Soviet director Mikhail Nikitin: short biography and filmography

Mikhail Nikitin is a Soviet director, whose creative career took place in the 80s. XX century. Some dramas shot by the filmmaker are still shown on the air of central television channels. What tapes from the filmography of Nikitin deserve special attention?

short biography

Nikitin Mikhail Fedorovich - a native of the city of Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. The future director was born on November 8, 1946.

After graduating from secondary school, Mikhail entered LGITMiK. While Nikitin studied at the directing department, he tried his hand as an actor. It can be seen in the film “Unforgettable” by Yulia Solntseva, as well as in the detective films “I, the investigator”, “Bag of the collector” and the drama “About those whom I remember and love.” At this, the acting experiments of Mikhail Fedorovich ended.

The film "Strogov"

Mikhail graduated from the university in 1970 and was immediately attached to the Lenfilm film studio. For 6 years, the Soviet and Russian film director assisted on the set and gained experience before Vladimir Vengerov invited him to create a creative tandem and work together on the film “Strogov”.

The script for the historical drama Wenger wrote on the basis of the eponymous novel of the same name by George Markov. Nikitin took the honorary place of the second director in the project.

The plot of the picture describes the hardships and political disasters that the Siberian family of the Strogovs had to endure from 1905 to 1917. At the same time, the head of the Matvey family went from an ordinary free peasant to the head of the Red Army detachment.

The main roles in the drama “Strogova” were played by Boris Borisov (“The Game without Trumps”), Lyudmila Zaitseva (“Hello and Goodbye”) and German Novikov (“People and Mannequins”).

Short film “Bachelors”

Mikhail Nikitin began independent creative activity in 1980 with the debut short film “Bachelors”. The script for the film was written by Viktor Merezhko, who by the 80s already had a solid scenario experience.

The film “Bachelors” can be called situational comedy. The main characters of the film are inveterate bachelors, who finally decided to start a family. But since Vasya and Yasha did not have official brides, they go to their old friends Lida and Vera with an unexpected proposal to marry them. What comes out of this stupid undertaking is hard to predict.

The main roles in Nikitin’s directorial debut were received by Sergey Nikonenko (“Letters on Glass”) and Leonid Dyachkov (“Dangerous Man”).

Short film “Other games and fun”

In 1981, Mikhail Nikitin presented to the Soviet public yet another short film, “Other Fun and Games”. This time, Lidia Fedoseeva-Shukshina (star of the drama “Peers”), Oleg Borisov (“For Two Hares”) and Ekaterina Vasilyeva (“Ordinary Miracle”) took part in the filming of his comedy sketch.

The script of the television movie is based on the story of Vasily Shukshin, telling about the Khudyakov family. Young Alevtina Khudyakova gave birth to a son, but she did not inform her parents from whom. That is why her brother Kostya organizes his own investigation and goes in search of the father of the child.

War drama "My battle crew"

In 1984, Mikhail Nikitin directed the melodrama Bouquet of Mimosa and Other Flowers, starring Lidia Fedoseeva-Shukshina. Few people know this picture. She was never popular mainly because of the sluggishly developing plot.

The full-length films of Nikitin, in principle, did not have such popularity as, for example, the paintings of Alexander Polynnikov “Take Care of Women”, “Primorsky Boulevard” or other films of those years. However, the film "Strogov" and the drama "My battle crew" are still of interest to the viewer.

"My military calculation" is the story of how a participant in the Great Patriotic War returns to his hometown and faces widespread robbery and criminal revelry there. Alone, Sergei fails to put things in order, and then fellow soldiers come to his aid.

Drama "New Scheherazade"

“New Scheherazade” is Nikitin’s latest movie work. The picture was shot in 1990 and is very different from other films of the director. The presence of frank scenes, the depressing fate of the main character, an open finale - all in the spirit of a gloomy and depressing movie of the 90s.

After the filming of "New Scheherazade" Nikitin has not returned to the cinema. But the director was engaged in the development of his writing and poetic skills. Mikhail Nikitin died in 2005 in St. Petersburg.