Best movies like The Confession
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Plot Summary:
The Confession (1990) survives in Parajanov: The Last Spring (1992) in its original camera negative. It remained unfinished due to the death of Sergei Parajanov. The Confession (1990) was his favorite screenplay, which was written in the 1960s and was his film-memory of the childhood, student years, marriage, imprisonment and more as the fantasist Parajanov perceived it. Parajanov gifted the screenplay to Mikhail Vartanov, made a drawing on the cover and wrote: "The Confession will only be made by a director born in 1924 in Tiflis, Georgia." He predicted that he would not finish it.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 79
Genere: Short, Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 9 min
Plot tags: experimental, independent film
Best tv shows and movies like The Confession (1990):
Similar in 80%
Defence Counsel Sedov (1988)
Plot Summary:
Late one evening in Moscow in 1937, Defence Counsel Sedov hears a knock at the door. Three women whose agronomist husbands have been sentenced to death for alleged sabotage beg him to take on the seemingly hopeless task of saving them. Sedov embarks upon a succession of encounters with increasingly powerful officials, gradually persuading them to look at the case anew. But the highest authorities are not so easily outmanoeuvered, and Sedov becomes canonised as a Stalinist zealot, with the film building inexorably to its chilling triple climax.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 139
Genere: Short, Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
The Song of the Old Days (1982)
Plot Summary:
The members of an amateur theater group share the losses and sorrows of war with Armenian provincial town's inhabitants.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 138
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Hello, That's Me! (1966)
Plot Summary:
Artyom (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan) is a scientist who buries himself in his work after the woman he loves dies during the war. He is informed of his sweetheart's death by a young woman, and soon love blossoms between the lonely doctor and the emerging beauty. This is the big-screen debut of Margarita Terekhova in the popular film that was seen by over 20 million in the USSR.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 119
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1970)
Plot Summary:
Fly-on-the-wall treatment of an ordinary day in the life of a prisoner in Stalin's Gulag. Closely adapted from Solzhenitsyn's classic novel based on his own experiences. Shot entirely on location in northern Norway.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 617
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, Norway, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: depressing, political, independent film
Similar in 85%
Gulag Vorkuta (2016)
Plot Summary:
Two dissidents, fall in love in a Marxist USSR Gulag death camp. As their friends die, they commit to the seeming impossible, escape, but both must first answer their deepest moral questions about the meaning of life, sacrifice and freedom.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 61
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
We and Our Mountains (1969)
Plot Summary:
Calm of the mountain village is disturbed by the investigation on stray sheep.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 405
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Paradjanov: Lover of Beauty (2013)
Plot Summary:
A film director Sergey Paradjanov creates brilliant films. His nonconformist behavior conflicts with Soviet System. He is committed to prison for being eccentric.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 314
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Ukraine, France, Georgia, Armenia
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, stylized
Similar in 78%
Triangle (1967)
Plot Summary:
The movie tells the life story and friendship of five blacksmiths in town of Leninakan during the war and the years preceding it - as told by the son of one of the blacksmiths.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 135
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
Pastorale (1975)
Plot Summary:
In the mountain village comes a group of young musicians in Tbilisi. Here they are going to relax and rehearse. Sad story about the final rupture occurred, the peasants do not sing beautiful old songs, the musicians play music incomprehensible to them ... Far from the idyllic image of rural life.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 543
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: spiritual
Similar in 84%
The Entreaty (1967)
Plot Summary:
Based on the poems “Aluda Ketelauri” and “The Guest and the Host” by the classic of Georgian literature Vazha Pshavela This film opens Tengiz Abuladze’s trilogy (“The Plea”, “The Wishing Tree”, “Repentance”), which discusses the subject of common human values using original national material. The death of heroes, the knights of truth and good, leads the Poet to the conclusion that the evil is invincible. Exhausted by struggle and privations, the Poet lays down his arms. He is visited then by all of his favorite heroes. They put out candles by dipping them into a beer cup – a ritual Khevsuri gesture meaning renunciation. And only after seeing what misfortune and harm the rejection of fighting the evil results in, the Poet takes up arms again.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 869
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: spiritual, crying, avant garde
Similar in 80%
The Legend of Suram Fortress (1985)
Plot Summary:
A film version of a well-known Georgian folk-tale. A young boy has to be immured into the walls of a fortress in order to stop it from crumbling to pieces.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: art house, spiritual, surreal, contemplative, poetic, serious, stylized, gloomy, folk tale, weird
Similar in 87%
The Red Snowball Tree (1974)
Plot Summary:
A former thief is released from a prison. He tries to start a new life with his penfriend - a good village woman, but his past doesn't let him go.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: ironic, sentimental, thought provoking, touching, disturbing, sad, cynical
Similar in 86%
Gulag Barashevo (2015)
Plot Summary:
Artists, Poets, Writers, Musicians, and Dissidents, Husbands and Wives, in the Marxist USSR GULAG camps of Barashevo and Vorkuta, suffer in and survive their Gulag death camps. It is a ultimately a spiritual struggle.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 58
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 168 min
Plot tags: spiritual
Similar in 77%
Don't Grieve (1968)
Plot Summary:
Benjamin, the local doctor is a soul of a local society, the educated, friendly, democratic person who often treats the poor for free. It makes him very popular with the locals but most certainly does not help with his bank account. He is in love with a beautiful Manette who is also crazy about him but is being watched closely by her father who called his daughter "his small capital" and is determined to protect her virginity until the moment the marriage contract has been signed.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
Blue Mountains, or Unbelievable Story (1983)
Plot Summary:
An author - a passive young man - enters the Soviet-controlled bureaucracy of Georgia attempting to get his novel published only to be neglected and compartmentalized at every turn.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: absurd
Similar in 83%
Ashik Kerib (1988)
Plot Summary:
Wandering minstrel Ashik Kerib falls in love with a rich merchant's daughter, but is spurned by her father and forced to roam the world for a thousand and one nights - but not before he's got the daughter to promise not to marry till his return. It's told in typical Paradjanov style, in a series of visually ravishing 'tableaux vivants' overlaid with Turkish and Azerbaijani folksongs.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 73 min
Plot tags: spiritual, art house, surreal, fairy tale, atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, allegory
Similar in 75%
Repentance (1984)
Plot Summary:
The day after the funeral of Varlam Aravidze, the mayor of a small Georgian town, his corpse turns up in his son's garden. Although it is secretly reburied, the corpse keeps returning until the police capture the local woman who is responsible. This woman says that Varlam should never be laid to rest since his Stalin-like reign of terror led to the disappearance of her family and friends.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 153 min
Plot tags: christian film, parody, captivating, manga, independent film, art film, dark comedy, thought provoking, bleak, serious
Similar in 76%
Mimino (1977)
Plot Summary:
Georgian bush pilot Valentin (Valiko) Mizandari a.k.a. Mimino works at small local airlines, flying helicopters between small villages. But he dreams of piloting large international airlines aircrafts, so he goes to Moscow for refresher courses. There in a hotel he meets truck driver Robik who is given a place in that hotel by mistake, and they have a lot of adventures in Moscow. Always amicable and open to people, Mimino does not feel at home in the big city. Nevertheless, he becomes a pilot of a supersonic jet liner, the Tupolev Tu-144, flying all over the world. But feeling homesick, he finally comes back to his native town of Telavi in Georgia, to his family and friends.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: feel good, smart, humorous, realistic, semi serious
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The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
Plot Summary:
The life of revered the 18th-century Armenian poet and musician Sayat-Nova (Vilen Galstyan). Portraying events in the life of the artist from childhood up to his death, the movie addresses in particular his relationships with women, including his muse (Sofiko Chiaureli). The production tells Sayat-Nova's dramatic story by using both his poems and largely still camerawork, creating an impressionistic work.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: surreal, poetic, atmospheric, avant garde, psychedelic, mind bending, experimental, contemplative, scenic, disturbing
Similar in 84%
The Feasts of Valtasar, or The Night with Stalin (1989)
Plot Summary:
A dance troupe from the autonomous region of Abkhazia in western Georgia perform for Stalin, Lavrentiy Beria, Abkhaz leader Nestor Lakoba, and other high-ranking party officials in the Black Sea coastal town of Gagra.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 212
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
You and Me (1971)
Plot Summary:
A neurosurgeon returns back to the USSR from Sweden and has to deal with rejection - both at work and at home.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 431
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
War and Peace: Part II (1965)
Plot Summary:
In the end of 1809, Natasha attends her first ball. Andrei falls in love with her and intends to marry her, but her father demands they wait. The prince travels abroad, and Natasha desperately longs for him. But she then meets Anatol Kuragin and forgets of Andrei. At the last minute, she regrets and abandons her plans to elope with Anatol. Bolkonsky hears of this and declares their betrothal is over. Pierre, trying to calm her down, suddenly announces he loves her.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: historical drama, period drama
Similar in 85%
My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1985)
Plot Summary:
Russian provincial town in the middle of the 1930s Stalin's Great Purge. Ivan Lapshin, the head of the local police, does what he has to do. And he does it well.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: slow cinema, spiritual, aesthetic
Similar in 79%
The Lonely Voice of Man (1987)
Plot Summary:
The film is Sokurov's feature film debut and is based on the novel The River Potudan by Andrei Platonov. It's a story about the lives of people in the Russian countryside in the beginning of the 20th century. The film was completed in 1979 as a graduation film, but was banned by the Soviet state and didn't premiere until 1987.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 716
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: poetic, spiritual, contemplative, avant garde
Similar in 87%
The Asthenic Syndrome (1989)
Plot Summary:
In the old days it was called hypochrondria, or black melancholia. Now, apparently, it's termed the Asthenic Syndrome. Whatever it is, Nikolai, a teacher of epicly indifferent pupils, has got it, and it's not much fun.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 153 min
Plot tags: spiritual
Similar in 78%
The Wishing Tree (1976)
Plot Summary:
This poetic parable is part of Tenghiz Abuladze’s cinematic triptych: “The Supplication” – “The Wishing Tree” – “Repentance”. The place is Georgia at the beginning of the 20th century. That’s how director Tenghiz Abuladze described his film: “’The Wishing Tree’ is a film about the people lit up by a dream. Every character has its own ideal. One is worshipping the skies, another the earth, some idolize the body, others elevate the spirit. Some destroy the body, others the soul…” Marita, the film’s heroine, arrived here to live with her aunt. She meets a poor young lad, Gedia, and falls in love with him. But her relatives are determined to marry the girl off to a local rich man….
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
War and Peace: Part IV (1967)
Plot Summary:
As Moscow is set ablaze by the retreating Russians, the Rostovs flee their estate, taking wounded soldiers with them, and unbeknownst to them, also Andrei. Pierre, dressed as a peasant, tries to assassinate Napoleon but is taken prisoner. As the French are forced to retreat, he is marched for months with the Grande Armée, until being freed by a raiding party. The French are defeated by Kutuzov in the Battle of Krasnoi. Andrei is recognized and is brought to his estate. He forgives Natasha on his deathbed. She reunites with Pierre and they marry as Moscow is being rebuilt.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: period drama
Similar in 79%
The Criminal Shall Not Escape (1965)
Plot Summary:
Mukhtar comes to live and work at the police kennels through rather unusual circumstances. Together with his handler, Glazychev, Mukhtar helps to solve large and small crimes.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 622
Genere: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Earthquake (2016)
Plot Summary:
After the devastating Spitak earthquake of December 7th, Konstantin Berezhnoy, a 50-year-old Russian, and Robert Melkonyan, a 28-year-old Armenian, work together to rescue the desperate survivors.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Armenia, Russia
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, touching, suspense, suspenseful, disaster movie
Similar in 77%
Collapse (1990)
Plot Summary:
1986, Chernobyl disaster. Couples, friends, and a risk-taking journalist are woven into the larger framework of the disaster. Panic follows.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 253
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, Soviet Union
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: