Justin G This movie is very slow to get going, so slow I could compare it to a turtle stuck in molasses. If there was an American movie I would compare it to, it would be "The Vow". I enjoyed neither. Both are about menial life issues. Everyone has these issues in their life. I don't watch movies to get more of my life's problems. I watch to escape reality and partake in an adventure. The main character aggravates me with his inability to stand for anything. It bothers me that he can not tell the truth. The back drops and scenes were designed very well. At times in the movie I would find myself not paying attention to the story and characters, but watching the back drop of the city, imagining if I lived there.

FilmCriticLalitRao As a subjective concept 'goodness' is interpreted in various forms. However, it can be easily assessed if it is seen through the prism of 'actions' performed by people. Russian film Osenniy Marafon (Autumn Marathon) is a tragicomic tale wherein the concept of 'goodness' abounds through the portrayal of an English-Russian translator who would help anybody in need. His weakness is that he doesn't know how to refuse anybody who has come to seek help. However, there is more trouble in store for him due to his tendency to intentionally utter numerous false statements to both family members and colleagues. Russian director Georgi Danelia put himself in a creative quandary by making a film about a man who has too many negative qualities despite having a charming outer appearance. This is one reason why authorities who worked for the promotion of Russian cinema were reluctant to promote this film as it chose to depict a philandering liar who would cause immense grief to both his mistress as well as wife. Although the film's theme might appear a little outdated to contemporary viewers but it was an immense success during its release in late 1970s. This brings us to question why there was tremendous opposition to this film in official circles as adultery has always remained a recurring theme in Russian literature. It is not a secret that many duels were fought with loss of lives over extra marital affairs. Lastly Russian actors namely Oleg Bassilashvili, Natalya Gundareva and Marina Neyolova are credible in their respective roles as husband, wife and mistress who suffer immensely as a web of lies is woven around their erratic lives.

Lee Eisenberg After "Osenniy marafon" (called "Autumn Marathon" in English) came out, director Georgi Daneliya couldn't get any work for about two years; the movie didn't conform to socialist realism in quite the way that the authorities wanted. It portrays Leningrad teacher Andrei Buzykin (Oleg Basilashvili), whose life seems to be going nowhere. His wife barely notices him, and the only thing really resembling joy is when his Danish friend asks him to go jogging every day. But things may be about to change.The title may refer not only to the jogs with his friend, but the possibility that Oleg's life may be about to completely change (and how he may have to overcome certain obstacles). Maybe. And his friend sure had wild hair for a Danish person - I thought that Scandinavian people usually have very straight hair.Now for a little joke. There ought to be a movie called "Autumn Marathon Man", in which a burnt out Russian teacher gets some unnecessary dental work.

Niffiwan This film takes a while to get going, but once it does it's a pretty good film. I strongly recommend it to those who'd like to see how ordinary people lived in the USSR in the early 80s.The film takes place in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), which is Russia's second largest city after Moscow. The cinematographer is this film is a very good one, and there are a lot of great compositional shots... I'd say that the cinematography in this film seems more western than a lot of other Russian films. The editing work and script, by contrast, is not always so good, especially in the beginning of the film (for the first 1/2 hour I didn't even know who the main character was!). The actors are all very believable though, and by the end of the film I pretty much understood everything that I was so confused about at first.This film isn't a traditional comedy; it's more of a sad morality tale told with some humour to keep it from becoming depressing. If you liked "Moscow Does not Believe in Tears", you may like this movie as well. Interesting to note is that the director was female (EDIT: Sorry folks, he's male. I assumed that the director was Russian, in which case a last name ending with "a" would signify a female).Overall, I'd give it a 7/10. Westerners may want to watch this if they want to see a "typical" Soviet movie from the last half of the century. Most critics only notice the more "avant garde" movies of Soviet cinema like "Andrei Rublev" or "Battleship Potemkin", and that becomes people's impression of what Russian movies are like. This is for those who want to see a simple movie about a man's life that can be pretty much universal anywhere; there is no over-the-top patriotism or strangeness in this film and it's a good film regardless. BTW, the Russian voices are better than the English voice-overs.