ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I present the broad horizon of cinematic remaking in contemporary Russian culture, before narrowing my focus to two prominent examples of the genre. I am interested, in particular, in the way that the hybrid status of these films as ‘domestic-foreign remakes’ has impacted, first, on the form and structure of the narratives and, second, on the reception of the texts by the viewing public. My argument is that the hybridity inherent in the process of remaking Soviet texts in post-Soviet contexts bends and warps the resulting product, giving rise to confusion and frustration among the consumers of these films. This experience, one can argue, has an analogy in the broader post-Soviet condition, which, like the consumption of cinematic remakes of Soviet-era films, involves a process of simultaneous identification and self-distancing from a Soviet ‘source text’.
