Hard to be a God (2015)
81%RT Audience Score: 66%
Awards & Nominations: 10 wins & 11 nominations
A sci-fi epic with palpable connections to the present, Hard to Be a God caps director Aleksei German’s brilliant filmography with a final masterpiece
If you’re looking for a movie that will make you feel like you’re on a wild ride, then Hard to Be a God is the one for you. This film is like nothing you’ve ever seen before, with its dense and oblique storyline that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about humanity. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’re up for a challenge, then buckle up and get ready for a monumental work of art that will leave you breathless. Just don’t forget to bring a towel, because you’re going to get muddy.
Production Company(ies)
Black Mandala Onetti Brothers Productions, Rusty Robot
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Tocnik Castle, Central Bohemia, Czech Republic
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2014
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.66 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):Russian
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Country of origin:Russia
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Jun 30, 2015
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Hard to Be a God, Drama, Russian, Aleksei German, Viktor Izvekov, Leonid Yarmolnik, Svetlana Karmalita, starring Leonid Yarmolnik, Valentin Golubenko, Yuriy Tsurilo, Evgeniy Gerchakov, Aleksandr Chutko, Oleg Botin, reviewed by Nick Pinkerton, Jonathan Romney, Tara Brady, Matthew Thrift, Wendy Ide, Nigel Andrews, Alonso Díaz de la Vega, Anton Bitel, Nicholas Bell, David N Butterworth, Ard Vijn, Tanner Tafelski, MPAA rating, box office performance, budget, sci-fi epic, medieval civilization, intellectuals, observation, humanity, grotesque sensuality, Khrustalyov, My Car!, hardcore art-house cinema, Soviet Russia, post-Soviet Russia
Worldwide gross: $1,299,035
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,623,465
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,472
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 177,041
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $7,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $8,748,231
Production budget ranking: 1,721
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $4,710,922
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$11,835,687
ROI to date (est.): -88%
ROI ranking: 1,949
Valentin Golubenko – Arata
Yuriy Tsurilo – Don Pampa
Evgeniy Gerchakov – Budakh
Aleksandr Chutko – Don Reba
Oleg Botin – Bucher
Director(s)
Aleksey German
Writer(s)
Aleksey German, Svetlana Karmalita
Producer(s)
Viktor Izvekov, Leonid Yarmolnik
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
10 wins & 11 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (45) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (3)
A profoundly, wilfully destabilising experience.
January 15, 2016
Nick Pinkerton
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
The result may be an awe-inspiring folly rather than a fully realised masterpiece, but it’s radically out of the ordinary.
August 9, 2015 | Rating: 5/5
Jonathan Romney
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Oblique and dense in a manner that makes those other great Strugatsky-inspired films look like Star Wars episodes, the film relentlessly hammers out humanity’s propensity for barbarism.
August 8, 2015 | Rating: 5/5
Tara Brady
Irish Times
TOP CRITIC
A monumental work from a monumental talent. Unmissable.
August 7, 2015 | Rating: 5/5
Matthew Thrift
Little White Lies
TOP CRITIC
German died before it was completed; it was finished by his wife and son, Aleksei German Jr, also a director. And to be honest, it’s the kind of film that could kill off a fair few audience members as well.
August 6, 2015 | Rating: 3/5
Wendy Ide
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
The film is about observation: its powerless, farcical, unquenchable curiosity. And it’s about – imagine a drama hewn from Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle – how observers become actors or influencers, whether they want to or not.
August 6, 2015 | Rating: 5/5
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times
TOP CRITIC
[Filmmaker Aleksei] German exalts the grotesque sensuality of Arkanar with a visual style that surpasses the expressiveness of Khrustalyov, My Car! [Full review in Spanish]
December 9, 2021
Alonso Díaz de la Vega
El Universal
…goes on (and on), loose of shape and mostly free of characters (despite a horde of extras), for another 2 1/2 hours of aimless wallowing in the mud. German becomes as mired in his world as his hero.
November 16, 2021
Anton Bitel
Projected Figures
Those welcoming the sensation of being overwhelmed will relish German’s uncompromising vision.
October 27, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
Aleksei German’s immersive cinematic vision is like the mucky, muddy parts of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” scrutinized, lionized, and revitalized to the nth degree — call it The Knights Who Say “Nyet!”
February 23, 2020 | Rating: 3/4
David N. Butterworth
La Movie Boeuf
This is hardcore art-house cinema and not for the impatient or squeamish, but many images and performances keep haunting you afterwards.
January 11, 2020
Ard Vijn
ScreenAnarchy
Hard to Be a God, to say the least, can be seen as a flexible metaphor for the unchanging state of both Soviet and post-Soviet Russia.
October 30, 2019
Tanner Tafelski
Vague Visages…
Plot
Scientists are sent to a medieval civilization on the planet Arkanar to help and rescue intellectuals in the sci-fi epic Hard to Be a God.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels database for Hard to Be a God.
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