pointyfilippa The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

dminkin If there was one allowable criticism one could make for A Railway Station for Two it would be the pace at which the main character, Platon Ryabinin, transforms himself from a "city-slicker" to a man quite comfortable with his surroundings in about no time at all. Even so, it's eminently forgivable when the romance between Vera and Platon is contingent on Ryabinin's adaptability, and the exposure the film gives to a detailed picture of Soviet life and its many idiosyncrasies.Although the love story is predominately what drives the pace and rhythm of the film, other sub-themes regularly permeate the main story. Profiteering, the law and justice or the lack thereof, and social stances on gender equality dominate. Irony such as the following suffuses the story line: "Life depends not on those who are in charge, but those on duty." Or "why do you want to know what you'd better not know?" And then there is the acceptance of the vagaries and injustices of life: "Good people are always unlucky." The story explores with a light, comedic touch two people from wildly different backgrounds, a pianist and a waitress, who meet accidentally at a train station. Platon is on his way to Siberia after taking the rap for a car accident in which his wife hits and kills a man who was possibly suicidal anyway. Vera 's husband has just walked out on her after committing adultery and announcing it on the apartment building's intercom. She then takes up with a black market profiteer until she and Platon meet. Their relationship becomes a study in how people from opposing backgrounds can still fall in love and take a chance despite the heartbreaks life throws at them. What is critical to this beautifully rendered film is that despite the difficulties inherent In Soviet everyday life because of the system, everyone holds no grudges and tries to work together to overcome the bureaucratic stupidities. The film's most explicit point is that no one knows what anything, including themselves, is really worth to someone else. Whether its melons, carburetors or love, anything is possible in this witty, sometimes sad, and ultimately triumphant film.

deng43 i watch the actors, lyudmila as vera in particular, and i wish they could make more films that i could access. meryl streep, whom i like very much, hasn't got a thing on lyudmila; this is one vibrant and vivid actress with a face the camera loves to love.the movie seemed very french to me; my wife thought Italian. at any rate it is not an American film. the sensibility is far more oblique and understated. i recall a stephen rea film about the ussr where he is a detective tracking down a serial killer; i think that movie really tries to portray what life must be like in Russia, but finally it is really just a cliché when compared to this film. this movie breathes 'other' and we must switch gears to attempt to see who these folk are and what they are about. a very fine bit of film making that satisfies all the way thru.

SpiritRC This is one of the best films I've ever watched. I like almost all Ryazanov's works, but this one has changed my life. Well, not directly mine, but my mother's. After watching this film, my mother finally decided that she can't suffer anymore from her husband, my father, and so she filed for divorce. That was a really wise decision, I must say! And now I'll try to explain what was the role of the film in her making such a decision.In this film there is a song (soundtrack) sang by Lyudmila Gurchenko, who plays Vera in the film. The music is written by Andrey Petrov and the lyrics are by Eldar Ryazanov himself. I will try to do a translation of the lyrics for you to understand how this song affected a 34 year old woman with a 5 year old child:We live like there is no hero, We stand like soldiers in a line. Don't be afraid to bet for zero And quickly overcome your life!Remember us at the beginning? Today we try to never strive. Take smallest chance towards the winning And try to overcome your life!Let streaks of gray be guests in your hair, It's never late to make a turn. Don't be afraid to bet all you have, And act like you have just reborn!Whenever rain thrashes your suit's back Try to cheer up and feel alright The time has come to shuffle your pack And try to overcome the life!Believe in dreams, believe in tales, Don't drag your things all 'round the place: You'll never take them into Hades, So better try and win the race!Let there be no place for a sorrow When you can't beat your rival's card, You bet your life for the tomorrow - There is no win without a fight!

Jing Han I keep this movie on the top of my favorite Soviet movies. Typical Russian dark humor and sharply piercing plots, right into heart of human love.No other director has done so well in the balancing popularity and literary art. The beauty is plain, but keeps coming back to your memory.I grow up in China but and this title is imprinted into my memory of the wandering time, a seemingly peaceful time, with undercurrent of our human fates in the vast system, and hence the life without a border.Centrel Russia ( west Siberia) has never been so vivid, and never be so warm. It requires some traveling in the vast inland to fully understand the beauty.