A Black Rose Is an Emblem of Sorrow, a Red Rose an Emblem of Love

The story happens mainly around "The Old Arbat Street" in the center of Moscow, where always concentrate vendors, poor young artists and musicians. The hero of this film is a boy named Mitiya,who lives with eccentric elder friend in an apartment house on "The Old Arbat". In fact, people who then appear around Mitiya are all unique, eccentric and the space of the apartment house begins to have an unrealistic character as a miniature of unstable society in the end of Soviet Union.

Directed by Sergey Solovyov, A Black Rose Is an Emblem of Sorrow, a Red Rose an Emblem of Love leans on a strong ensemble — Tatyana Drubich, Aleksandr Abdulov, Aleksandr Zbruev — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about fantasy titles of 1990.