Hard to Be a God

Name: Hard to Be a God
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama
Released: January 30, 2015
Duration: 170 min
Rating: 93

2015

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 13 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 43 Ratings

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5.4

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5.4	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 43 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Kino Lorber | Release Date: January 30, 2015 | Not Rated

Summary: A group of research scientists has been sent to the planet Arkanar, living under an oppressed regime in a period equivalent to earth’s Middle Ages. The local population is suffering a ban issued on anyone who knows how to read and write. The scientists must refrain from influencing political and historical events on Arkanar. They must workA group of research scientists has been sent to the planet Arkanar, living under an oppressed regime in a period equivalent to earth’s Middle Ages. The local population is suffering a ban issued on anyone who knows how to read and write. The scientists must refrain from influencing political and historical events on Arkanar. They must work incognito, and they must remain neutral. Don Rumata, recognized by the locals as a sort of futuristic god, tries to save the local intelligentsia from their punishment. He cannot avoid taking the stance: “What would you do in God’s place?” [Kino Lorber]… Expand

Director: Aleksei German

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 170 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Richard Brody

Aug 3, 2015

The late director Aleksei Guerman’s last film is a grandly arbitrary carnival of neo-medieval depravity. It’s also a mudpunk allegory of Russian barbarism and backwardness. Read full review

100

The Telegraph Robbie Collin

Dec 13, 2015

Though it delves into the worst extremes of human ugliness, German’s film is exhilarating, moving, funny, beautiful and unshakeable – a danse macabre that whirls you round and round until the bitter end. Read full review

100

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Dec 13, 2015

Hard to Be a God creates its own uncanny world: it is beautiful, brilliant and bizarre. Read full review

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

Jan 28, 2015

It is grotesque and deranged and Hieronymus Bosch-like, and damn if it isn’t a bona fide vision — but of what, exactly? Read full review

Nicolas Rapold

Jan 29, 2015

Mr. German was just as stubborn in sticking to his personal vision (and revisions) as he was innovative in his storytelling, and he’s left behind a final opus that is hard to shake. Read full review

Michael Atkinson

Jan 27, 2015

Textually, the setting's brutalist conflation between the far future and the distant past makes the film timeless, an elusive fable told with the viscous immediacy of a life on the diseased edge of civilization. Read full review

Jay Weissberg

Jan 29, 2015

In essence it’s an historical artifact created in a time capsule: impressive in its way, yet its retardataire mannerisms require more distance before judgment can be passed on whether it’s a major work engaged in earlier forms, or an intriguing footnote trapped in a spent modality. Read full review

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User Reviews

jameslucasutley

Sep 26, 2015

A superb swan song of director Aleksei German, who died in February 2013 during the film’s post production. But, to call it a swan song somehow doesn’t fit. A swan is elegant and beautiful, yet Hard to be a God is a telling of ugliness and inelegance – dense, chaotic and frightening.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Fluid_Dynamics

Feb 14, 2015

Great movie! This needs to be screened in Salt Lake City. Videowest can help. People here would love it. When will this be available for wider release? What's the delay?

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

dpredrag

Aug 24, 2015

Fellini's moving camera where everything as if by chance happens in the close ups, but nothing wants to deliver much meaning - it is about dreams, or here, about nightmares: all deeply sunk in mud, blood and feces. We should consider ourselves lucky that it is all filmed in black & white. InFellini's moving camera where everything as if by chance happens in the close ups, but nothing wants to deliver much meaning - it is about dreams, or here, about nightmares: all deeply sunk in mud, blood and feces. We should consider ourselves lucky that it is all filmed in black & white. In 3 hours of unrelenting merry go round of theatrical disgust, the only fragments of a (supposedly relevant) plot are revealed in a voiceover.… Expand

3 of 7 users found this helpful34

darklordabc123

Aug 19, 2017

I created an account just to review this movie. This movie had a great promise, it had super high ratings from the critics, and the premise was interesting and unique, I was looking forward to a scfi romp with deep philosophical discussions, what I got was, in a word, **** 30 minutes intoI created an account just to review this movie. This movie had a great promise, it had super high ratings from the critics, and the premise was interesting and unique, I was looking forward to a scfi romp with deep philosophical discussions, what I got was, in a word, **** 30 minutes into watching this crap, I had to check the internet for another source because I thought maybe the subtitles were wrong, but then I realized that most of the dialog is random, nasty, and has no logical connection to any other dialog or to the "plot". Besides the introduction at the start and some other times, there would be no way to know what is going on. But it seems like critics loved this film because of a) It was by a famous Russian director b) Its black and white so it seems more artistics and c) It does make you feel something, makes u feel disgusted and bored, I think they think that making you feel these things is an achivement, its not, watching a cat **** for 3 hours could have the same effect. Don't watch this film, its nonsense, disgusting, extremely dumb, there is no "sc-fi" elements and its boring crap.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

bradcheng

Feb 4, 2016

One of those overtly grotesque eastern European films that thinks tossing the viewer into a cesspool of muck and mire will result in a genuinely disturbing emotional experience when, in fact, all it does is highlight pretentious direction, garish set and costume design, and low productionOne of those overtly grotesque eastern European films that thinks tossing the viewer into a cesspool of muck and mire will result in a genuinely disturbing emotional experience when, in fact, all it does is highlight pretentious direction, garish set and costume design, and low production values. Ostensibly having horror as it's center attraction, this cheap hyper-"realism" only results in a queasy and phony viewing experience, like a faked rabbit-fur oddity in a carnival-freakshow glass jar. Unpleasant, tedious, and pointless.… Expand

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

ForrestG

Dec 28, 2015

By far the worst movie i have seen this year. You can talk about very well-done camera work or the movie being a true art. But constant close-ups don't look so impressive when they occupy 99 percent of the film and no matter how many angles you show faeces from, they will stay faeces andBy far the worst movie i have seen this year. You can talk about very well-done camera work or the movie being a true art. But constant close-ups don't look so impressive when they occupy 99 percent of the film and no matter how many angles you show faeces from, they will stay faeces and will stink the same. I don't understand that kind of art. There are hundreds of AMAZING movies that trigger disgust on purpose but in such a way that a viewer gets engaged with the events of the picture, but "Hard to be a god" simply disgusts by itself… Expand

3 of 7 users found this helpful34

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