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Hard to Be a God

Play trailer Poster for Hard to Be a God 2013 2h 57m Sci-Fi Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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95% Tomatometer 42 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Scientists are sent to the planet Arkanar to help a medieval civilization and rescue intellectuals.
Hard to Be a God

What to Know

Critics Consensus

A sci-fi epic with palpable connections to the present, Hard to Be a God caps director Aleksei German's brilliant filmography with a final masterpiece.

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Critics Reviews

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Nick Pinkerton Sight & Sound A profoundly, wilfully destabilising experience. Jan 15, 2016 Full Review Jonathan Romney Observer (UK) The result may be an awe-inspiring folly rather than a fully realised masterpiece, but it's radically out of the ordinary. Rated: 5/5 Aug 9, 2015 Full Review Tara Brady Irish Times Oblique and dense in a manner that makes those other great Strugatsky-inspired films look like Star Wars episodes, the film relentlessly hammers out humanity's propensity for barbarism. Rated: 5/5 Aug 8, 2015 Full Review Alonso Díaz de la Vega El Universal [Filmmaker Aleksei] German exalts the grotesque sensuality of Arkanar with a visual style that surpasses the expressiveness of Khrustalyov, My Car! [Full review in Spanish] Dec 9, 2021 Full Review Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com Those welcoming the sensation of being overwhelmed will relish German's uncompromising vision. Rated: 5/5 Oct 27, 2020 Full Review David N. Butterworth La Movie Boeuf Aleksei German's immersive cinematic vision is like the mucky, muddy parts of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" scrutinized, lionized, and revitalized to the nth degree -- call it The Knights Who Say "Nyet!" Rated: 3/4 Feb 23, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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nina n Like all films that are lived-in, you won't come out unscathed. Read the book. Please do. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/21/25 Full Review S R My brother recommended it for its uniqueness and unique it was. It was so medieval and painfully frustrating, but it still had some crazy staged choreographed scenes. Did I enjoy it? Not especially, but it deserves respect for its ambitious sci-fi plot. It took guts to make and to take a box office bomb. RUS. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/13/24 Full Review Frisian W Absolutely amazing. I really like the unique hypnotic and otherworldly vibe. I watch the trailer often to relive this feeling. A very creepy planet that I'm happy not to live on. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/17/23 Full Review Honest D One of the most intense experiences of my life. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/23/23 Full Review tink l 3 hours of my life I will never get back. Sure, the camera work is great, black & white sets an interesting mood, the changes from normal acting to 4th wall breaks have their merits. Yes, the middle ages were dark and nasty. Had it been 5-10 minutes it might have made for a great short. But flogging the gross, decaying, dead horse covered in sh*it and vomit for 3 hours was just unbearable. I watched this at a movie theatre (during a film festival, so people would be a bit more open to unusual experiences, you'd think). But after an hour more than half the audience had left. The people I went with found refuge in sleep... Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Rich S Like most Russian literature and the movies that result from those novels, Hard to Be a God has its own beauty. It's not the beauty of a sunset, but rather the beauty of dark clouds rolling in to wash away the filth of the movie's stagnant culture. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/19/21 Full Review Read all reviews
Hard to Be a God

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Cast & Crew

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Aleksey German

Director

Leonid Yarmolnik

Don Rumata

Valentin Golubenko

Arata

Yuriy Tsurilo

Don Pampa

Evgeniy Gerchakov

Budakh

Aleksandr Chutko

Don Reba

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Hard to Be a God

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Movie Info

Synopsis Scientists are sent to the planet Arkanar to help a medieval civilization and rescue intellectuals.
Director
Aleksey German
Producer
Viktor Izvekov, Leonid Yarmolnik
Screenwriter
Aleksey German, Svetlana Karmalita
Genre
Sci-Fi, Drama
Original Language
Russian
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 30, 2016
Runtime
2h 57m