I Walk Around Moscow, Brother 2, The Cranes Are Flying: Moscow Filming Locations

The streets, courtyards, and parks of the capital have repeatedly served as filming locations for cult films. These include both Soviet and modern movies — comedies, dramas, musicals. Many of these titles are familiar from childhood, and sometimes it«s interesting to see what the places where our favorite films were shot look like now.

MSK1.RU is launching a new series on such locations: we tried to photograph them from the same angles seen in the movies. In each installment, we will talk about three places connected to three films. Many of them are located close to each other, so you can plan an entire walking route.

I Walk Around Moscow: Chistye Prudy

Georgiy Daneliya«s lyrical comedy »I Walk Around Moscow« (1964) is structured as a chronicle of one summer day in the capital. A Siberian named Volodya Yermakov comes to Moscow, meets a metro construction worker named Kolya, and almost accidentally gets drawn into his circle of friends, concerns, and joys. The film lacks a sharp conflict; instead, it is filled with conversations, walks, awkward situations, and a sense of simple everyday life.

One of the key scenes in the film was shot at Chistye Prudy. It is here that Kolya and Volodya meet. Walking along the water, Volodya recounts the history of the place and, out of old habit, calls Chistye Prudy «Dirty,» immediately giving himself away as an out-of-towner. This dialogue not only introduces the viewer to the characters but also sets the tone for the entire film — light, ironic, characteristic of the cinema of the Thaw era.

In this same scene, a dog grabs Volodya«s trousers, and Kolya suggests going to his home to have them mended. Thus, a minor domestic incident becomes the starting point of a friendship and the day»s subsequent events. Daneliya«s camera captures a calm Moscow living its own life: the boulevard, benches, reflections in the water. Perhaps that»s why the film is still loved and rewatched.

Brother 2: Yauzsky Boulevard

«Brother 2» by Aleksey Balabanov (2000) is a crime drama and simultaneously a harsh parable about strength, justice, and national identity. Danila Bagrov, having returned from Chechnya, gets drawn into a conflict surrounding his deceased friend and sets out first to deal with Moscow gangsters, and then — to the United States to restore justice in his own way. The film became a cult classic thanks to the image of the main character, sharp dialogue, and a soundtrack of late-1990s Russian rock.

One of the less dynamic but important episodes of the Moscow part of the film was shot on Yauzsky Boulevard.

After a shootout with Belkin«s men, Danila and Viktor manage to break away from the chase and find themselves on a quiet street running alongside old buildings. In the frame is a pre-war 1930s building with an arch and sculptures of a worker and a female collective farm worker, a characteristic example of early Stalinist Empire style. In the background appears the skyscraper on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment — one of the symbols of post-war Moscow.

This scene is almost devoid of action: the brothers simply walk and talk. But it is at this moment that the viewer feels the contrast between the violence just experienced and the external calm of the city. Overall, in the film, Moscow feels gloomy and anxious, as it was in the 1990s.

The Cranes Are Flying: Armyansky Lane

The war drama «The Cranes Are Flying» by Mikhail Kalatozov (1957) tells a love story against the backdrop of the Great Patriotic War. Boris and Veronika meet the start of the war in Moscow, making plans, but mobilization destroys their future. Boris leaves for the front, Veronika stays behind the lines, experiencing bombings and loss. The film focuses not on battle scenes but on the inner drama of a person caught in the whirlwind of history. It was for this emotional honesty that the film received the Palme d«Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

One of the film«s most tragic scenes was shot in Armyansky Lane, in the courtyard of School No. 644. Here, Boris and Veronika»s unconsummated farewell takes place: they search for each other in the crowd, missing one another by just a few steps, separated by an iron fence. This location — the fence with its iron grille — was found by the film«s production designer Lidiya Naumova, and the place became a visual symbol of separation and the invisible wall that war erects between people.

The scene of the volunteers gathering was also filmed here, in the school courtyard. The director shows how, from the very first days, the war invades the city«s previously quiet and peaceful spaces.

If you are interested in the history and architecture of Moscow, read our series of articles on the capital«s unusual houses. We have also written about the past and present of the Stalinist skyscrapers and published guides to Moscow estates.