Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2015: #50. Alexey German Jr.’s Under Electric Clouds

Published on January 7, 2015

Under Electric Clouds

Director: Alexey German Jr. // Writer: Alexey German Jr.

Son of famed Russian auteur Alexey German (whose final, posthumous film, the decade long project Hard to be a God finally premiered at the Rome Film Fest in 2013) unveils his fourth feature in Berlin, a change of pace since he’s premiered all three first features in Venice, including his most notable title, 2008’s Paper Soldier. His latest, Under Electric Clouds, reunites him with Chulpan Khamatova, who starred in all three previous features (as well as 2003’s Goodbye Lenin) and concerns an architect that is forced to stop work on an ongoing project, meant to be a metaphor for the current generation. While his father’s work is often noted as being not only obscure but difficult to grasp for non-natives (but worthy of seeking out, particularly 1998’s Khrustalyov, My Car!), we hope to see German Jr. command the same indefatigable mise en scene.

Cast: Chulpan Khamatova, Merab Ninidze, Viktoria Korotkova

Production Co.: Apple Film Productions

U.S. Distributor: Rights available

Release Date: The film is set to play in competition at Berlin 2015.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.