The Italian (2005)
"Italyanets" (original title)

Set in 2002, an abandoned 5-year-old boy living in a rundown orphanage in a small Russian village is adopted by an Italian family.

Director:

Andrey Kravchuk

Writer:

Andrei Romanov

Stars:

Nikolay Spiridonov, Mariya Kuznetsova, Nikolay Reutov

7 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nikolay Spiridonov	...	Vanya Solntsev (as Kolya Spiridonov)
Mariya Kuznetsova	...	Madam
Nikolay Reutov	...	Grisha
Yuriy Itskov	...	Direktor
Denis Moiseenko	...	Kolyan
Andrey Elizarov	...	Seryy
Aleksandr Sirotkin	...	Timokha (as Sasha Sirotkin)
Vladimir Shipov	...	Vovan
Polina Vorobeva	...	Natakha
Olga Shuvalova	...	Irka
Dmitriy Zemlyanko	...	Anton (as Dima Zemlyanko)
Darya Yugrens	...	Mama Mukhina (as Darya Lesnikova)
Rudolf Kuld	...	Storozh
Tatyana Zakharova
Irina Osnovina	...	Sosedka

Storyline

Vanya is a 6 year old orphan living in a rundown orphanage in a remote Russian village. For Vanya and the other children, life is without hope, unless, of course, they are adopted by wealthy foreigners. For Vanya, hope comes in the form of an Italian couple. But while arrangements are being made an incident occurs when the mother of another child appears, seeking her son. Vanya begins to wonder what would happen if his own mother reappeared, and he was living in Italy.With the assistance of older children, Vanya is able to access his records and find the possible whereabouts of his mother. He escapes and travels across the country, pursued by the adoption agents.

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Plot Keywords:

orphanage | russian | children | italian | adoption | 

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Taglines:

An assured and engaging debut from director Andrei Kravchuk

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violence, sexual content, language and thematic issues

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp] Sony Pictures Classics [us]

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian Italian English

Release Date:

22 September 2005 (Russia)

Also Known As:

The Italian

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$23,290 (USA) (19 January 2007)

Gross:

$552,546 (USA) (22 June 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lenfilm Studio, Tulos Cinema, Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 99 min 99 min (PAL DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Russia's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 78th Annual Academy Awards (2006)

User Reviews

Contemporary time setting. Little boy's journey who lives in Russia, is supposed to be adopted by an Italian family.

This film is an absolute treasure! It is not only well done, and I don't mean super effects or huge budget, but well done from a true Cinematic and directorial approach, it also has a very interesting script. Most importantly, this film has a soul; it adds humanity to our consciousness, which is rare in this "postmodern" age we live in. Acting is excellent especially if you take under consideration that most of the characters are children. Like any great film, it speaks of the personal story and goes beyond, dealing with bigger issues. Moreover, this film follows the great Russian film tradition, reminded me of Tarkovsky, even though the style is very different, and more recent film "The Return" which came out of Russia couple years ago and won international awards.