Vladimir Mayakovsky

Writing

Vladimir Mayakovsky

Born 1893-07-19 · Bagdati, Russian Empire

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (Russian: Владимир Владимирович Маяко́вский; 19 July [O.S. 7 July] 1893 – 14 April 1930) was a Soviet poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Russian Futurist movement, being among the signers of the Futurist manifesto, A Slap in the Face of Public Taste (1913), and writing such poems as "A Cloud in Trousers" (1915) and "Backbone Flute" (1916). Mayakovsky produced a large and diverse body of work during the course of his career: he wrote poems, wrote and directed plays, appeared in films, edited the art journal LEF, and created agitprop posters in support of the Communist Party during the Russian Civil War. Though Mayakovsky's work regularly demonstrated ideological and patriotic support for the ideology of the Communist Party and a strong admiration of Vladimir Lenin, Mayakovsky's relationship with the Soviet state was always complex and often tumultuous. Mayakovsky often found himself engaged in confrontation with the increasing involvement of the Soviet State in cultural censorship and the development of the State doctrine of Socialist realism. Works that contained criticism or satire of aspects of the Soviet system, such as the poem "Talking With the Taxman About Poetry" (1926), and the plays The Bedbug (1929) and The Bathhouse (1929), were met with scorn by the Soviet state and literary establishment. In 1930 Mayakovsky committed suicide. Even after death his relationship with the Soviet state remained unsteady. Though Mayakovsky had previously been harshly criticized by Soviet governmental bodies such as the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers (RAPP), Premier Joseph Stalin described Mayakovsky after his death as "the best and the most talented poet of our Soviet epoch."

Acting credits

Born Not For Money poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Born Not For Money

1919

How Mayakovsky Worked poster
NR

The film tells the story of how Vladimir Mayakovsky created his works. He did not need the silence of a study; he created constantly—everywhere and in any setting. The picture includes archival footage, including material from 1917, as well as Mayakovsky’s drawings. Viewers can also see the poet’s working notebook: on the left-hand pages he wrote down thoughts and images, and on the right-hand pages he shaped them into poetic lines.

How Mayakovsky Worked

1947

Drama in the Futurists' Cabaret No. 13 poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Drama in the Futurists' Cabaret No. 13

1914

Shackled by Film poster
7.0

Fantastical story about an artist whose life changes after a ballerina from a film poster comes to life. Mostly lost.

Shackled by Film

1918

The Young Lady and the Hooligan poster
6.7

A young woman arrives in her school where she must teach for the first time. Her task consists in teaching a class of adults to read and write. All her students are male, ranging from boys to old men, and they are rather rowdy and difficult. All the more as a young hooligan dares write her on a test paper that he loves her. Feeling harassed by the young man, she is defended by other students. But she more or less feels the young bad boy's love is true and when this one is lying on his dying bed, after being stabbed by the other students, she solaces him by kissing him tenderly.

The Young Lady and the Hooligan

1918

The Man Mayakovsky poster
NR

A satire on Soviet propaganda based on Mayakovsky's poems.

The Man Mayakovsky

1980

World Without a Game poster
NR

Documentary portrait of Dziga Vertov, father of documentary cinema.

World Without a Game

1966

Ten Lives of a Cat: A Film about Chris Marker poster
NR

Ten years after the death of iconic French filmmaker, Chris Marker. A filmmaker, hoping to rediscover that unique sensibility against the uncertainty of the new century, returns to the places synonymous with those incomparable and unforgettable films-- From the cat cemetery of Sans Soleil, to the mausoleum of The Last Bolshevik; The caves of Level Five to the rooftops of The Case of the Grinning Cat. A biographical portrait of one of the 20th century's greatest and most misunderstood filmmakers.

Ten Lives of a Cat: A Film about Chris Marker

2023

Behind the camera

Born Not For Money poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Born Not For Money

1919

Oktyabryuhov and Dekabryuhov poster
NR

The bourgeois wedding of Dekabryukhova is interrupted by the machine-gun fire of revolution. He flees abroad, leaving his wife. Oktyabryukhov stays and adapts to the new life. At the end of the picture there is an attempt at universal reconciliation and the poet's tormenting theme "three-way love". Dekabryuhov returns to his homeland. His wife is already married to Oktyabryukhov. Having learned about it, Dekabryukhov tries to leave, but the newlyweds force him to stay.

Oktyabryuhov and Dekabryuhov

1928

Shackled by Film poster
7.0

Fantastical story about an artist whose life changes after a ballerina from a film poster comes to life. Mostly lost.

Shackled by Film

1918

O Coração do Cinema poster
NR

Free adaptation of the script by Vladimir Maiakovski. Jomard Muniz de Brito and Pernambuco's cinema.

O Coração do Cinema

1983

The Three poster
NR

Based on a short story by O. Henry "The Ransom of the Red Chief". Three boys meet by chance. Myshko, a pioneer, is walking down the street in the ranks of a pioneer unit, while the homeless Semen is standing behind the unit, and Mr. Zhorzhyk is looking out of the window. The second time the boys meet is in the Crimea, where Myshko travels with the pioneers, the panych in a soft carriage with a bonnet, and Semen between the cars. Semen is kidnapped by bandits who mistake him for Zhorzhyk. Meanwhile, Zhorzhyk escapes from his bondage to a pioneer detachment. Soon, Semyon ends up there as well.

The Three

1928

Jews on the Land poster
7.8

This documentary depicts the creation of collective farms for Jews in Crimea. It shows them building their houses, digging a well, and farming the land.

Jews on the Land

1927

The Young Lady and the Hooligan poster
6.7

A young woman arrives in her school where she must teach for the first time. Her task consists in teaching a class of adults to read and write. All her students are male, ranging from boys to old men, and they are rather rowdy and difficult. All the more as a young hooligan dares write her on a test paper that he loves her. Feeling harassed by the young man, she is defended by other students. But she more or less feels the young bad boy's love is true and when this one is lying on his dying bed, after being stabbed by the other students, she solaces him by kissing him tenderly.

The Young Lady and the Hooligan

1918

The Young Lady and the Hooligan poster
6.7

A young woman arrives in her school where she must teach for the first time. Her task consists in teaching a class of adults to read and write. All her students are male, ranging from boys to old men, and they are rather rowdy and difficult. All the more as a young hooligan dares write her on a test paper that he loves her. Feeling harassed by the young man, she is defended by other students. But she more or less feels the young bad boy's love is true and when this one is lying on his dying bed, after being stabbed by the other students, she solaces him by kissing him tenderly.

The Young Lady and the Hooligan

1918