Tag: Soviet Union

The Gutter’s Own Carol watches Zerograd!

At Monstrous Industry, the Gutter’s own Carol Borden writes a bit about Karen Shakhnazarov’s absurd satire/mystery, Zerograd / Zero City (1998). “Zerograd is a film that requires a lot of pondering–especially in its presentation of the implications of distorting history, personal and otherwise. And it requires some thought […]

100 Sherlock Holmeses; Or, Sherlocks Holmes!

At Crime Reads, Olivia Rutiliagno presents her “100 Best, Worst and Strangest Sherlock Holmes Portrayals of All Time, Ranked.” “We’re ranking Sherlock Holmes performances. One hundred of them. Not Sherlock Holmes adaptations, but the representations within them of Sherlock Holmes himself. Now, you might think that you know […]

No Place in Space

To the Stars By Hard Ways (Cherez ternii k zvyozdam, 1981) was based on Kirill Bulychev’s short story, A Difficult Child. In that story, a young humanoid (male, in this case) is found in space, part of a group of similar aliens who have been sent to Earth […]

Moonbeams and Miniskirts

Some years ago, a trio of colorful, contemplative, and sometimes a little bit absurd science fiction films from East German studio DEFA found their way onto home video in the United States. Of them, The Silent Star was the most beloved thanks to its combination of serious speculation […]

Gods in Wigs

In November of 1989, The Berlin Wall — the second-most potent symbol of the Cold War after Ivan Drago — became a speed bump as the physical, social, and political barriers separating West and East Germany collapsed. As Germans began streaming back and forth across the once imposing […]