Ubiytsy

Director(s): Andrei Tarkovsky, Marika Beiku and Alexander Gordon
Made in: 1956
Language/subtitles: Russian/English hardcoded
Runtime: 17min and 28sec
Format: .avi

Please take note that the sound on the rip I have of this movie is a little bit messed up in a way that it tends to cut off the last words in a sentence. This could be because of the noise filters or something (or my drivers are messed up?). Since the movie itself is only 17 minutes long it does not get annoying (for me at least).

This was the first semi-official film in which Tarkovsky participated in. It was a student film that he and two of his friends directed back in film school. For the time when this was released it was pretty weird since the cold war was full on so students making something American wasn't exactly common. The only reason they managed to pull this off is because some of Hemingway's works were published in the Soviet Union for the first time.

The movie itself is a remake of sort of the story/movie The Killers albeit only first two scenes which are the bar and the apartment. The movie itself is more of an artifact for fans than a good movie. The acting is okay I guess, Tarkovsky plays a costumer here where he whistles a song (lullaby of birdland, a tune that was then known as a song of freedom, subtle anti-communist remarks by Andrei?) and orders some sandwiches. The hired killers weren't very convincing nor menacing (that's what you get for being a film student) but overall it's an enjoyable ride if you're interested in it.

I'd say if you're in filmschool or a fan of Tarkovsky you should give this a watch. Otherwise I'm not sure you'd enjoy it in the fullest but on the other hand you can then brag that you watched soviet student films to your friends and score some mad pussy. Or something.

Download.