically been optimistic because in general, a the American myth[0] has been pretty much optimistic and triumphalist (until recently, with People's History of the United States maybe the first popular work challenge the myth). Eastern Europe on the other hand has endured centuries of misery. As the war zone between Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as the war zone between Protestants and Catholics, as the war zone between the French and the Austrians, as the war zone between the Germans and Austrians, as the War zone between the Russians and Ottomans, as the war zone between the Germans and Russians, as the war zone between the Germans and Soviets, as the war zone between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. This suffering may have caused a certain melancholic outlook on life which is reflected in the movies. 0. The American myth goes that our forefathers came to a wilderness, built the colonies, fought and won against the super power of the age, marched West and conquered the rest of the continent, fought a war to ensure Union and free the slaves, industrialized, saved Europe twice from the Germans, became a super power, saved the world from Communism, landed a man on the moon, and is the shining city on a hill that people all over the world aspire to come to, and other countries envy. Like all myths, there is a lot that is not true, but a lot people in the US embrace this myth.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    There are definitely national trends to movies. Compare the "american ending" (in which everyone gets their just deserts on-screen) with the "french ending" (which occurs in media res, allowing its viewers to debate what likely happens next). I've noticed these national trends even occur at technical conferences, where anglophone endnote speakers tend to summarise the proceedings into a coherent narrative ("conclusions"), while francophone endnote speakers tend to enumerate a bunch of loose ends that might be addressed by the next conference ("future work"). (Speaking of national trends, I was surprised to run across a russian superhero movie a couple of years ago. What other non-Hollywood countries make superhero movies?)
    - SSLy 6y ago
tropdrop 6y ago
If you buy a membership for a month you can download (as opposed to stream-only) any movie you like with all the subtitles! My favorite so far has been Wajda's 1977 Man of Marble. An oddly magnetic and fast-paced film that captures the spirit of unbridled, unrealistic optimism (the Soviet, communist variety) and its detriments. You will fall in love with Birkut's herculean brick-laying powers! I also love Daisies and Pearls of the Deep (both Vera Chytolova) - solid gems of the Czech New Wave. Anyone who loves reading magical realist novels - Murakami, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kundera - would also enjoy these films.
- distances 6y ago
  What's the quality of the downloads? Wondering if these are high-quality restored movies or some random YT downloads.
  - tropdrop 6y ago
    The ones I've watched seem to be higher quality than some of the same films on YouTube - the subtitles are certainly much better quality, which is the reason I was willing to pay and download several films for which I had a harder time finding accurate (not automatically generated) subtitles.
    - distances 6y ago
      Do you have some numbers to share in terms of file size and resolution?
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y ago
  Man of Marble has a sequel, Man of Iron, but it is rather a letdown. Dives too much into the then-current political zeitgeist and loses the timelessness the Man of Marble has.
- rasz 6y ago
  Who pays for membership to illegally redistributed content portals? You can download same movies from other pirate streaming sites(yes, this one is not legal in any way shape or form) for free, in higher quality as a bonus.
timurlenk 6y ago
Has anyone been able to identify what is the name of the organisation behind the website and where is it legally established? I would like to know if the access fee benefits the artists in any way - the east european movie industry is not exactly swimming in money.
- miroz 6y ago
  I wondered about this too. In the DMCA policy they state that authors can self-publish on their platform but they don't monitor, screen or review uploaded media, which means they don't have any contact with the authors. Too bad. They could start getting infringement notices. But in most of the eastern Europe movies are not commercial anyway. They are financed by different sponsorships from state and local companies. They don't make a lot of money once they are made, with rare exceptions. For older movies it's hard to find actual copyright owners. I think some of them could be considered abandonware.
axegon_ 6y ago
Nice initiative. There are plenty of movies coming from these parts that never got the exposure they deserve. For instance a very little known fact is that the premiere of The Goat Horn[1] was postponed by the Soviet Union's order because it had a really strong chance in beating Tchaikovsky (Russian-made film) in the Oscars. [1] https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/drama/the-goat-horn https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/drama/the-goat-horn
roknovosel 6y ago
I can't recommend 'Lepa sela lepo gore' (https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/pretty-village-pretty-flame https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/pretty-village-pret...) enough. IMO, it is one of the best and most underrated war films of all time. A tense depiction of the Bosnian conflict with a healthy amount of dark comedy thrown in there.
honzzz 6y ago
Awesome, I see some of my favorite movies there. Too bad that many times there is "The movie is not available" although the page for the movie lists very specific list of subtitles - is this some geo-blocking thing? For example this one... https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-cremator https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-cremator EDIT: After going through many movies, it seems that the majority is not available, at least not to me.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  I used to find vo movies on YT then find subtitles separately by searching on Yandex (which also had some videos that weren't available on YT).
noncoml 6y ago
I recommend “Underground” and “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”
kervantas 6y ago
I can highly recommend The Fifth Seal. It's a masterpiece.
weinzierl 6y ago
I could not find them on Eastern European Movies but the movies directed by Andrei Tarkovsky left an impression at me. While some were made when he lived in exile and are therefore technically not Eastern European they still fit the genre. Besides the obvious Solaris and Stalker I can recommend Nostalghia and especially The Sacrifice. On a more lighter note I really enjoyed the children movies and TV series that were made in Czechoslovakia in the 80s a lot as kid and so does my kid today. My favorite is The Visitors aka Adam '84. Classics are also Pan Tau, all the fairy tale movies from Hofman/Polák, Lucie, postrach ulice and Létající Čestmír. Generally everything out of studio Barrandov is worth to have a look at.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  try surfing from the sister site: https://sovietmoviesonline.com/fantastic/7-stalker.html https://sovietmoviesonline.com/fantastic/7-stalker.html
- jagrsw 6y ago
  In many cases they're directly on YT - (Solaris by Tarkovsky) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-4KydP92ss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-4KydP92ss
  - kps 6y ago
    That may be regional; I get “This video is not available” from Canada or the US.
- dreamercz 6y ago
  I'm so happy to see someone enjoying The Visitors. For me it was among the best sci-fi series I have ever seen.
- honzzz 6y ago
  I love The Visitors - it has a great mix of fun and playfulness combined with a touch of beautiful nostalgia, anyone who has ever traveled to some distant location and had the time of their life there can relate. Also, when you mentioned Czechoslovak children movies, it reminded me of Karel Zeman. Some of those are poetic but surprisingly dark, like Krabat - The Sorcerer's Apprentice - https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/animation/krabat-the-sorcerers-apprentice https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/animation/krabat-the-sorce...
082349872349872 6y ago
Super! This may well beat the old school method, which involved searching for video and subtitles separately (if not simply watching undubbed). I found: https://sovietmoviesonline.com/ru/melodrama/345-dom-durakov.html https://sovietmoviesonline.com/ru/melodrama/345-dom-durakov.... (set in the chechen wars) but can't remember the name of a former-yugoslav dark comedy, in which a bunch of slavs go underground during WWII, only to emerge forty years later to find the countryside is riven by war and everyone is still fighting "fascists". (on the other hand, maybe it's just as well, given how many former-yugoslavia refugees we have in my area, that I've forgotten how to say "flipping fascist melonfarmers" in one of their local languages) Can any kind HN'ers remind me? Thanks! Incidentally, comparing soviet-era movies to western fare clearly shows how different the censorship was on each side of the iron curtain. One can probably quickly get an idea just from browsing the placards, without even watching any.
- jagrsw 6y ago
  > but can't remember the name of a former-yugoslav dark comedy, in which a bunch of slavs go underground during WWII https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_(1995_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_(1995_film)
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    Dziękuję ci
    - SSLy 6y ago
      Don't use word-for-word translations, they sound odd
- rurban 6y ago
  For the czechen war I recommend Balabanov's War (Wojna). Kusturica is of course an old classic, but they have many more and better comedians. Selimir Silnik for example.
- punchclockhero 6y ago
markvdb 6y ago
Here's a masterpiece almost unknown outside the Latvian community: A Limousine the Colour of Midsummer's Eve https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469785/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469785/
Razengan 6y ago
I recommend Kin Dza Dza, an old Russian sci-fi with some unique ideas and nice world-building. Also has a very good animated remake: https://youtu.be/tRwuvQUSG5c https://youtu.be/tRwuvQUSG5c
- Atatator 6y ago
  Koo!
- SauciestGNU 6y ago
  I just saw кин-дза-дза for the first time this last weekend and I can't recommend it highly enough. It's just genius, and hilarious. It feels like Soviet Terry Gilliam, but definitely unique and artful in its own right.
- myth_drannon 6y ago
  This and Stalker, I think are one of the best Soviet sci-fi movies. But unlike Stalker, Kin-Dza-Dza is very difficult to understand for foreigners (based on watching it with different people over the years). Only someone who lived through transition from Communism to Capitalism will relate to the protagonist.
- stas2k 6y ago
  I always use cak(the bell that a certain class has to wear on their nose) as a metaphor for current mask usage. :D Source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oCmUxI1UdME/maxresdefault.jpg https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oCmUxI1UdME/maxresdefault.jpg
  - Razengan 6y ago
    That fits so well! After we saw this movie, me and my friends said Koo a lot. Maybe we’ll start this too. ^^
  - pound 6y ago
    Could you clarify connection between masks in current health situation and 'certain class has to wear'?
cyjyar2 6y ago
On a related note, Mosfilm has a Youtube channel with high quality version of many of their films, including most Tarkovsky. The channels is all in Russian but English sub are typically available, and search works in English too. With regards to copyrights, it seems all films released after 1973 are covered by it, however the laws between ex-Soviet countries differ. Sources: http://www.kirj.ee/public/trames_pdf/2014/issue_3/Trames-2014-3-199-219.pdf http://www.kirj.ee/public/trames_pdf/2014/issue_3/Trames-201... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_Soviet_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_Soviet_Un... I would encourage people to use legal means to watch these movies, especially in Europe where many of them have been re-published legally with English subs, often by small/indie companies.
- weinzierl 6y ago
  "Mosfilm" is a good search term and for more lighter and fun content is "Soyuzmultfilm", which is kind of the Russian Disney. Especially the older children series like Cheburashka are interesting and contemporary Masha and the Bear is immensely popular.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    Some previously mentioned childrens' programming: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23387876 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23387876 Masha i Medved[1] have recently been running a series in which each episode focuses on a different country. Today's happens to be the US[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5sMJtXcZTo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5sMJtXcZTo "Tell me Mr. Siberian Bear, where does power come from? The Hare says it comes from money. I say it comes from truth." Getting things past the censors: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Файл:Sharik_Figvam.jpg https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Файл:Sharik_Figvam.jpg [1] itself a reference to a folk tale, while "immensely popular" means Masha has even been a guest on the same late night talk show frequented by better US ambassadors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmcHXt1va_c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmcHXt1va_c [2] just in case any americans are curious about what what parts of their culture make it across the Bering strait. "American Boy" (1991), a song by a late-soviet pop group, may also be of interest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7hAo28NCXc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7hAo28NCXc (Apina and Varum have gone on to lasting fame)
lalalandland 6y ago
Leviatan is a stark insight into corruption in Russia https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802154/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802154/
- SauciestGNU 6y ago
  Funny enough it's based on the American "killdozer" incident. Excellent film though.
  - lalalandland 6y ago
    I didn't know that.
js8 6y ago
Couple years ago, my american boss mentioned that he liked the poisoned cup scene in Princess Bride, and if you do also, you should watch the poisoned cup scene in "The Emperor and the Golem". The movie itself I am not sure, but the sheer brilliance of that one scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zYy9lXwumQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zYy9lXwumQ (unfortunately no subtitles) The premise of the scene is that emperor Rudolf II. invites Tycho de Brahe to explain heliocentrism, and he uses cups of wine to demonstrate, but the emperor's one is poisoned.
- jacobush 6y ago
  Very good scene. Another interesting thing: I think blackface appears in the last cut.
  - honzzz 6y ago
    Based on what he is wearing, he is a chimney sweeper.
    - glogla 6y ago
      Yup. Those have common place in Czech fairy tales.
- bombastry 6y ago
  The scene actually works pretty well without knowing exactly what they're saying. The viewer needs a little context as to why the one man is rotating the glasses, but most everything else can be figured out just by watching. That said, I found some English subtitles to this movie online and have put them below for anyone interested (along with approximate time stamps to make it easier to follow along with the video). ------------- Emperor: (0:00) Lang, the breakfast is excellent. It's better here than the emperor's. And your wine, too, is better. Pour me another glass. And the teacher will have the goodness to complete Copernicus's explanation. Tycho Brahe: (0:13) My colleague, Copernicus, Sire, has different views from mine. According to his theory, it's not the Earth which is the center of the universe, but the sun. Imagine the sun ... Let's say the glass is ... the sun. The sun, therefore, remains motionless. And the other planets revolve around it in a certain order. Mercury ... Venus ... Earth ... Mars ... And the others ... The closest planet is Mercury. Suppose this is ... Mercury. Here, Venus. Emperor: (1:06) Where is the earth? Tycho [taking the Emperor's cup]: (1:07) Excuse me, sire. Here is the earth. Beside it, the moon. Mars. Then, Jupiter and Saturn. And imagine, sire, that all movement of the universe ... takes place simultaneously and reciprocally. Everything rotates ... turns ... closer ... and further away. And amidst all this ... according to their fixed orbit ... Saturn and Jupiter. It is an ingenious mechanism. Emperor: (1:49) And no collision ? Tycho: (1:51) It is not excluded. There are planets wandering whose orbit is not fixed. And if one of them, accidentally knocked on ... Excuse me, sire. Emperor: (1:59) There is no harm, Professor. In fact, what planet have you thrown? Noblemen: (2:04) - It was my moon! - No, it was my Mars! - You are mistaken, it was my Mercury! - This was my Venus! Emperor: (2:09) Gentlemen, such noise for a few drops of wine. Lang: (2:12) That is to say, sire ... we don't know which cup was yours. Emperor: (2:15) It's not important. And no more arguing. Lang, pour me another drink. The professor's sun did not reverse. We can drink to his health. Gentlemen, raise your glasses. To our teacher ! Emperor: (2:34) Gentlemen, what's going on ? Raise your mugs. Long live our teacher ! Well, gentlemen ? What, did you poison my wine ? Cheers Emperor: (2:57) What's [going] on ? The wine is no good ?
burntoutfire 6y ago
My recomendations from the Polish cinematography: "The promised Land" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072446 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072446): a film set during the rapid development of textile industry in XIX century Łódź, where fortunes could be made relatively quickly. "Camouflage" (legal link with Eng subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciGr-hi9He4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciGr-hi9He4): a story of a PhD student entering the corrupted science world of communist Poland. Relevant to basically anyone who has to function within a corrupted institution (which makes all of us?). "The structure of crystal" (legal link with Eng subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qozV9J8bVA0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qozV9J8bVA0): similar to the previous one (same director), but this time the young PhD student explores more philosophical questions. There's plenty more of great stuff if one wants to explore (Kieślowski, Wajda, Zanussi, the whole movement of "cinema of moral anxiety"), Polish cinema during communism was really prolific for some reason.
- honzzz 6y ago
  Any chance you remember the name of the movie that is about dwarfs living in a weird totalitarian regime trying to get some magic potion and escape to our normal-sized world? I saw it as a child and I loved it but I only remember it vaguely.
  - nazgob 6y ago
    Kingsajz (1987). Love the movie!
  - cyberdrunk 6y ago
    If you liked that, Seksmisja is similar (also a comedy, by the same director) - it's a story of two guys waking up in the future from a scientific project studying hiberation, finding out that all men are extinct (the women reproduce via labs) and the world is a sort of all-women Orwellian dystopia. Very funny.
cosmodisk 6y ago
Lithuanian: "Forest of the Gods" (https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0453366 https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0453366) The story about one man- an artist and an intellectual- who was imprisoned by two brutal regimes, the Nazis and the Soviets. 'The Professor' is a man who lives by his own personal version of the Ten Commandments. After miraculously surviving imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp through a bit of ironic fate, he writes a memoir of his life, which becomes the target of the Soviet censors. The so-called "freedom" of Communism becomes just as oppressive as the German concentration camp. -Anonymous
- guiraldelli 6y ago
  "Forest of the Gods" is a very good film. But there are a few Lithuanian films that are my all-time favourites (besides "Forest of the Gods"): 1. "The Ancient Woods": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/487463-the-ancient-woods https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/487463-the-ancient-woods "The Ancient Woods" is, perhaps, the best film I ever watched—it is actually a documentary. It has one shot with a human and there are no human voices in the whole film. It is a love letter to the "untouched nature" (of Lithuania). 2. "The Collectress": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/56074-kolekcionier https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/56074-kolekcionier 3. "You Am I": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/12681-a-esi-tu https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/12681-a-esi-tu 4. "Vanishing Waves": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/133764-aurora https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/133764-aurora 5. "The Summer of Sungaile": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/310568-the-summer-of-sangaile https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/310568-the-summer-of-sangai... And some to not use too much the brain and have a fun time: * "Redirected" (by the way, in English): https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/190469-redirected-u-lietuv https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/190469-redirected-u-lietuv * "Patriotai" ("Patriots"): https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/408809-patriotai https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/408809-patriotai * "How Saul and Paul Robbed Them All": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/349954-how-saul-and-paul-robbed-them-all https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/349954-how-saul-and-paul-ro... --- Just to add to your comments, the events on (the book) "Forest of the Gods" (which the film is based on) are based on the real experience of the main character, "the Professor" [1]. There are some criticism on whether the events are 100% faithful to the reality [2], but indifferent to that, it is a hell of a piece of art! [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balys_Sruoga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balys_Sruoga [2]: I am sorry, but I don't remember where I got that information. It is not that important, anyhow.
k_bx 6y ago
There's a small but mighty new project "Netflix for modern Ukrainian cinema" called Takflix https://takflix.com/en/?lang_id=2 https://takflix.com/en/?lang_id=2
Alkhwarizmi 6y ago
THIS IS WHY I FREAKING LOVE THIS APP!! Thanks to all the comments now I have a treatise trove of fanatic movies ahhh thanks y’all!!
philshem 6y ago
cool site! Russia (USSR) wasn't on the list, but I can recommend THE IRONY OF FATE (1976) > The film is widely regarded as a classic piece of Russian popular culture and is traditionally broadcast in Russia and almost all former Soviet republics every New Year's Eve (Andrew Horton and Michael Brashinsky likened its status to that held by Frank Capra's 1946 It's a Wonderful Life in the United States as a holiday staple). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate
kindly_fo 6y ago
Only Hollywood can make watchable movies.
- galoisgirl 6y ago
  For you, maybe. Communism came with heavy censorship. You had to be sly to pass some jokes. For instance, Seksmisja features a scene where two guys end up in the middle of nowhere. One says "let's go east, there must be civilization there". The east if of course a dab at the Soviet Union. There were jokes that 99% of the population would understand, and yet the censors would miss them.
  - d3ckard 6y ago
    I seriously doubt censors missed that. I think they were playing the game as well. Seksmisja quote is a good example of that.
    - 082349872349872 6y ago
      The entire premise of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome,_or_No_Trespassing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome,_or_No_Trespassing is that people who seek power (and hence rise in bureaucracies) take themselves way too seriously. So maybe all a censor had to do was to make sure the jibes were cerebral enough that uncultured people would automatically take the opposite[1] Poe's Law interpretation... [1] for polyvalence, cue the Stalin/moustache joke (Based on Boyarskiy's stage personality, I'm guessing the following had some ambiguity: Пора пора порадуемся на своем веку Красавице и кубку, счастливому клинку despite being the theme song for a kid's show. Or am I overinterpreting?)
      - rimliu 6y ago
        Wait, that song was a theme song for a kids show? I only knew if as a song from the soviet interpretation of "The Three Musketeers".
        6y ago
operatorius 6y ago
Highly recommend "On the silver globe". Polish sci-fi masterpiece
flohofwoe 6y ago
The German section is seriously confusing because it contains both West- and East-German movies (and with no further indication which is which). E.g. a movie like "Sexy Sisters" would be very untypical for any Eastern European country I think ;)
- Merem 6y ago
  That section is pretty pointless, considering it's supposed to be the GDR (see flag). You would have to do research on what movie actually belongs there and which do not.
alexashka 6y ago
There's a link to Soviet & Russian movies at the bottom. Having seen a lot of them, I can recommend this, being my favorite movie of all time: https://sovietmoviesonline.com/melodrama/252-zhenya-zhenechka-i-katyusha.html https://sovietmoviesonline.com/melodrama/252-zhenya-zhenechk... It's about a dreamer misfit during wartime and his relationship with the world and a romantic interest in particular. This movie in many ways showcases the best qualities in people, and highlights the random nature of the world. The way the main character and others deal with what comes their way is so deeply human and sincere, I consider this movie a timeless masterpiece for anyone who identifies with the main character. One more movie that I think a larger audience may appreciate, is the most famous movie to have been made in Russia (not USSR) called 'Brat' (Brother). https://sovietmoviesonline.com/melodrama/68-brat.html https://sovietmoviesonline.com/melodrama/68-brat.html Having talked about it with many people, people see and appreciate different aspects of it but one comment I've heard over and over again, is that it speaks deeply to the way Russian people felt, during those difficult and chaotic years (1990s).
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
rayrag 6y ago
You can watch some Polish movies with English subs on Studio Filmowe TOR channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPZJOdnu_og&list=PL2gv9m758aYIO_93z_7IphRvYQbdzZGa2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPZJOdnu_og&list=PL2gv9m758a...
ravingraven 6y ago
Very sad to see Greece missing from this. Theo Angelopoulos was a world class director.
- StavrosK 6y ago
  Greece isn't so much on the Eastern Bloc, I guess, so that's probably why.
  - ravingraven 6y ago
    Neither is Germany. The DDR, sure but there are movies from West Germany there too, e.g. World on a Wire.
    - StavrosK 6y ago
      Yeah, I think they kind of mixed up there with the DDR, as West Germany is the only exception.
dangelov 6y ago
Love the idea. I'll have to browse their lists and look for some new movies to watch. I did notice North Macedonia is missing from the list so here are a couple of recommendations for amazing movies (imo) for those interested: - Honeyland (2019, Oscar nominee, Documentary) - Before the Rain (1994, Oscar nominee, Drama) - Bal-Can-Can (2005, 2nd highest grossing) - Secret Ingredient (2017, comedy)
- bjoveski 6y ago
  Honeyland is a masterpiece!
- ranit 6y ago
  >> North Macedonia is missing from the list It seems there are only old (before 1990) films there. The list of the countries is from that time: Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia.
kerbobotat 6y ago
No Russendisko unfortunately, but I guess that's German and not technically Easter-European. That film is my white-whale, Ive searched high and low for a copy of it with english subtitles since I saw the trailer back in 2011 or 2012. Mainly I just want to see it because I'm a fan of the band Leningrad and they did some of the soundtrack.
schnevets 6y ago
I took a quick glance through the Polish collection and I was floored by how gorgeous the majority of posters were. Many of them made intriguing statements about the movie without giving anything away, and they looked so perfectly designed. I understand there's business motivations behind today's bland "cram in the stars, put on an organge/purple filter, and throw an explosion in the background" approach, but I'd be so much more likely to click a streaming link and/or buy a physical copy if it was displayed with an enticing work of art.
- SSLy 6y ago
  You'll enjoy https://www.reddit.com/r/ForeignMoviePosters/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ForeignMoviePosters/
- omega3 6y ago
  I think you'll enjoy: https://www.poster.pl/pl/artysci_plakaty.html https://www.poster.pl/pl/artysci_plakaty.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_School_of_Posters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_School_of_Posters
- Florin_Andrei 6y ago
  As someone who grew up in the Eastern Bloc and went through the usual hipster phases in my youth, we used to think of movies made in the West as "commercial" movies - as in, they had to make a buck, and were forced to make compromises for that reason. The truth is somewhere in between, and everywhere else at the same time, of course, but that current of thought was quite prevalent in my social circles back then.
itwrangler 6y ago
Hmm, only paypal payments, no contact details, not sure I'd put my cash here..
Tade0 6y ago
Here's something unusual: https://www.netflix.com/pl-en/title/81232964?preventIntent=true https://www.netflix.com/pl-en/title/81232964?preventIntent=t... It's a story about a man obsessed with fishing. Notable is the fact that this is a movie adaptation of an internet copypasta.
- snicky 6y ago
  I've seen the pasta dozens of times on the web, but never heard about this movie before. The trailer starts with those exact words being read off the screen, ROTFL.
  - Tade0 6y ago
    I had my worries about Piotr Cyrwus but the way he said "skurwysyny" addressing the angler's association got me sold.
    - pndy 6y ago
      I think he deserves some special credits after "escaping" Klan trap
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- fearingreprisal 6y ago
  This is absolutely brilliant. Thank you.
mosselman 6y ago
This website looks absolutely amazing. The only thing that would improve it for me would be increasing some of the font sizes. Apart from that it is one of the most beautiful websites I have run across in a long while.
dandare 6y ago
Make yourself a favour and watch Rane (The Wounds) https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-wounds https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-wounds
joyj2nd 6y ago
I did not see this one: Ulysses and the Stars (1976) Loved it when I was a child. But I will give you a few excellent Russian movies: Duelist https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5282006/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5282006/ Kollector https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5031998/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5031998/ Mermaid (more a girls movie but underrated in my opinion) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7162390/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7162390/
mdmoll 6y ago
Not much here for Estonian movies, but Kevade is the obvious standout; it isn’t my favorite older Estonian film, though. I’d recommend trying to find The Last Relic (Viimne reliikvia), if you get the chance. It’s a medieval adventure with some catchy songs, especially “Põgene, vaba laps!”
- ZWoz 6y ago
  Those are influencial in local culture, but probably don't mean much for foreigners. "Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel" in other hand is good international film.
x87678r 6y ago
This is great, anyone got a source of EE children's movies?
- HideousKojima 6y ago
  One of my favorites is a Czech one called At Ziji Duchove, basically the local troup of young pioneers team up with some medieval ghosts from the local castle to fight some capitalists
vizzah 6y ago
Curated list of Eastern EU movies (good), asking to pay for a pirated content? (bad)
Abimelex 6y ago
missing Macedonian movies, like "before the rain"
nkg 6y ago
Wow "Leon, the 40-year-old former soldier who is an alcoholic now, gets a job as a bodyguard. His duty is to take care of one of the Mafia leader’s daughters. His problems begin when he falls in love with the 16-year-old girl." Watch your steps, Leon.
omega3 6y ago
This looks like an illegal streaming service hiding behind a beautiful website.
- LockAndLol 6y ago
  Where else would you find original, non English content? They keep that behind their iron media curtains for some reason and there's no other way to discover or get them. I think these sites do more for Eastern European cinema than whatever else it is they do there.
  - lurkmurk 6y ago
    > iron media curtains You mean like itunes, hbo, netflix catalogues in countries outside US? It's just that there is no interest in seeing these movies.
    - LockAndLol 6y ago
      That's of course a very America-centric view. You don't think those countries have their own (smaller) Netflix competitors that make it nigh impossible to get the content outside of the country? The budgets of these competitors are also very, very different. There is also interest, otherwise sites like these wouldn't pop up.
      - lurkmurk 6y ago
        You can find many east european movies on youtube. Try doing the same for Adam Sandler's netflix movie. You could even watch Memories of Murder on youtube just until Parasite won an oscar. Then they started carring. And this is a relatively new movie of a known director. Distribution is a problem but saying this isn't blatant piracy is wrong.
  - omega3 6y ago
    private torrents, this a parasite website built on the hard work of people who took great time and effort to archive these movies.
rasz 6y ago
For people interested in surrealities of living under the iron curtain https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/teddy-bear https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/teddy-bear by Stanislaw Bareja is an absolute classic.
julienchastang 6y ago
There are quite a few Kieslowski videos: https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/?s=Kieslowski https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/?s=Kieslowski His Blue, White, Red series as well as Decalog are well worth watching. I especially loved "Red" as I recall -- saw it many years ago.
jungletime 6y ago
The Red, White and Blue trilogy by Krzysztof Kieślowski is pretty cool. Each film is beautifully shot with theme and a color grading matching its title. I've seen Blue in film, in an old historic cinema in Vancouver called The Roxy. To this day it's made me appreciate the dynamic range of film. And just sitting there through out this film, and being enveloped in different shades of blue light for two hours. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Colours_trilogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Colours_trilogy
efrafa 6y ago
I can't recommend `The Cremator` enough https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-cremator https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-cremator
_hardwaregeek 6y ago
So happy to see the Dekalog here. It's hard to find it streaming. Dekalog 1 is a particularly relevant film for HN since it deals with a programmer and his idolization of technology. There's a small moment at a shrine with wax that is immensely beautiful. Kieslowski has such a great eye for the small details and poetry within the scene.
dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
A great masterpiece for me is https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/whos-singin-over-there https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/whos-singin-over-th... It is such a joy to watch. Totally exotic, showing a glimpse of a lost world, with a sense of humor, but at the same time with some serious themes. It's a legennd in ex-Yugoslavian countries, but virtually unknown abroad.
artpi 6y ago
Oh, this is amazing! I live in Poland and recently played Witcher 3. It made me realize how different it is from many Hollywood tropes. It really has a distinct European vibe. There are so many movies here, that I didn't know about!

388 points by danielam 6y ago

Corpus Christi is a good recent one I loved. I love watching movies in local language, will have to look into these. Others being Aurora and Parasite.

jowdones 6y ago

I have the same level of interest in artsy movies as artists are interested in partial differential equations.

REDDitMen 6y ago
they are the same thing
dang 6y ago
Ok, but please don't post unsubstantive comments here.
tropdrop 6y ago
Partial differential equations are indeed interesting to artists - https://processing.org/ https://processing.org/

jagrsw 6y ago

My favorite is 'The Saragossa Manuscript' - https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-saragossa-manuscript https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-saragossa-manus... - a word of warning: it's ~3h long (but well worth it) - a masterpiece of scenography and camera handling. The second would be probably The Pharaoh - https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/drama/pharaoh https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/drama/pharaoh - for its scenography + for the script which focuses on a quite interesting problem (politics + well.. astronomy;) The vast majority of those movies will most likely seem quite atypical for a person who is mostly familiar with modern Hollywood/world cinema, as they're in most cases slow-paced, melancholic, and in many cases focusing on intellectually-interesting problems (e.g. The Pharaoh's 'dilemma') I can maybe compare them to video games from 80's and 90's. Today's games are visually beautiful and movie-like, but it's those games from 80's/90's which have 'soul' and ability to captivate players through well thought-out stories and hand-drawn art.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
> they're in most cases slow-paced, melancholic, I wonder if national experience rubs off on movies. Many Hollywood movies have historically been optimistic because in general, a the American myth[0] has been pretty much optimistic and triumphalist (until recently, with People's History of the United States maybe the first popular work challenge the myth). Eastern Europe on the other hand has endured centuries of misery. As the war zone between Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as the war zone between Protestants and Catholics, as the war zone between the French and the Austrians, as the war zone between the Germans and Austrians, as the War zone between the Russians and Ottomans, as the war zone between the Germans and Russians, as the war zone between the Germans and Soviets, as the war zone between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. This suffering may have caused a certain melancholic outlook on life which is reflected in the movies. 0. The American myth goes that our forefathers came to a wilderness, built the colonies, fought and won against the super power of the age, marched West and conquered the rest of the continent, fought a war to ensure Union and free the slaves, industrialized, saved Europe twice from the Germans, became a super power, saved the world from Communism, landed a man on the moon, and is the shining city on a hill that people all over the world aspire to come to, and other countries envy. Like all myths, there is a lot that is not true, but a lot people in the US embrace this myth.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  There are definitely national trends to movies. Compare the "american ending" (in which everyone gets their just deserts on-screen) with the "french ending" (which occurs in media res, allowing its viewers to debate what likely happens next). I've noticed these national trends even occur at technical conferences, where anglophone endnote speakers tend to summarise the proceedings into a coherent narrative ("conclusions"), while francophone endnote speakers tend to enumerate a bunch of loose ends that might be addressed by the next conference ("future work"). (Speaking of national trends, I was surprised to run across a russian superhero movie a couple of years ago. What other non-Hollywood countries make superhero movies?)
  - SSLy 6y ago

tropdrop 6y ago

If you buy a membership for a month you can download (as opposed to stream-only) any movie you like with all the subtitles! My favorite so far has been Wajda's 1977 Man of Marble. An oddly magnetic and fast-paced film that captures the spirit of unbridled, unrealistic optimism (the Soviet, communist variety) and its detriments. You will fall in love with Birkut's herculean brick-laying powers! I also love Daisies and Pearls of the Deep (both Vera Chytolova) - solid gems of the Czech New Wave. Anyone who loves reading magical realist novels - Murakami, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kundera - would also enjoy these films.

distances 6y ago
What's the quality of the downloads? Wondering if these are high-quality restored movies or some random YT downloads.
- tropdrop 6y ago
  The ones I've watched seem to be higher quality than some of the same films on YouTube - the subtitles are certainly much better quality, which is the reason I was willing to pay and download several films for which I had a harder time finding accurate (not automatically generated) subtitles.
  - distances 6y ago
    Do you have some numbers to share in terms of file size and resolution?
Andrew_nenakhov 6y ago
Man of Marble has a sequel, Man of Iron, but it is rather a letdown. Dives too much into the then-current political zeitgeist and loses the timelessness the Man of Marble has.
rasz 6y ago
Who pays for membership to illegally redistributed content portals? You can download same movies from other pirate streaming sites(yes, this one is not legal in any way shape or form) for free, in higher quality as a bonus.

timurlenk 6y ago

Has anyone been able to identify what is the name of the organisation behind the website and where is it legally established? I would like to know if the access fee benefits the artists in any way - the east european movie industry is not exactly swimming in money.

miroz 6y ago
I wondered about this too. In the DMCA policy they state that authors can self-publish on their platform but they don't monitor, screen or review uploaded media, which means they don't have any contact with the authors. Too bad. They could start getting infringement notices. But in most of the eastern Europe movies are not commercial anyway. They are financed by different sponsorships from state and local companies. They don't make a lot of money once they are made, with rare exceptions. For older movies it's hard to find actual copyright owners. I think some of them could be considered abandonware.

axegon_ 6y ago

Nice initiative. There are plenty of movies coming from these parts that never got the exposure they deserve. For instance a very little known fact is that the premiere of The Goat Horn[1] was postponed by the Soviet Union's order because it had a really strong chance in beating Tchaikovsky (Russian-made film) in the Oscars. [1] https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/drama/the-goat-horn https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/drama/the-goat-horn

roknovosel 6y ago

I can't recommend 'Lepa sela lepo gore' (https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/pretty-village-pretty-flame https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/pretty-village-pret...) enough. IMO, it is one of the best and most underrated war films of all time. A tense depiction of the Bosnian conflict with a healthy amount of dark comedy thrown in there.

honzzz 6y ago

Awesome, I see some of my favorite movies there. Too bad that many times there is "The movie is not available" although the page for the movie lists very specific list of subtitles - is this some geo-blocking thing? For example this one... https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-cremator https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-cremator EDIT: After going through many movies, it seems that the majority is not available, at least not to me.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
082349872349872 6y ago
I used to find vo movies on YT then find subtitles separately by searching on Yandex (which also had some videos that weren't available on YT).

noncoml 6y ago

I recommend “Underground” and “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”

kervantas 6y ago

I can highly recommend The Fifth Seal. It's a masterpiece.

weinzierl 6y ago

I could not find them on Eastern European Movies but the movies directed by Andrei Tarkovsky left an impression at me. While some were made when he lived in exile and are therefore technically not Eastern European they still fit the genre. Besides the obvious Solaris and Stalker I can recommend Nostalghia and especially The Sacrifice. On a more lighter note I really enjoyed the children movies and TV series that were made in Czechoslovakia in the 80s a lot as kid and so does my kid today. My favorite is The Visitors aka Adam '84. Classics are also Pan Tau, all the fairy tale movies from Hofman/Polák, Lucie, postrach ulice and Létající Čestmír. Generally everything out of studio Barrandov is worth to have a look at.

082349872349872 6y ago
try surfing from the sister site: https://sovietmoviesonline.com/fantastic/7-stalker.html https://sovietmoviesonline.com/fantastic/7-stalker.html
jagrsw 6y ago
In many cases they're directly on YT - (Solaris by Tarkovsky) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-4KydP92ss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-4KydP92ss
- kps 6y ago
  That may be regional; I get “This video is not available” from Canada or the US.
dreamercz 6y ago
I'm so happy to see someone enjoying The Visitors. For me it was among the best sci-fi series I have ever seen.
honzzz 6y ago
I love The Visitors - it has a great mix of fun and playfulness combined with a touch of beautiful nostalgia, anyone who has ever traveled to some distant location and had the time of their life there can relate. Also, when you mentioned Czechoslovak children movies, it reminded me of Karel Zeman. Some of those are poetic but surprisingly dark, like Krabat - The Sorcerer's Apprentice - https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/animation/krabat-the-sorcerers-apprentice https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/animation/krabat-the-sorce...

082349872349872 6y ago

Super! This may well beat the old school method, which involved searching for video and subtitles separately (if not simply watching undubbed). I found: https://sovietmoviesonline.com/ru/melodrama/345-dom-durakov.html https://sovietmoviesonline.com/ru/melodrama/345-dom-durakov.... (set in the chechen wars) but can't remember the name of a former-yugoslav dark comedy, in which a bunch of slavs go underground during WWII, only to emerge forty years later to find the countryside is riven by war and everyone is still fighting "fascists". (on the other hand, maybe it's just as well, given how many former-yugoslavia refugees we have in my area, that I've forgotten how to say "flipping fascist melonfarmers" in one of their local languages) Can any kind HN'ers remind me? Thanks! Incidentally, comparing soviet-era movies to western fare clearly shows how different the censorship was on each side of the iron curtain. One can probably quickly get an idea just from browsing the placards, without even watching any.

jagrsw 6y ago
> but can't remember the name of a former-yugoslav dark comedy, in which a bunch of slavs go underground during WWII https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_(1995_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_(1995_film)
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  Dziękuję ci
  - SSLy 6y ago
    Don't use word-for-word translations, they sound odd
rurban 6y ago
For the czechen war I recommend Balabanov's War (Wojna). Kusturica is of course an old classic, but they have many more and better comedians. Selimir Silnik for example.
punchclockhero 6y ago

markvdb 6y ago

Here's a masterpiece almost unknown outside the Latvian community: A Limousine the Colour of Midsummer's Eve https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469785/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469785/

Razengan 6y ago

I recommend Kin Dza Dza, an old Russian sci-fi with some unique ideas and nice world-building. Also has a very good animated remake: https://youtu.be/tRwuvQUSG5c https://youtu.be/tRwuvQUSG5c

Atatator 6y ago
Koo!
SauciestGNU 6y ago
I just saw кин-дза-дза for the first time this last weekend and I can't recommend it highly enough. It's just genius, and hilarious. It feels like Soviet Terry Gilliam, but definitely unique and artful in its own right.
myth_drannon 6y ago
This and Stalker, I think are one of the best Soviet sci-fi movies. But unlike Stalker, Kin-Dza-Dza is very difficult to understand for foreigners (based on watching it with different people over the years). Only someone who lived through transition from Communism to Capitalism will relate to the protagonist.
stas2k 6y ago
I always use cak(the bell that a certain class has to wear on their nose) as a metaphor for current mask usage. :D Source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oCmUxI1UdME/maxresdefault.jpg https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oCmUxI1UdME/maxresdefault.jpg
- Razengan 6y ago
  That fits so well! After we saw this movie, me and my friends said Koo a lot. Maybe we’ll start this too. ^^
- pound 6y ago
  Could you clarify connection between masks in current health situation and 'certain class has to wear'?

cyjyar2 6y ago

On a related note, Mosfilm has a Youtube channel with high quality version of many of their films, including most Tarkovsky. The channels is all in Russian but English sub are typically available, and search works in English too. With regards to copyrights, it seems all films released after 1973 are covered by it, however the laws between ex-Soviet countries differ. Sources: http://www.kirj.ee/public/trames_pdf/2014/issue_3/Trames-2014-3-199-219.pdf http://www.kirj.ee/public/trames_pdf/2014/issue_3/Trames-201... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_Soviet_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_Soviet_Un... I would encourage people to use legal means to watch these movies, especially in Europe where many of them have been re-published legally with English subs, often by small/indie companies.

weinzierl 6y ago
"Mosfilm" is a good search term and for more lighter and fun content is "Soyuzmultfilm", which is kind of the Russian Disney. Especially the older children series like Cheburashka are interesting and contemporary Masha and the Bear is immensely popular.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  Some previously mentioned childrens' programming: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23387876 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23387876 Masha i Medved[1] have recently been running a series in which each episode focuses on a different country. Today's happens to be the US[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5sMJtXcZTo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5sMJtXcZTo "Tell me Mr. Siberian Bear, where does power come from? The Hare says it comes from money. I say it comes from truth." Getting things past the censors: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Файл:Sharik_Figvam.jpg https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Файл:Sharik_Figvam.jpg [1] itself a reference to a folk tale, while "immensely popular" means Masha has even been a guest on the same late night talk show frequented by better US ambassadors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmcHXt1va_c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmcHXt1va_c [2] just in case any americans are curious about what what parts of their culture make it across the Bering strait. "American Boy" (1991), a song by a late-soviet pop group, may also be of interest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7hAo28NCXc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7hAo28NCXc (Apina and Varum have gone on to lasting fame)

lalalandland 6y ago

Leviatan is a stark insight into corruption in Russia https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802154/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802154/

SauciestGNU 6y ago
Funny enough it's based on the American "killdozer" incident. Excellent film though.
- lalalandland 6y ago
  I didn't know that.

js8 6y ago

Couple years ago, my american boss mentioned that he liked the poisoned cup scene in Princess Bride, and if you do also, you should watch the poisoned cup scene in "The Emperor and the Golem". The movie itself I am not sure, but the sheer brilliance of that one scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zYy9lXwumQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zYy9lXwumQ (unfortunately no subtitles) The premise of the scene is that emperor Rudolf II. invites Tycho de Brahe to explain heliocentrism, and he uses cups of wine to demonstrate, but the emperor's one is poisoned.

jacobush 6y ago
Very good scene. Another interesting thing: I think blackface appears in the last cut.
- honzzz 6y ago
  Based on what he is wearing, he is a chimney sweeper.
  - glogla 6y ago
    Yup. Those have common place in Czech fairy tales.
bombastry 6y ago
The scene actually works pretty well without knowing exactly what they're saying. The viewer needs a little context as to why the one man is rotating the glasses, but most everything else can be figured out just by watching. That said, I found some English subtitles to this movie online and have put them below for anyone interested (along with approximate time stamps to make it easier to follow along with the video). ------------- Emperor: (0:00) Lang, the breakfast is excellent. It's better here than the emperor's. And your wine, too, is better. Pour me another glass. And the teacher will have the goodness to complete Copernicus's explanation. Tycho Brahe: (0:13) My colleague, Copernicus, Sire, has different views from mine. According to his theory, it's not the Earth which is the center of the universe, but the sun. Imagine the sun ... Let's say the glass is ... the sun. The sun, therefore, remains motionless. And the other planets revolve around it in a certain order. Mercury ... Venus ... Earth ... Mars ... And the others ... The closest planet is Mercury. Suppose this is ... Mercury. Here, Venus. Emperor: (1:06) Where is the earth? Tycho [taking the Emperor's cup]: (1:07) Excuse me, sire. Here is the earth. Beside it, the moon. Mars. Then, Jupiter and Saturn. And imagine, sire, that all movement of the universe ... takes place simultaneously and reciprocally. Everything rotates ... turns ... closer ... and further away. And amidst all this ... according to their fixed orbit ... Saturn and Jupiter. It is an ingenious mechanism. Emperor: (1:49) And no collision ? Tycho: (1:51) It is not excluded. There are planets wandering whose orbit is not fixed. And if one of them, accidentally knocked on ... Excuse me, sire. Emperor: (1:59) There is no harm, Professor. In fact, what planet have you thrown? Noblemen: (2:04) - It was my moon! - No, it was my Mars! - You are mistaken, it was my Mercury! - This was my Venus! Emperor: (2:09) Gentlemen, such noise for a few drops of wine. Lang: (2:12) That is to say, sire ... we don't know which cup was yours. Emperor: (2:15) It's not important. And no more arguing. Lang, pour me another drink. The professor's sun did not reverse. We can drink to his health. Gentlemen, raise your glasses. To our teacher ! Emperor: (2:34) Gentlemen, what's going on ? Raise your mugs. Long live our teacher ! Well, gentlemen ? What, did you poison my wine ? Cheers Emperor: (2:57) What's [going] on ? The wine is no good ?

burntoutfire 6y ago

My recomendations from the Polish cinematography: "The promised Land" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072446 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072446): a film set during the rapid development of textile industry in XIX century Łódź, where fortunes could be made relatively quickly. "Camouflage" (legal link with Eng subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciGr-hi9He4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciGr-hi9He4): a story of a PhD student entering the corrupted science world of communist Poland. Relevant to basically anyone who has to function within a corrupted institution (which makes all of us?). "The structure of crystal" (legal link with Eng subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qozV9J8bVA0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qozV9J8bVA0): similar to the previous one (same director), but this time the young PhD student explores more philosophical questions. There's plenty more of great stuff if one wants to explore (Kieślowski, Wajda, Zanussi, the whole movement of "cinema of moral anxiety"), Polish cinema during communism was really prolific for some reason.

honzzz 6y ago
Any chance you remember the name of the movie that is about dwarfs living in a weird totalitarian regime trying to get some magic potion and escape to our normal-sized world? I saw it as a child and I loved it but I only remember it vaguely.
- nazgob 6y ago
  Kingsajz (1987). Love the movie!
- cyberdrunk 6y ago
  If you liked that, Seksmisja is similar (also a comedy, by the same director) - it's a story of two guys waking up in the future from a scientific project studying hiberation, finding out that all men are extinct (the women reproduce via labs) and the world is a sort of all-women Orwellian dystopia. Very funny.

cosmodisk 6y ago

Lithuanian: "Forest of the Gods" (https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0453366 https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0453366) The story about one man- an artist and an intellectual- who was imprisoned by two brutal regimes, the Nazis and the Soviets. 'The Professor' is a man who lives by his own personal version of the Ten Commandments. After miraculously surviving imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp through a bit of ironic fate, he writes a memoir of his life, which becomes the target of the Soviet censors. The so-called "freedom" of Communism becomes just as oppressive as the German concentration camp. -Anonymous

guiraldelli 6y ago
"Forest of the Gods" is a very good film. But there are a few Lithuanian films that are my all-time favourites (besides "Forest of the Gods"): 1. "The Ancient Woods": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/487463-the-ancient-woods https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/487463-the-ancient-woods "The Ancient Woods" is, perhaps, the best film I ever watched—it is actually a documentary. It has one shot with a human and there are no human voices in the whole film. It is a love letter to the "untouched nature" (of Lithuania). 2. "The Collectress": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/56074-kolekcionier https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/56074-kolekcionier 3. "You Am I": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/12681-a-esi-tu https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/12681-a-esi-tu 4. "Vanishing Waves": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/133764-aurora https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/133764-aurora 5. "The Summer of Sungaile": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/310568-the-summer-of-sangaile https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/310568-the-summer-of-sangai... And some to not use too much the brain and have a fun time: * "Redirected" (by the way, in English): https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/190469-redirected-u-lietuv https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/190469-redirected-u-lietuv * "Patriotai" ("Patriots"): https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/408809-patriotai https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/408809-patriotai * "How Saul and Paul Robbed Them All": https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/349954-how-saul-and-paul-robbed-them-all https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/349954-how-saul-and-paul-ro... --- Just to add to your comments, the events on (the book) "Forest of the Gods" (which the film is based on) are based on the real experience of the main character, "the Professor" [1]. There are some criticism on whether the events are 100% faithful to the reality [2], but indifferent to that, it is a hell of a piece of art! [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balys_Sruoga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balys_Sruoga [2]: I am sorry, but I don't remember where I got that information. It is not that important, anyhow.

k_bx 6y ago

There's a small but mighty new project "Netflix for modern Ukrainian cinema" called Takflix https://takflix.com/en/?lang_id=2 https://takflix.com/en/?lang_id=2

Alkhwarizmi 6y ago

THIS IS WHY I FREAKING LOVE THIS APP!! Thanks to all the comments now I have a treatise trove of fanatic movies ahhh thanks y’all!!

philshem 6y ago

cool site! Russia (USSR) wasn't on the list, but I can recommend THE IRONY OF FATE (1976) > The film is widely regarded as a classic piece of Russian popular culture and is traditionally broadcast in Russia and almost all former Soviet republics every New Year's Eve (Andrew Horton and Michael Brashinsky likened its status to that held by Frank Capra's 1946 It's a Wonderful Life in the United States as a holiday staple). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate

kindly_fo 6y ago

Only Hollywood can make watchable movies.

galoisgirl 6y ago
For you, maybe. Communism came with heavy censorship. You had to be sly to pass some jokes. For instance, Seksmisja features a scene where two guys end up in the middle of nowhere. One says "let's go east, there must be civilization there". The east if of course a dab at the Soviet Union. There were jokes that 99% of the population would understand, and yet the censors would miss them.
- d3ckard 6y ago
  I seriously doubt censors missed that. I think they were playing the game as well. Seksmisja quote is a good example of that.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    The entire premise of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome,_or_No_Trespassing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome,_or_No_Trespassing is that people who seek power (and hence rise in bureaucracies) take themselves way too seriously. So maybe all a censor had to do was to make sure the jibes were cerebral enough that uncultured people would automatically take the opposite[1] Poe's Law interpretation... [1] for polyvalence, cue the Stalin/moustache joke (Based on Boyarskiy's stage personality, I'm guessing the following had some ambiguity: Пора пора порадуемся на своем веку Красавице и кубку, счастливому клинку despite being the theme song for a kid's show. Or am I overinterpreting?)
    - rimliu 6y ago
      Wait, that song was a theme song for a kids show? I only knew if as a song from the soviet interpretation of "The Three Musketeers".
      - 6y ago

operatorius 6y ago

Highly recommend "On the silver globe". Polish sci-fi masterpiece

flohofwoe 6y ago

The German section is seriously confusing because it contains both West- and East-German movies (and with no further indication which is which). E.g. a movie like "Sexy Sisters" would be very untypical for any Eastern European country I think ;)

Merem 6y ago
That section is pretty pointless, considering it's supposed to be the GDR (see flag). You would have to do research on what movie actually belongs there and which do not.

alexashka 6y ago

There's a link to Soviet & Russian movies at the bottom. Having seen a lot of them, I can recommend this, being my favorite movie of all time: https://sovietmoviesonline.com/melodrama/252-zhenya-zhenechka-i-katyusha.html https://sovietmoviesonline.com/melodrama/252-zhenya-zhenechk... It's about a dreamer misfit during wartime and his relationship with the world and a romantic interest in particular. This movie in many ways showcases the best qualities in people, and highlights the random nature of the world. The way the main character and others deal with what comes their way is so deeply human and sincere, I consider this movie a timeless masterpiece for anyone who identifies with the main character. One more movie that I think a larger audience may appreciate, is the most famous movie to have been made in Russia (not USSR) called 'Brat' (Brother). https://sovietmoviesonline.com/melodrama/68-brat.html https://sovietmoviesonline.com/melodrama/68-brat.html Having talked about it with many people, people see and appreciate different aspects of it but one comment I've heard over and over again, is that it speaks deeply to the way Russian people felt, during those difficult and chaotic years (1990s).

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rayrag 6y ago

You can watch some Polish movies with English subs on Studio Filmowe TOR channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPZJOdnu_og&list=PL2gv9m758aYIO_93z_7IphRvYQbdzZGa2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPZJOdnu_og&list=PL2gv9m758a...

ravingraven 6y ago

Very sad to see Greece missing from this. Theo Angelopoulos was a world class director.

StavrosK 6y ago
Greece isn't so much on the Eastern Bloc, I guess, so that's probably why.
- ravingraven 6y ago
  Neither is Germany. The DDR, sure but there are movies from West Germany there too, e.g. World on a Wire.
  - StavrosK 6y ago
    Yeah, I think they kind of mixed up there with the DDR, as West Germany is the only exception.

dangelov 6y ago

Love the idea. I'll have to browse their lists and look for some new movies to watch. I did notice North Macedonia is missing from the list so here are a couple of recommendations for amazing movies (imo) for those interested: - Honeyland (2019, Oscar nominee, Documentary) - Before the Rain (1994, Oscar nominee, Drama) - Bal-Can-Can (2005, 2nd highest grossing) - Secret Ingredient (2017, comedy)

bjoveski 6y ago
Honeyland is a masterpiece!
ranit 6y ago
>> North Macedonia is missing from the list It seems there are only old (before 1990) films there. The list of the countries is from that time: Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia.

kerbobotat 6y ago

No Russendisko unfortunately, but I guess that's German and not technically Easter-European. That film is my white-whale, Ive searched high and low for a copy of it with english subtitles since I saw the trailer back in 2011 or 2012. Mainly I just want to see it because I'm a fan of the band Leningrad and they did some of the soundtrack.

schnevets 6y ago

I took a quick glance through the Polish collection and I was floored by how gorgeous the majority of posters were. Many of them made intriguing statements about the movie without giving anything away, and they looked so perfectly designed. I understand there's business motivations behind today's bland "cram in the stars, put on an organge/purple filter, and throw an explosion in the background" approach, but I'd be so much more likely to click a streaming link and/or buy a physical copy if it was displayed with an enticing work of art.

SSLy 6y ago
You'll enjoy https://www.reddit.com/r/ForeignMoviePosters/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ForeignMoviePosters/
omega3 6y ago
I think you'll enjoy: https://www.poster.pl/pl/artysci_plakaty.html https://www.poster.pl/pl/artysci_plakaty.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_School_of_Posters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_School_of_Posters
Florin_Andrei 6y ago
As someone who grew up in the Eastern Bloc and went through the usual hipster phases in my youth, we used to think of movies made in the West as "commercial" movies - as in, they had to make a buck, and were forced to make compromises for that reason. The truth is somewhere in between, and everywhere else at the same time, of course, but that current of thought was quite prevalent in my social circles back then.

itwrangler 6y ago

Hmm, only paypal payments, no contact details, not sure I'd put my cash here..

Tade0 6y ago

Here's something unusual: https://www.netflix.com/pl-en/title/81232964?preventIntent=true https://www.netflix.com/pl-en/title/81232964?preventIntent=t... It's a story about a man obsessed with fishing. Notable is the fact that this is a movie adaptation of an internet copypasta.

snicky 6y ago
I've seen the pasta dozens of times on the web, but never heard about this movie before. The trailer starts with those exact words being read off the screen, ROTFL.
- Tade0 6y ago
  I had my worries about Piotr Cyrwus but the way he said "skurwysyny" addressing the angler's association got me sold.
  - pndy 6y ago
    I think he deserves some special credits after "escaping" Klan trap
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fearingreprisal 6y ago
This is absolutely brilliant. Thank you.

mosselman 6y ago

This website looks absolutely amazing. The only thing that would improve it for me would be increasing some of the font sizes. Apart from that it is one of the most beautiful websites I have run across in a long while.

dandare 6y ago

Make yourself a favour and watch Rane (The Wounds) https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-wounds https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-wounds

joyj2nd 6y ago

I did not see this one: Ulysses and the Stars (1976) Loved it when I was a child. But I will give you a few excellent Russian movies: Duelist https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5282006/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5282006/ Kollector https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5031998/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5031998/ Mermaid (more a girls movie but underrated in my opinion) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7162390/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7162390/

mdmoll 6y ago

Not much here for Estonian movies, but Kevade is the obvious standout; it isn’t my favorite older Estonian film, though. I’d recommend trying to find The Last Relic (Viimne reliikvia), if you get the chance. It’s a medieval adventure with some catchy songs, especially “Põgene, vaba laps!”

ZWoz 6y ago
Those are influencial in local culture, but probably don't mean much for foreigners. "Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel" in other hand is good international film.

x87678r 6y ago

This is great, anyone got a source of EE children's movies?

HideousKojima 6y ago
One of my favorites is a Czech one called At Ziji Duchove, basically the local troup of young pioneers team up with some medieval ghosts from the local castle to fight some capitalists

vizzah 6y ago

Curated list of Eastern EU movies (good), asking to pay for a pirated content? (bad)

Abimelex 6y ago

missing Macedonian movies, like "before the rain"

nkg 6y ago

Wow "Leon, the 40-year-old former soldier who is an alcoholic now, gets a job as a bodyguard. His duty is to take care of one of the Mafia leader’s daughters. His problems begin when he falls in love with the 16-year-old girl." Watch your steps, Leon.

omega3 6y ago

This looks like an illegal streaming service hiding behind a beautiful website.

LockAndLol 6y ago
Where else would you find original, non English content? They keep that behind their iron media curtains for some reason and there's no other way to discover or get them. I think these sites do more for Eastern European cinema than whatever else it is they do there.
- lurkmurk 6y ago
  > iron media curtains You mean like itunes, hbo, netflix catalogues in countries outside US? It's just that there is no interest in seeing these movies.
  - LockAndLol 6y ago
    That's of course a very America-centric view. You don't think those countries have their own (smaller) Netflix competitors that make it nigh impossible to get the content outside of the country? The budgets of these competitors are also very, very different. There is also interest, otherwise sites like these wouldn't pop up.
    - lurkmurk 6y ago
      You can find many east european movies on youtube. Try doing the same for Adam Sandler's netflix movie. You could even watch Memories of Murder on youtube just until Parasite won an oscar. Then they started carring. And this is a relatively new movie of a known director. Distribution is a problem but saying this isn't blatant piracy is wrong.
- omega3 6y ago
  private torrents, this a parasite website built on the hard work of people who took great time and effort to archive these movies.

rasz 6y ago

For people interested in surrealities of living under the iron curtain https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/teddy-bear https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/teddy-bear by Stanislaw Bareja is an absolute classic.

julienchastang 6y ago

There are quite a few Kieslowski videos: https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/?s=Kieslowski https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/?s=Kieslowski His Blue, White, Red series as well as Decalog are well worth watching. I especially loved "Red" as I recall -- saw it many years ago.

jungletime 6y ago

The Red, White and Blue trilogy by Krzysztof Kieślowski is pretty cool. Each film is beautifully shot with theme and a color grading matching its title. I've seen Blue in film, in an old historic cinema in Vancouver called The Roxy. To this day it's made me appreciate the dynamic range of film. And just sitting there through out this film, and being enveloped in different shades of blue light for two hours. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Colours_trilogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Colours_trilogy

efrafa 6y ago

I can't recommend `The Cremator` enough https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-cremator https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-cremator

_hardwaregeek 6y ago

So happy to see the Dekalog here. It's hard to find it streaming. Dekalog 1 is a particularly relevant film for HN since it deals with a programmer and his idolization of technology. There's a small moment at a shrine with wax that is immensely beautiful. Kieslowski has such a great eye for the small details and poetry within the scene.

dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago

A great masterpiece for me is https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/whos-singin-over-there https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/whos-singin-over-th... It is such a joy to watch. Totally exotic, showing a glimpse of a lost world, with a sense of humor, but at the same time with some serious themes. It's a legennd in ex-Yugoslavian countries, but virtually unknown abroad.

artpi 6y ago

Oh, this is amazing! I live in Poland and recently played Witcher 3. It made me realize how different it is from many Hollywood tropes. It really has a distinct European vibe. There are so many movies here, that I didn't know about!