There was a time! The best Russian films that will help you remember the zero

We have compiled a selection of films that will cause deep sadness for 2000s Russia, a smile on your face and warm feelings while watching.

Alexei Uchitel’s melodrama, shot with a conventional digital camera, will win the hearts of everyone who has ever walked through St. Petersburg on a summer afternoon. In the center of the plot of the picture is a charming girl Olya (Irina Pegova) and her two companions played by Pavel Barshak and Evgeny Tsyganov, fascinated by their casual acquaintance and her secrecy. The film, which brought together the stars of the Fomenko workshop, seemed to absorb the noise of the city streets, the sound of heels on the sidewalk and the excitement of flirtation. The unexpected end of the walk leaves a deep impression – the viewer hardly expected such a turn.

Maria Shalaeva appears before the audience in the role of young Alice, who can fulfill any of her desires. Despite the magical plot, the film is not about magic, but, on the contrary, about everyday human life, about Moscow with its frantic pace and huge avenues, about growth and first feelings.

It’s hard to talk about the Russia of that time without mentioning the work of Alexei Balabanov, one of the main directors of Russian cinema in the 2000s. With Renata Litvinova (with an unexpected hairstyle), Nikita Mikhalkov, Dmitry Dyuzhev and Alexander Yatsenko. “It doesn’t hurt me” is an atypical film for Balabanov. It’s about losses and bright moments in life, in which the main thing, as we know, is “to find your own and calm down.”

A Quartet classic that I have broken down into quotes full of humor and satire. Employees of the radio station “Like Radio” go on a cruise, during which they prepare an election campaign for a deputy. “Election Day” is absurd scenes, songs by Shnur and the group “Accidental Case”, references that will not be difficult to count for those who have known the taste of that time – in a word, a real sketch which we never tire of reviewing.

The film recalls the days when people knew each other without apps or social media, loved ones sent greetings to each other over the radio, and the lost phone (from which the whole story begins) could not be located by geotagging. Tender feelings arise between the heroes of Evgeny Tsyganov and Ekaterina Fedulova on the summer streets of St. Petersburg on the tracks “Aquarium”, “Mumiy Troll” and “City 312”.

Filipp Yankovsky’s first film is a drama about Russia in the 2000s, recently emerging from the economic crisis. The main character Sasha Guryev, played by Konstantin Khabensky, is a journalist who writes about the “new” Russia, about absolutely, as it seemed then, a different world that was just beginning to emerge: fashion parties, managers and office workers who suddenly became rich, the hope of endless prosperity, but at the same time – a sudden disappointment in the outside world.

No, this is not a horror movie or a thriller, but an everyday drama about a person’s life after the war in Chechnya. It ended in reality, but not in the soul of the hero. The film depicts Moscow in the 2000s and an ordinary Moscow family. Todorovsky’s drama shows the harsh reality, which is impossible to ignore when talking about Russia at that time.

A gentle fairy tale about a miracle, familiar to each of us, has already become a New Year’s classic and the beginning of one of the most successful domestic film franchises. “Christmas Trees” paints the image of Russia as it was in the late 2000s, the action of the film covers the whole country and people from various social strata. All are united by faith in goodness and miracles.

A romantic comedy about everyday life, about “living” people, in which the viewer recognizes either himself, or a neighbor in the stairwell, or a hero of a dialogue overheard on the bus in returning home. It’s this simplicity of dialogue, humor and a touching yet simple plot that captivates the film – the very stuff to watch at a family dinner!

The comedy film based on the performance of the same name by Quartet I is a typical day in the life of radio “Like Radio”, where all did not go as planned. Grandmother’s pies, drunk technicians, glamorously dressed Nonna Grishaeva, funny songs performed by “Chayfa”, “Night Snipers” and “Accident”, office novels – all this is served with humor and irony.

A film about a miracle, about love, as in a familiar tale from childhood, about life in the capital. Meeting Masha, an ordinary girl, a literary translator and an extravagant foreign puppeteer turns out to be love at first sight.