Simultaneously nihilistic and heartening, Ward No. 6 is based on a story by Chekov, in which a psychiatric doctor becomes a patient in his own asylum. Updated to contemporary Russia, the ...
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An engineer in charge of the production line of a factory in Moscow is sent to a small town to try to specify the distributor the new dimensions of a mechanic part they need. But in this ... See full summary »
Director:
Karen Shakhnazarov
Stars:
Leonid Filatov,
Oleg Basilashvili,
Vladimir Menshov
A patient in a modern day mental institution believes that he is the man who assassinated Tsar Alexander in 1881 and Tsar Nicolas II in 1918. He and his doctor soon slip out of reality and ... See full summary »
Great Patriotic War, early 1940s. After barely surviving a battle with a mysterious, ghostly-white Tiger tank, Red Army Sergeant Ivan Naydenov becomes obsessed with its destruction.
A music student is expeled from school because he loves jazz, a kind of music that represents the US capitalism. He hires two street musicians to form a dixie band, and goes from one city ... See full summary »
Director:
Karen Shakhnazarov
Stars:
Igor Sklyar,
Aleksandr Pankratov-Chyornyy,
Nikolay Averyushkin
Olga Voznesenskaya is a silent screen star whose pictures are so popular that underground revolutionaries risk capture to see them. She's in southern Russia filming a tear-jerker as the ... See full summary »
Director:
Nikita Mikhalkov
Stars:
Elena Solovey,
Rodion Nahapetov,
Aleksandr Kalyagin
Mr. Lãzãrescu, a dying old man, is shuttled from hospital to hospital by a loyal paramedic as doctors refuse to operate and no one can agree on a diagnosis.
Simultaneously nihilistic and heartening, Ward No. 6 is based on a story by Chekov, in which a psychiatric doctor becomes a patient in his own asylum. Updated to contemporary Russia, the film is a cocktail of anxieties and riddles, showcasing how easy it is to become what we fear most.Written by
Pusan International Film Festival
Many scenes, if not most of them, were shot in Mental Health Nursing Home No. 3 of Dmitrov District of Moscow Oblast, located in a former monastery. The story of the nursing home is briefly told in the film, its administration are thanked in the credits and most supporting characters are or were real patients of the nursing home, including those interviewed at the beginning of the film and appearing in some scenes afterwards. The roles that have the characters' names appended to them in the credits, plus some others, were played by professional actors while all the patients who appeared in the film are listed as extras although the interviewees had more on-screen time than Albina Evtushevskaya, Darya, or Aleksey Zharkov, the Old Chief Physician. The interviewer who never appears on screen is also listed as an extra. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Vladimir Kozlov:
Vladimir Vladimirovich Kozlov, born in 1979, on August 15.
Interviewer:
For how many years have you lived here?
Vladimir Kozlov:
This is... the fifth year.
Interviewer:
Where did you live before you came to this nursing home?
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AKAPULKO
Performed by Laima Vaikule
Music by Igor Krutoy (as I. Krutoy)
Lyrics by Viktor Pelenyagre (as V. Pelenyagre)
Played at the New Year party See more »
I had such high hopes for Ward No. 6. The summary made it sound like a Shutter Island type thriller case, where you're not sure who's really insane, who's really criminal, who's really qualified to be asking the questions.
What I got was a series of clinical interviews that sort of reminded me of the beginning of District 9. The quality of the lighting and shot set up was very flat. Patients are talking to the camera about why they're institutionalized, and it's incredibly sad. Most were dropped off at an orphanage by their own parents and once they aged out, they were moved to the psychiatric facility. They've never had a chance to have a life, because their parents couldn't handle their responsibility. That is horrible! But, I actually would not have minded a more intense study of that situation. Instead, a doctor begins to lead a tour and eventually reveals that his predecessor is now, in fact, a patient. Dr. Ragin had a sort of comfortable life going. But rather than any kind of therapy sessions, he got into philosophical discourses with friends and one patient, in particular, and seemed to be spiraling into a depression about existential issues. The plot is slow. The conversations are like Crime and Punishment. Ward No. 6 is based on a short story by Anton Chekhov, so I shouldn't have been surprised, but honestly, I had a hard time staying focused. It made me sleepy. Ward No. 6 gets a 6 out of 10.
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I had such high hopes for Ward No. 6. The summary made it sound like a Shutter Island type thriller case, where you're not sure who's really insane, who's really criminal, who's really qualified to be asking the questions.
What I got was a series of clinical interviews that sort of reminded me of the beginning of District 9. The quality of the lighting and shot set up was very flat. Patients are talking to the camera about why they're institutionalized, and it's incredibly sad. Most were dropped off at an orphanage by their own parents and once they aged out, they were moved to the psychiatric facility. They've never had a chance to have a life, because their parents couldn't handle their responsibility. That is horrible! But, I actually would not have minded a more intense study of that situation. Instead, a doctor begins to lead a tour and eventually reveals that his predecessor is now, in fact, a patient. Dr. Ragin had a sort of comfortable life going. But rather than any kind of therapy sessions, he got into philosophical discourses with friends and one patient, in particular, and seemed to be spiraling into a depression about existential issues. The plot is slow. The conversations are like Crime and Punishment. Ward No. 6 is based on a short story by Anton Chekhov, so I shouldn't have been surprised, but honestly, I had a hard time staying focused. It made me sleepy. Ward No. 6 gets a 6 out of 10.