Sergei Eisenstein
The two great Russian filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky and Sergei Eisenstein. Eisenstein is the more influential. Eisenstein came from the Russian school of film theory and was deeply influential in developing the Russian montage.
The Russian montage didn't focus so much on narrative in the editing, but more rhythm and the psychological nature of the audience to move the film forward. Take this sequence from Sergei Eisenstein's masterpiece Battleship Potemkin. http://youtu.be/laJ_1P-Py2k . The Odessa Steps sequence is one of the most copied, for good reason.
The impact is in the cuts. As Martin Scorsese put it about this classic scene that would take from the Russian Montage school of editing, the violence is in the cuts http://youtu.be/8VP5jEAP3K4.
Because of the Russian Montage and the influence of Eisenstein we get this http://youtu.be/cQCQRLA05AA, this http://youtu.be/sDZvP9aWXwM, this http://youtu.be/Gv2sSLU8PJk, and this http://youtu.be/J0BrdMi-oyc.
Ultimately the Russian Montage couldn't sustain the narrative of an entire film, as Eisenstein had hoped, but it did lead to a thematic punch and would lead to some of the most classic scenes in movie history.
Lastly, note these scenes from Eisenstein's later films. The first, The Battle Of The Ice, from Eistenstein's Alexander Nevsky was heavily influential on Stanley Kubrick and Spartacus in particular. http://youtu.be/vKZPgGbUuX0. Note how Eisenstein edits to the rhythm of the music to build tension.
And, lastly this scene from his final epic, Ivan the Terrible, Part 1. http://youtu.be/fub8u33UF2s
You can find Eisenstein's Ivan The Terrible parts 1 & 2 here http://hulu.com/s/6SV on Hulu, as well as October: Ten Days That Shook The World http://hulu.com/w/HBFU
http://hulu.com/w/HBFU. You can find Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin and Strike on Netflix.
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