CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Christopher Trond In this film, the main character, Andrey Buzykin (played by Oleg Basilashvili), finds himself struggling to manage his hectic work life and spending time with his wife, Nina (played by Natalya Gundareva), and mistress, Alla (played by Marina Neyolova). As an English to Russian translator, Andrey is not responsible for the creative material. He merely translates what others have already written. This, along with his inability to say "no" to his boss' requests, portrays him as a weak man, incapable of managing his own life. Additionally, Andrey is an educated man living in a rather large apartment for the times, yet his life appears to be going nowhere. This only further solidifies idea of him being an inferior man. Similar to his job, his wife hardly notices him. Because of this, Andrey has found a mistress. With all of these people in his life, the main character struggles to please everybody. This film, classified as a drama-comedy, is great, as it shows life in Leningrad during the Soviet Era. The man is a part of the intelligentsia, the educated middle class. Additionally, cultural references are present throughout the film and includes such items as mushroom picking and communal living.

hammynuef Centered on a well-meaning Professor, Autumn Marathon shows the chaos that ensues when one cannot learn to say no to himself, and therefore to others around him. Professor Andrey Pavlovich Buzykin is manipulated by everyone around him, especially the women in his life. His mistress Alla is constantly pestering him about having children with her and leaving his wife, Nina. Nina is clearly well-aware that her husband is lying to her and most likely cheating, so she manipulates Andrey into feeling sorry for her by moping around the house and saying that no one needs her. His fellow writer Varvara uses him and adds to his web of lies as he helps her translate, which will cause her to take his place with the publishers. Basically, the whole film is sometimes painful to watch because Andrey's lies to his wife and mistress become more complicated with each scene. At the end, he seems to be peaceful when both women finally leave him, but at practically the same moment, his mistress calls and his wife comes back home. In the final scene of this dizzying chaos, Andrey hasn't learned his lesson and lies to his mistress that his wife has left and lies to his wife that he left his mistress. In my Russian Film class, we discussed how Andrey really isn't that bad of a guy and just wants to please everyone, but as a grown man, he should know better. Throughout the film, it is clear that his lies hurt everyone around him and make his current life almost impossible to keep up with. I wish the film would have ended with him starting anew, but alas, this ending is much more in line with the reality that the older we get, the less likely we are to change.

karelina-anna-163-637954 The movie - The Autumn Marathon - is one of my favourite. I grew up in Soviet Union that transformed later into Russian Federation. I still remember those times. Actually, I remember times a little later than 1979 (I was born that year:)), but everything I see in this movie reminds me of my childhood: apartments, cars, clothes etc. I understand the mood of this film. Indeed, it was usual type of mood of "intelligensia" people. People who had good brains and realised they don't have much space to develop their talents. Of course, the character of the protagonist - Andrey - is complicated, he has many inside complexes and can't say "no" to anybody that causes problems for him and others. A man who is waiting for somebody else to made decision for him. He can't tear himself out of "love triangle" ( his wife, lover and him). At the end of the film we see how happy he is when it seems that his wife and lover finally left him. But everything gets back and Andrey's endless "marathon" running continues.....

Torrevado Andrei is an irresponsible man, who cannot be counted on. He is constantly late, and doesn't inform others. He is not focused on his work nor his personal life. I don't judge him for cheating on his 4-5 women (if you can get away with it, it's not a crime), but he ends up hurting them. For not keeping promises nor knowing when to say "No" to boring next- door neighbors, he deserves everything that's coming to him. Technically well made movie. Very good performances, the mood, music, cinematography are all there.However, the plot is slow and tiresome. By 50 minutes I couldn't bring myself to continue watching, hence the 1 star rating.