Deaf Crocodile and Vinegar Syndrome have announced that they will be releasing director Karen Shakhnazarov’s time-traveling historical mystery The Assassin Of The Tsar on Blu-Ray on March 28, 2023. Malcolm McDowell delivers one of his finest performances as Timofeyev, a patient in a Soviet mental hospital who’s convinced he’s the killer of two Tsars: Alexander II in 1881 and Nicholas II in 1918.
The film was shot simultaneously in English and Russian-language versions on separate 35mm negatives, and the company is releasing restorations of both versions on Blu-ray in a stunning 2K restoration from Mosfilm. Get the details below!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7OzXmqsP3c]
Synopsis: From Karen Shakhnazarov, director of ZEROGRAD, ASSASSIN OF THE TSAR is a mysterious and labyrinthine psychological drama in which the tormented chambers of a patient’s mind come to warp everything around him, even the folds of history itself. In one of his finest latter-day performances, the great Malcolm McDowell (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, TIME AFTER TIME) stars as Timofeyev, a severe schizophrenic in a dreary Soviet mental hospital who is convinced that, impossibly, he’s the killer of two Tsars: Alexander II in 1881 and Nicholas II in 1918. The thoughtful new head of the hospital, Dr. Smirnov (Oleg Yankovskiy) is determined to cure Timofeyev of his madness – but instead finds himself literally pulled back through time, inhabiting the ghosts of the past as they march towards their tragic destiny.
EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURES
- Region A Blu-ray
- New restoration from original 35mm elements by Mosfilm
- New commentary track by film writer and historian Samm Deighan
- New essay by film critic and historian Walter Chaw
- New interview with star Malcolm McDowell
- New interview with director Karen Shakhnazarov
- Russian language version of film with different edit and score
- Blu-ray mastering and authoring by David Mackenzie/Fidelity in Motion
- English SDH subtitles
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Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
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