Unfinished Piece For The Player Piano (1977) Rating: Starring: Yuri Bogatyryov, Yevghenia Glushenko, Seryozha Guryev, Pavel Kadochnikov, Alexander Kaliagin, Nikita Mikhalkov, Xenia Minina, Natalya Nazarova, Sergei Nikonenko, Nikolai Pastukhov, Anatoly Romashin, Antonina Shuranova, Yelena Solovey Director: Nikita Mikhalkov Category: Avant Garde, Foreign Studio: Image Ent. Subtitles: English,Spanish,French,Japanese,Russian,Italian,German,Portuguese,Chinese,Hebrew,Arabic,Dutch,Swedish Length: 103 mins     The film is based on the works by Russian writer Anton Chekhov. This is a picture of life of the Russian gentry in the late 19th century. Without a grain of sentimentality, the director reveals the moral bankruptcy of his heroes. A village teacher, Platonov, is undergoing an emotional crisis. He believes his life has had no purpose. He is tormenting both himself and his young wife, Sashenka. The film's other protagonist - Doctor Terletsky - hates his patients and his work. The guests staying with a general's wife, Anna Petrovna, are talking about the pleasures of a simple village life, not really believing what they are saying. The retro style chosen by the director and the masterly cinematography (a credit to Nikita Mikhalkov's permanent cameraman - Pavel Lebeshev) combine to make this film a real treasure for the lovers of Russian classics. Played in the film is the music by G. Donizetti, F. Liszt, S. Rachmaninov.