Hard to Be a God

DIRECTED BY Aleksey German

WRITTEN BY Arkadiy Strugatskiy (novel), Boris Strugatskiy (novel), Aleksey German (adaptation)

STARRING Leonid Yarmolnik, Aleksandr Chutko

In the distant future, a space traveler from Earth breaks a special law and interferes with the history of another, Medieval-like, planet.

In Russian with English subtitles

“The most-off kilter film of our times was, perhaps, this astonishing one. Years in the making, three hours long, completed after the death of its director Alexei German, it’s set on a teeming, rancid planet on which art and thought are quelled. Hard To Be a God is a medieval Mad Max in the mud. It pushed film as far as it could go. Few artworks in the 21st Century were more dense, confusing, or sensory. What lay beyond its excess? The shock of the new. New ways of seeing in film, the black box where light matters.” – Mark Cousins

Production Year 2013

Country of Origin Russia

Language Russian

Run Time 177 min

Genre Drama

Assisted Listening Limited Availability

Music Box Theatre screens films of all genres and from every era of cinema, both new releases and repertory. These films may sometimes contain upsetting, outdated, or offensive material. While we aim to introduce many of our screenings, we do not always provide warnings about potentially triggering content within the films we screen. We encourage our patrons to research the film before they attend using trailers, reviews, or content information found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com.