Padal proshlogodniy sneg (1983 TV Short) User Reviews

A short, funny movie-" Zet's not enuf, y'see."

[polishanya · 9/10 · 19 February 2008]

This movie has many Russian fairy tale elements. The story is all about getting a Christmas tree in time for Christmas. Of course, it's not as easy as it seems... The man's frustration is hilarious as well as the mess he gets into due to his incessant daydreaming. His wife is always there to remind him of his task and wipe the daydreams away. This is a good film for children- they will laugh and sympathize. The humour is not too subtle but is perfect for kids. Not that adults won't like it. If you like Russian fairy tales- Baba Yaga and the rest, you will probably enjoy this short movie. The clay animation is quite endearing. Another similar movie I enjoyed by Aleksandr Tatarskiy was Plastilinovaya vorona (1981) also using clay animation. I recommend watching it although I, myself, preferred Padal proshlogodniy sneg.

Soviet classic

[suchenwi · 9/10 · 30 April 2011]

Wow, this is a weird claymation film chock-full of ideas and gags. One would have to watch it many times, and still discover something new in the next viewing. I try to imagine how the Soviet censor might have scratched his head...

Wikipedia reports that there was a scandal involving the main voice actor: "Sadalsky did not appear in the credits. Shortly before the final cut, the actor was arrested inside the Cosmos Hotel with a foreign citizen. The information against Sadalsky was reported to Gosteleradio director S. Lapin who ordered the removal of Sadalsky's name from the credits as a penalty for forbidden relations with foreigners." In the copy of the film available at archive.org, this wrong is somewhat righted by an extra credit after the end: "The camera crew thanks actor Stanislaw Sadalsky for providing the voice for the recording".

It's tough to get a tree

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 31 July 2015]

At least that seems to be the case in the 1980's Soviet Union around Christmas time. The writer here is Sergei Ivanov and the director is the late Aleksandr Tatarskiy, who should at least be known to animation lovers. This film here has the English title "Last Year's Snow is falling" and it is, if at all, a good watch during the holidays. Still I have to say I thought this would be better because of the high rating. It was made 32 years ago, but I felt it looked a lot older. The film runs for 20 minutes and you can easily split these into two halves. The first half was superior in my opinion. It reminded me of the tale about the fisherman and his wife who can never get enough and ends up with nothing just like she started. Only difference is that the male protagonist brings the greed here. I would not have been made if the film had ended after 10 minutes. The second half is not really memorable and just weird I think. There is no real moral anymore and the humor isn't great either. Had this ended after 10 minutes, I may have recommended it, but this way I just can't. Watch something else instead.