In Russia, they make good films, as well as cool TV shows. In our top you will not find comedy sitcoms and endless series about the student dormitory - only high-quality series made with love and a deep idea.
The films presented in the list are not inferior to Western projects as a plot and acting. You won’t be able to tear yourself away from the screens until you watch the latest series, and then you will definitely recommend these series to your friends.
10. Birch
"Birch" is a collective of choreographic folk dance, formed during the Soviet Union and continues its creative activity until now.
The series tells the story of the life of young dancers who need to beat the competition and prove their talent in order to be able to perform on the big stage.
This is not a biographical series, but an artistic one, based on a dance ensemble. Viewers note that the series is unlikely to be included in your personal list of favorites, however, you will not have the desire to turn it off in the middle of the story.
The characters are interesting, the drama is present, the conflicts and motive of the characters are understandable to the viewer, and this is already a sign of a good script and well-developed characters.
9. Godunov
The main role in the series is played by Sergey Bezrukov and he plays Boris Godunov himself. The series tells about the time period after the reign of Ivan IV, but before entering the throne of the first Romanov.
While watching, the viewer will see and feel the creators love for Russian history. Beautiful scenery, costumes, makeup, acting - watching this series is a pure aesthetic pleasure.
The plot is peppy and not prolonged, with a logical narration and actions of heroes. By the way, characters with reasonable motivation and logic make the viewer believe that such events could really happen in the past.
Skillfully constructed dialogues played a special role in the atmosphere of the series: not elaborate and discharged from history books, but competently constructed with skillfully weaving outdated speech turns into modern speech.
8. The Golden Horde
The director is Timur Alpatov, he is also filming a series about the Godunov family. The plot of the Golden Horde develops at the end of the 13th century, when the envoy of the Great Khan arrived on the territory of Russia with the mission to pick up a thousand Russian soldiers. But having met the wife of Boris - the brother of Prince Yaroslav - the envoy agrees to pick up a smaller number of soldiers if they give him the girl. Ustigny’s husband agrees to the deal, Mengu, the Horde's envoy, gives the prince a “present” in the person of a young girl Nargiz.
Prince Yaroslav finds love and a long-forgotten passion in Nargiz, and therefore the ruler faces a difficult choice: feelings or the throne.
7. Crow
A detective thriller about an investigator Anna Vorontsova, nicknamed “Crow”, who does not promptly file a case for the missing photographer, and then finds out that this person is dying. The investigator is tormented by conscience, and Anna decides to find the kidnapper and killer of the photographer at all costs.
Boyarsky, who plays the main role, will make the viewer fall in love with her character. And the character - Anna Vorontsova - will make you love the acting game Boyarskaya. The crow is bright, tough, vulnerable and lively - this character is a real person and it will definitely not be boring to watch Vorona.
6. Fitness
The main character of the story is a chubby girl Asya, who has a beloved bridegroom and good friends, her life is carefree and full of petty joys, and the preparatory chores of the upcoming wedding take up all my free time.
The girl’s rainbow-colored world collapses when she finds out that the groom has long considered her full and wants her to lose weight, and her friends laugh behind Asi’s bad figure.
The girl does not have money for fitness, but there was a huge motivation to lose weight. Because Asya gets a job as a coach, and in the gym finds many new friends, which is why the girl’s life is radically changing.
5. Call DiCaprio!
The main role in the series is played by Alexander Petrov and he plays the actor. Wayward and narcissistic, with a heavy character, promiscuous sexual intercourse and who heard from the doctor categorically: “You have HIV.”
This is a serious and heavy series about people infected with plague of the 21st century. About those who go into depression and denial after hearing a disappointing medical verdict. About those who continue to live a full life, despite the diagnosis. About those who go to support groups, not wanting to cope with the disease alone. And about those who lose their minds when they find out about their diagnosis.
Prescribed, deep characters, with their own motives, desires and sins. All the characters of the characters are revealed in only eight 40-minute episodes, so you won’t spend a lot of time watching the series. But the impressions of watching it will remain with you for life, and the final of the movie will definitely not leave you indifferent.
4. Bad weather
Deep dramaturgy, emotions, human relationships. “Bad weather” many critics recognize the best Russian series in 2018, assuring that after watching the picture you will want to sob from tearing emotions and the realization that this is your Russian story.
This series cannot be watched with indifference, since the whole story is saturated with a true, somewhat difficult life, shootings, drunkenness, rudeness, ruin of the country and vulgarity.
Look and marvel at how difficult life was in the 90s among our compatriots, what a trace this era left in the soul and hearts of an entire generation. Although the series skillfully shows that even in such a vague and cruel time, there was a place for love, as if to say that for love you always need to find a place, otherwise you just can't survive.
3. Ordinary woman
The story is about a woman Marina, who lives a happy and calm life in the eyes of others. Marina has a small flower shop, her husband successfully works as a surgeon, the youngest daughter is studying in a private school, and the oldest receives knowledge at the university. It sounds like a scenario of an ideal life, but behind this whole ideal world are family secrets that no one knows about.
Viewers note a good script in the series, characters that are understandable and similar to ordinary people, whose pain is close to everyone.
2. Year of culture
A satirical series in which for 20 episodes the creators ridicule the vices of modern society. For this timekeeping, the director reveals each cartoon character of the story, and the actors perfectly fulfill their roles.
In the first episodes, it may seem to the audience that the caste is replaying, but remember that they play in the satirical genre, and therefore the emotions of the characters are exaggerated, as if the actors were acting out on the stage of the theater.
The series are full of scenic moves, there are no sagging and empty scenes, so the viewer will not get bored when watching.
1. House arrest
The story of the mayor of the city, who is caught in a large bribe and put under house arrest at the place of registration. The irony is that the mayor’s registration is an old Soviet hostel in which an official grew up in a difficult childhood, having been known as a thief and informer among public children.
After the snow-white rooms of the cottage, the hero is chained to dusty rooms with wounded wallpapers and a leaking toilet bowl. Moreover, people from the people and the mayor, to put it mildly, do not favor his neighbors.
The life of the protagonist goes downhill when he learns about his wife’s betrayals and that with the bribe he was set up by the only person who could influence the removal of a house arrest.