Leonid Menaker: Filmography

Leonid Menaker is a Soviet director and screenwriter. He has more than ten paintings on his account. In addition, he wrote eight screenplays for films. The last in 2012 was created the film "I Serve the Soviet Union!".

early years

Leonid Menaker, whose biography includes several years of life in the evacuation, found the war an eleven-year-old boy. He was born in Moscow. He grew up in a creative environment. The father of the future director also created films. Primarily about the war.

After returning from the evacuation, Leonid lived in the family of his uncle - Alexander Menaker. The one who was the father of actor Andrei Mironov, and in the fifties was known in the country primarily his pop performances in a duet with his wife.

Carier start

After graduation, Leonid Menaker decided to become, like his father, a director. He received higher theatrical education. Leonid Menaker worked for ten years in Lenkom. Modern audiences are familiar for such works in the cinema as "Young Wife", "Last Road", "Dog Feast".

The beginning of the creative path

Director Leonid Menaker created his first film in 1964. The painting is called "Skylark" and tells about the events happening behind enemy lines in June 1941. The Germans are developing anti-tank guns. And the prisoners of Soviet people are used as a living target. Tankmen are sent to the "mortal crew", who manage to escape.

"Do not forget ... Lugovaya station"

Two years after his film debut, Menaker created a new film. And this work was also devoted to the military theme. But the action of the picture takes place in peacetime. The war once bound people who met quite by accident. It happened on a small station Lugovaya.

Years later, the hero travels to familiar places. And in the restaurant buffet he recognizes a woman with whom he once met. He does not remember her face, gets on the train and leaves. And only after a few minutes in his memory emerges the image of the girl, whom he met during the war at the station, which is already behind. The hero of the film jumps from the car and returns to Meadow.

Above the picture, Leonid Menaker worked with Nikita Kurikhin. These directors have more than once worked together on the set. The main character in the film was played by Anna Chernova - Menaker's wife.

"The Last Road"

From 1966 to 1986, more than ten paintings were created by Leonid Menaker. His films are completely different. There are melodramas among them, and films about the war. In 1986, Menaker wrote a screenplay for the film, narrating about the last hours of life of Alexander Pushkin. The film is called "The Last Road". The narrative begins with the moment when the most terrible in the life of the great poet and all Russian literature of the beginning of the nineteenth century has already happened. Pushkin was mortally wounded. He had only a few hours left to live.

In this film, outstanding Soviet actors played: Alexander Kalyagin, Irina Kupchenko, Innokenty Smoktunovsky.

«Young wife»

In 1978, Menaker produced a film based on the work of Velembovskaya. This picture is a melodramatic story about a simple village girl deceived by the bridegroom. The beloved goes to serve the fatherland, and before his departure promises to marry. Promise, however, does not hold back. The main roles were performed by Anna Kamenkova and Sergey Prokhanov.

"Dog feast"

In the filmography of Menaker, there are also such paintings as "Niccolo Paganini", "The Last Escape", "The Story of a Simple Thing". His last director's work differs from all others in the presence of social problems, the depiction of the torment of the "little man," whose image has been present for more than two centuries in the best works of Russian literature and cinema.

The heroes of the movie "The Dog Feast" (1990) are people suffering from loneliness, alcohol dependence and a natural human desire to be happy. The main roles were performed by Natalia Gundareva and Sergey Shakurov. Undoubtedly, the director is also obligated to the success of this film by the game of outstanding actors. The film received high praise from Russian and foreign critics.

Leonid Menaker has not made films in recent years, but he wrote scripts. However, he devotes a little time to his literary work. The director passed away in 2012, a few months after the premiere of the film, created under the last scenario. Leonid Menaker was buried in St. Petersburg.