Movies like The Asthenic Syndrome
If you like "The Asthenic Syndrome" you are looking for art house, philosophical and bleak movies about / with perestroika, alienation, existentialism, melancholy, satire, bureaucracy and pessimism themes of Drama genre shot in Soviet Union.
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The Asthenic Syndrome (1989)
2K
Original name: Астенический синдром
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 153 min.
Story:
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.
Style:
art house, philosophical, bleak, tragicomedy, postmodern, spiritual
Plot:
perestroika, alienation, existentialism, melancholy, satire, bureaucracy, pessimism, midlife crisis, urban, absurdism, bitterness, spirituality, loneliness, teacher, depression, female nudity, male nudity, soviet, psychological drama, live action, film within a film, female director
Time:
year 1990
Place:
ussr, soviet union, russian
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to The Asthenic Syndrome
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out art house, bleak, melancholic and spiritual films with plots about alienation, soviet, character study, loneliness, minimalism, isolation and nostalgia mostly in Drama, Sci-Fi and Adventure genres. Some movies like The Asthenic Syndrome: The Red Snowball Tree (1974), The Second Circle (1990), The Lonely Voice of Man (1987), Dogs' Feast (1990), Nautilus (1990). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
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.
Style:
ironic, touching, thought provoking, disturbing, sentimental ...
Plot:
redemption, criminal, guilt, middle aged man, peasant, alienation, village, mother son relationship, couple relations, family relations, modernism, prison ...
Place:
ussr, soviet union, russia
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
A man tries to come to terms with his father's death and to deal with the mundane details of his burial in a society cut off from spirituality.
Style:
spiritual, philosophical, contemplative, black comedy, avant garde
Plot:
death, mourning, loss, grief, father son relationship, funeral, isolation, melancholy, existential crisis, introspection, alienation, social commentary ...
Place:
soviet union, ussr, russia
Similarity:
59%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
On the eve of his fortieth anniversary Sergei Makarov looks back at his life and learns that he has achieved nothing. He was not able to be happy and to bring happiness to the closest people in his life, neither to his long-suffering wife nor young ...
Style:
psychological, melancholic, poignant, period piece, satirical ...
Plot:
middle aged man, midlife crisis, character study, loneliness, regret, alienation, existential crisis, family drama, intimate, infidelity, urban, slice of life ...
Place:
soviet union, poetic realism, ussr
Similarity:
44%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
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 ...
Style:
poetic, melancholic, psychological, art house, existential ...
Plot:
loneliness, character study, isolation, post war, trauma, alienation, memory, slow burn, bittersweet, moral dilemma, symbolism, desperation ...
Time:
1920s
Place:
soviet union, poetic realism, ussr, russia
Similarity:
36%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
On a holiday eve, everyone, especially one tired and chilly, does so need at least one living soul at one's side: it is bad to meet a holiday alone with oneself. Thus, on a New Year's Eve, the main characters meet, — a meeting of two ...
Style:
melancholic, bleak, existential
Plot:
winter, social injustice, character study, social realism, bittersweet, poverty, slice of life, realism, loneliness, gender roles, intimate, desperation ...
Place:
ussr, soviet union
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
This life period of the main character Felix (L. Lutvinsky) coincides with rather complicated period of country history Chernenko dies, Gorbachev succeeds him, then Ligachev criticizes Eltsin, county is reined by deficit, backstairs influence, ...
Style:
melancholic, art house, existential, period piece
Audience:
adult
Plot:
social commentary, character study, alienation, escape from reality, loneliness, social realism, identity crisis, absurdism, minimalism, poverty, city life, working class ...
Place:
soviet union, ussr
Similarity:
34%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
Two young scientists are exploring new fields of nuclear physics. Dmitry Gusev and Ilya Kulikov are good friends, but rivals in love. Dmitry marries Lyolya and they live happily together. Luck has it that he makes an important discovery. ...
Style:
spiritual
Plot:
science, scientist, spirituality, moving, realism, dysfunctional marriage, marriage crisis, nuclear, romantic rivalry, love triangle, love, radiation ...
Place:
soviet union, ussr
Similarity:
32%
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
Five short stories with contemporary settings. In New York, people are indifferent to derelicts sleeping on sidewalks, to a woman's assault in front of an apartment building, and to a couple injured in a car crash. A man, stripped of his ...
Style:
anthology, art house, thought provoking, political, experimental ...
Plot:
indifference, class struggle, alienation, innocence lost, political intrigue, revolution, moral ambiguity, frustration, satire, violence, urban decay, existentialism ...
Time:
60s
Place:
new york, cuba
Similarity:
32%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 78 min.
Story:
Happy Days is an adaptation of Samuel Beckett's challenging absurdist drama, a play most would deem unfilmable. Faithfully adhering to Beckett's minimalist original, a black parody of love, marriage, and our search for meaning in an ...
Style:
art house, philosophical, surreal, psychological, bleak ...
Plot:
absurdism, existentialism, isolation, alienation, monologue, rehearsal, entrapment, minimalism, ritual, dark humor, desperation, retiring ...
Place:
ireland
Similarity:
32%
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan, Soviet Union
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
A Russian composer and Japanese pianist enter a relationship strained by their geographic and cultural boundaries.
Style:
romantic drama, art house, lyrical, period drama
Audience:
adult
Plot:
composer, pianist, classical music, culture clash, separation, longing, melancholy, heartbreak, nostalgia, alienation, language barrier, character study ...
Time:
70s
Place:
soviet union, japan, ussr
Similarity:
30%
33K
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, Soviet Union
Duration: 125 min.
Story:
The Russian poet Andrei Gorchakov, accompanied by guide and translator Eugenia, is traveling through Italy researching the life of an 18th-century Russian composer. In an ancient spa town, he meets the lunatic Domenico, who years earlier had ...
Style:
philosophical, atmospheric, cerebral, art house, contemplative ...
Plot:
philosophy, art, church, existentialism, poetry, dream, obsession, storytelling, great ending, poet, memory, redemption ...
Time:
year 1983, 80s, 18th century
Place:
rome italy, italy, soviet union, russia, ussr ...
Similarity:
30%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Andrei Konchalovsky’s Uncle Vanya surely has the greatest claim as the best screen adaptation of a Chekhov play. Featuring brooding and articulate performances, especially from Sergei Bondarchuk as Doctor Astrov and gorgeous cinematography that ...
Style:
spiritual, art house, tension, suspense
Plot:
stepmother, unrequited love, love, anton chekhov, spirituality, faith, fate, country doctor, remarry, family relations, relatives, stepmother stepdaughter relationship ...
Time:
1890s
Place:
russia
Similarity:
29%
Genre: Drama
Country: Sweden, France, UK
Duration: 149 min.
Story:
Alexander, a journalist, philosopher and retired actor, celebrates a birthday with friends and family when it is announced that nuclear war has begun.
Style:
cerebral, atmospheric, philosophical, art house, slow cinema ...
Plot:
insanity, existentialism, spirituality, religion, female nudity, distopia, art, dialogue, philosophy, god, post apocalypse, mental disorder ...
Time:
year 1986, 80s
Place:
soviet union, ussr, europe, russia
Similarity:
29%
163
Genre: Drama
Country: France, UK
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
A woman is on the verge of killing herself, in reverse.
Style:
dark, emotional, bleak, contemplative, independent film ...
Plot:
character study, existential crisis, self destructing, suicide, depression, desperation, mental health, actress, existentialism, mature, female protagonist, flashback ...
Time:
turn of the century
Similarity:
29%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union, Lithuania
Duration: 75 min.
Story:
In Kaliningrad two Lithuanian boys meet two Russian girls. They have difficulties in finding places where they can sleep together. But this is the only problem they do solve. All four justly feel miserable because their lives are meaningless (the ...
Style:
slow cinema, bleak, contemplative, aesthetic, avant garde ...
Plot:
underground, post soviet, minimalism, conflict, trauma, depression, alienation, cat, smoking, sex, beach, teenager ...
Time:
year 1992
Place:
ussr, soviet union
Similarity:
28%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
Mikhail Ulyanov is the Bergmanesque protagonist of the Russian Private Life. A government-appointed factory executive, Ulyanov is reduced to quivering confusion when he is dismissed. Recovering from this blow, he decides to review and realign his ...
Style:
poignant, melancholic, reflective, psychological, existential ...
Plot:
midlife crisis, loneliness, bureaucracy, humanist, middle aged, thoughtful, male protagonist, intimate, identity, bittersweet, aging, resilience ...
Time:
80s
Place:
soviet union, russia, ussr
Similarity:
28%
3K
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
Maya Bulgakova gives a marvelous performance as a once heroic Russian fighter pilot now living a quiet, disappointingly ordinary life as a school principal.
Style:
heartfelt, art house, spiritual, contemplative, realistic ...
Plot:
midlife crisis, aviation, feminist, great patriotic war, flashback, loneliness, feminism, realism, genocide, treasure hunt, spirituality, school principal ...
Time:
post world war two, 1940s, year 1966, 60s, 20th century ...
Place:
soviet union, russia, ussr
Similarity:
27%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
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.
Style:
slow cinema, aesthetic, spiritual, black and white
Plot:
stalinism, spy, psychedelia, spirituality, underground, nostalgia, memories, male protagonist, police inspector, criminal gang, flashback, investigation ...
Time:
year 1985, 1930s
Place:
soviet union, ussr, siberia, russia
Similarity:
27%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 139 min.
Story:
This bleak late soviet-era drama follows the career of Malyanov, a young medical school graduate who has been sent to work in Turkmenia. Here he runs into a hodge-podge of people of differing ethnicities, all of them victims of the government's ...
Style:
surreal, bleak, psychedelic, art film, psychological ...
Plot:
underground, stream of consciousness, alienation, isolation, totalitarianism, bureaucracy, claustrophobia, identity crisis, symbolism, ethnic diversity, moral ambiguity, surveillance ...
Place:
soviet union, ussr
Similarity:
27%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 46 min.
Story:
Seven year old Sasha practices violin every day to satisfy the ambition of his parents. Already withdrawn as a result of his routines, Sasha quickly regains confidence when he accidentally meets and befriends worker Sergei, who works on a ...
Style:
art house, realistic, serious, spiritual, uplifting ...
Audience:
kids
Plot:
youth, friendship, childhood, self discovery, children, young adult, little boy, coming of age, spirituality, minimalism, art, boy ...
Time:
year 1961, 60s
Place:
ussr, soviet union, russia
Similarity:
27%
68
Genre: Drama
Country: Hong Kong, China
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
A mongolian interpretation of Kafka's "The Castle".
Style:
thrilling, captivating, philosophical, art house, surreal ...
Plot:
castle, village, remote village, countryside, village life, isolation, outsider, alienation, bureaucracy, stranger, existentialism, adaptation ...
Similarity:
27%
Genre: Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
A neurosurgeon returns back to the USSR from Sweden and has to deal with rejection - both at work and at home.
Style:
existential, melancholic, emotional, contemplative, serious ...
Plot:
regret, identity crisis, midlife crisis, guilt, love triangle, friendship, alienation, failed marriage, self discovery, nostalgia, sacrifice, scientist ...
Time:
70s
Place:
soviet union, moscow russia, siberia, russia, ussr
Similarity:
27%
Genre: Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
A story about the generation of 1968.
Style:
black comedy, art house, reflective, serious, period piece ...
Plot:
irony, satire, character study, male friendship, moral ambiguity, bittersweet, identity crisis, midlife crisis, melancholy, nostalgia, social realism, urban ...
Time:
60s, 70s
Similarity:
26%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Zbigniew Gasior, a thirty year old singer, is a youth idol. Despite fame, money and success with the ladys, he can't neglect the emptiness in his life. The shattered dreams of his friends are not really a help, to ease his existential pains.
Style:
period piece, bleak
Plot:
loneliness, singer, character study, fame, celebrity, introspection, showbiz, alienation, identity, male protagonist, melancholy, existential crisis ...
Place:
poland
Similarity:
26%
79
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Patrick feels absolutely lonely when he decides to search for his supposable genitor after the suicide of his mother. He doesn’t have a plan, a goal or hopes. He just wants to meet the phantom that he thinks is the reason for his mother’s death.
Style:
existential, emotional, melancholic, independent film, art house ...
Plot:
grief, loneliness, isolation, identity crisis, character study, search for father, alienation, minimalism, intimate, regret, male protagonist, urban ...
Similarity:
26%
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: France, Soviet Union
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
A man, who becomes mistaken for his brother who was immigrating to Israel from USSR, finds himself caught up in the middle of a bureaucratic mess when he realizes that if he tells the truth about who he is, he will go to jail and his brother's ...
Style:
melancholic, tragicomedy, dark comedy, tense, comedy drama
Plot:
passport, perestroika, mistaken identity, immigration, bureaucracy, social commentary, character study, body swapping, moral dilemma, alienation, loneliness, survival ...
Place:
ussr, israel, soviet union
Similarity:
25%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
Set within the super-rich jet-set society of Paris, Richard Harris portrays a man whose life is gradually being destroyed. From sexual trauma to financial disaster, he slowly descends into a world of insanity, perversion and finally the bottomless ...
Style:
dark, erotic drama, bleak, controversial, intense ...
Plot:
businessman, character study, driven mad, sexual dysfunction, mental breakdown, midlife crisis, high society, loneliness, troubled marriage, paranoia, jealousy, infidelity ...
Time:
year 1981
Place:
paris france
Similarity:
24%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 78 min.
Story:
The world of the forest people, a tribe called Contehli, is interrupted by a railway administration clerk: Walser. He tries to penetrate their world and learn their incomprehensible language but all he brings is chaos and destruction.
Style:
independent film, art house, reflective, philosophical, bleak ...
Plot:
language barrier, forest, isolated community, moral ambiguity, anthropology, alienation, human nature, sadness, bureaucracy, language learning, bare breasts, female nudity ...
Similarity:
24%
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland, UK, France
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
A young writer in 1939 Warsaw faces the conflict of acting his age or relapsing into childhood during the brink of World War II. Based on the famous novel Ferdydurke by Witold Gombrowicz.
Style:
thought provoking, art house, dark comedy, tragicomedy, avant garde ...
Plot:
renaissance, identity crisis, literary, surrealism, satire, coming of age, loss of innocence, alienation, isolation, existentialism, teacher, boarding school ...
Time:
1930s
Place:
warsaw poland, eastern europe, poland
Similarity:
24%
177
Genre: Drama
Country: Slovenia
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
Boris Robič is, as we say, an ordinary kind of bloke. One evening, however, someone tries to shoot him. The investigations reveal nothing. No enemies, no suspects. You could say that Boris is the last person anyone would want to kill. After the ...
Style:
tragicomedy, dark comedy, satirical, psychological, realistic ...
Plot:
dark humor, self discovery, character study, midlife crisis, social commentary, loneliness, bittersweet, social satire, awkwardness, identity crisis, absurdism, amateur sleuth ...
Similarity:
24%
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