Zivot a neobycejna dobrodruzstvi vojaka Ivana Conkina (1994)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Jirí Menzel

Writers:

Zdenek Sverák (screenplay) and
Vladimir Vojnovich (novel)

Release Date:

9 November 1994 (France)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Set in a small Ukrainian village during the outbreak of war with Germany in 1941 Private Chonkin, not overly endowed with intelligence...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Gennadi Nazarov	...	Ivan Chonkin
Zoya Buryak	...	Njura
Vladimir Ilyin	...	Golubev
Valeriy Zolotukhin	...	Kilin
Aleksei Zharkov	...	Gladisev
Yuri Dubrovin	...	Volkov
Sergey Garmash	...	Miljaga
Zinoviy Gerdt	...	Stalin
Marián Labuda	...	Opalikov
Mariya Vinogradova	...	Granny Dunia
Tatyana Gerbachevskaya	...	Afrodita
Lyubov Rudneva	...	Kapa
Ivan Ryzhov	...	Shapkin
Vyacheslav Molokov	...	General Drynov
Nikolai Marchenko	...	Borisov

Also Known As:

Il soldato molto semplice Ivan Chonkin (Italy)
Les aventures d'Ivan Tchonkine (France)
Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin

Runtime:

Czech Republic:106 min | UK:111 min | Argentina:114 min

Country:

Czech Republic | UK | France | Italy | Russia

Language:

Russian | Czech

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 | Argentina:13

Company:

Canal+

Capsule from another age.

Jiri Menzel, director of some lovely, poignant comedies in the 1960s before they were Banned For All Time by the Soviets, films this Czech 'Catch-22' like it was still 1966; the treatment of totalitarian terror as absurdist farce; the hackneyed eccentricity of village life; the amiably bumbling hero with unsuspected sexual prowess. Except 1994 is not 1966, and, the historical or political moment gone, Menzel is exposed, his ideas mouldy, his style threadbare, his comedy and irony as clunkingly gauche as the American 'Catch-22'. Loved the scene with the Jewish shoemaker called Stalin, though.