My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1986) Moy drug Ivan Lapshin (original title)

Director:

Aleksey German

Writers:

Yuri German (novel)
Eduard Volodarskiy
(more)

Release Date:

26 September 1986 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

1930s | Soviet Union | Multiple Time Frames | Memory | Child

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Andrei Boltnev	...	Ivan Lapshin
Nina Ruslanova	...	Natasha Adasova
Andrey Mironov	...	Khanin
Aleksei Zharkov	...	Okoshkin
Zinaida Adamovich	...	Patrikeyevna
Aleksandr Filippenko	...	Zanadvorov
Yuriy Kuznetsov	...	Superintendent
Valeriy Filonov	...	Pobuzhinskiy
Anatoli Slivnikov	...	Bychkov
Andrei Dudarenko	...	Kashin
Semyon Farada
Nina Usatova
Valeri Kuzin	...	Narrator (voice)
Lidiya Volkova
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yuri Aroyan
S. Kushakov
Natalya Laburtseva		(as N. Laburtseva)
B. Meleshkin
Anna Nikolayeva		(as A. Nikolayeva)
Yu. Pomogayev
Anatoli Shvedersky		(as A. Shvedersky)
V. Sirotenko
Vladimir Tochilin		(as V. Tochilin)
Boris Voytsekhovskiy		(as B. Vojtsekhovsky)

Directed by
Aleksey German

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Aleksey German		uncredited
Yuri German		novel
Eduard Volodarskiy

Original Music by
Arkadi Gagulashvili

Cinematography by
Valeri Fedosov

Film Editing by
Leda Semyonova		(as L. Semyonova)

Production Design by
Yuri Pugach

Set Decoration by
Yu. Rotin
Gennadi Savelyev		(as G. Savelyev)

Costume Design by
Galina Deyeva		(as G. Deyeva)

Makeup Department
O. Telova	....	makeup artist
O. Telova	....	makeup designer

Production Management
Valentina Goroschnikova	....	production manager (as V. Goroshnikova)
Viktor Izvekov	....	production manager (as V. Izvekov)
Avy Schneidman	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Viktor Aristov	....	second unit director
Tatyana Komarova	....	assistant director
Valentin Nikulin	....	second unit director

Sound Department
Nikolai Astakhov	....	sound

Special Effects by
M. Pokrovsky	....	special effects operator
V. Solovyov	....	special effects designer

Camera and Electrical Department
Aleksei Rodionov	....	camera operator

Other crew
V. Shvarts	....	script editor
V. Shvarts	....	story editor

Production Companies

• Lenfilm Studio

Distributors

• International Film Exchange (IFEX) (1987) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Polfilm (1988) (Sweden) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

"Moy drug Ivan Lapshin" - Soviet Union (original title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Lenfilm Studio

Trivia:

Nikolai Gubenko auditioned for the role of Ivan Lapshin. Yet the director chose to work with Andrei Boltnev because "there was some sort of "doomed" quality about him - it was clear he'd be shot and killed".

Probably one of the best Russian films ever made

Recently top 50 national critics (in Russian edition of Empire magazine) have named the top 100 best films in Russia/USSR history. Not many cinephils have argued about the 1st place, with Alexei German's "My Friend Ivan Lapshin" taking the top spot. Another two of his films also took their place in the rating ("Check-up on the Roads" - arguably the best Russian film about WWII, and "Khrustalyov, My Car!"). Shamefully not so famous outside Russia, Alexei German is certainly one of the brightest (and pretty much hated by soviet ideologists) directors in his homeland, sharing pantheon with the likes of Dziga Vertov, Sergey Eisenstein, Marlen Huciev, Iosif Kheifits, Andrey Tarkovsky and many more wonderful names.

"My friend Ivan Lapshin" is not an easy film to watch. It's dark atmosphere of early Stalin years, one might call it soviet film noir. But in contrast to classical American noirs, "Lapshin" adds much more realistic tones; shot in black and white with hand cameras it sometimes looks like half-documentary, making it closer to french Nouvelle Vogue. Still, New Wave directors had so many poetry in their works, you can hardly find some in German's movies. German shows life as it is, without any adorns. In this sense, maybe Italian neorealism is the closest cinematographic example you can find when looking for comparisons. But still you can't find any exact compares because German creates cinematic structures out of time and any particular school. He doesn't follow any genres' principles and cinematic rules.

"Lapshin" concentrates on a very short period of life of police detective Ivan Lapshin. Plot story takes place in a small Russian provincial town, in the middle of the 1930ies, the beginning of the horrible era of Stalin's political repressions. The story is told by an adult man who was a boy at that time and who remembers Ivan Lapshin in the light of childhood's memories. You won't find any particular political message here, although film has been banned right after the end of shooting and German received many official warnings. It is very hard to distinguish the true meaning of the movie, because every single motive, every idea is hiding in communication between characters. Police investigation is just an external part of the script which softly covers existentialistic relations. Deep emotions are hiding in outwardly bleak and unfriendly world that we see on the screen. These people are just living their usual lives and are very mixed up. They seem to be lost in time and space, and simply don't understand that they are part of emotionless system that eats their souls, system that corrupts people's being - and camera catches this atmosphere without excess words, just like child's memories sometimes can't be described with them. But even so it can't destroy the very essence of a man. People are brave, and not because they act bravely, but because they are protecting human relations, don't let them roll into madness, which is hiding in every corner. It's a strange and beautiful film. Every single actor (even Andrey Mironov who was already on pick of his fame at the moment) played his career's best role.

Just like "Berlin Alexanderplatz" helps to understand the existentialistic being of post-war Germans, "Lapshin" helps to understand the core of the strange Russian soul that suffered so much during the age of horror, of the people who got so many psychological traumas, but who fought for their right to live a normal life.