Learn Hardcore Russian: Этот фильм кажется скучным, но на самом деле он интересный. - This movie seems boring, but in fact it is interesting.

Here фильм is the subject (nominative), and скучным is a predicative complement in the instrumental case, describing what the film seems like.

This is the same pattern you see with verbs such as:

быть – to be
- Он был учителем. – He was a teacher. (учителем, instrumental)
стать – to become
- Она стала врачом. – She became a doctor. (врачом, instrumental)
оказаться, выглядеть, считаться can also take instrumental in similar roles.

So кажется скучным is the natural, standard structure: [subject in nominative] + кажется + [adjective/noun in instrumental].

Is Этот фильм кажется скучный (with nominative скучный) also possible?

You might occasionally hear or see кажется with a nominative adjective, but:

Standard, neutral, and safest form is: кажется скучным (instrumental).
Этот фильм кажется скучный sounds colloquial or non‑standard to many native speakers, and some would consider it simply incorrect.

For a learner, you should treat кажется + instrumental as the rule:

✅ Этот фильм кажется скучным.
❌ Этот фильм кажется скучный. (avoid)

Why is интересный in the nominative, not instrumental like скучным?

The structures in the two halves of the sentence are different:

Этот фильм кажется скучным
- Has the verb кажется which tends to require instrumental for the description.
но на самом деле он интересный
- Here you have a simple “he is interesting” type structure:
- он (есть) интересный – the verb “is” (есть) is normally omitted in the present tense.
- The adjective after this “invisible” быть is in the nominative: интересный.

So:

After кажется → use instrumental: скучным.
In a simple “X (is) Y” sentence in the present → use nominative: он интересный.

Could we instead say но на самом деле он интересен? What’s the difference between интересный and интересен?

Yes, you can say:

…но на самом деле он интересен.

This uses a short-form adjective (интересен) instead of the long form (интересный).

General difference:

интересный (long form)
- Very common, neutral, used both attributively and predicatively:
  - интересный фильм – an interesting film
  - он интересный – he is interesting
интересен (short form)
- Only predicative (only after “is / seems / becomes” etc.), cannot directly modify a noun:
  - Фильм интересен. – The film is interesting.
  - ❌ интересен фильм as an attributive adjective (incorrect in that function).
- Often a bit more formal or “bookish” in modern Russian.

So all of these are grammatically possible, with slightly different style:

Он интересный. – Very neutral, conversational.
Он интересен. – Slightly more formal/literary.

In your sentence:

…на самом деле он интересный – perfectly natural, everyday Russian.
…на самом деле он интересен – also correct; just a bit more formal-sounding.

What does на самом деле literally mean, and how is it used?

Literally:

на самом деле ≈ “on the real deed/fact”
- дело here is like “matter / fact / situation”.

Functionally, it means:

“in reality,” “actually,” “in fact,” “really” (as opposed to appearances or assumptions).

Use it when you want to contrast reality with a first impression, belief, or expectation:

Он кажется строгим, но на самом деле он добрый.
– He seems strict, but actually he is kind.

In your sentence:

…кажется скучным, но на самом деле он интересный.
– “…seems boring, but in reality it’s interesting.”

It’s a very common, useful phrase and works in both spoken and written Russian.

Why do we say кажется here instead of выглядит? What’s the difference between казаться and выглядеть?

Both can be translated as “seem”, but they focus on different things:

казаться – to seem / appear (in general, to the mind)
- Can be based on any kind of impression: visual, context, reputation, your feeling, etc.
- Often takes instrumental: кажется скучным, кажется странным.
выглядеть – to look (visually)
- Focused on appearance to the eyes.
- Often used with adjectives in instrumental or nominative, depending on style:
  - Она выглядит усталой. (instrumental)
  - Она выглядит усталая. (more colloquial, nominative)

In your sentence:

Этот фильм кажется скучным…
This isn’t only about how the film looks; it’s about the general first impression (maybe from the title, posters, opinions, etc.), so казаться is ideal.

You could say:

Этот фильм выглядит скучным…
– This would emphasize more how it looks visually (poster, trailer, etc.), and is also possible, but slightly different in nuance.

Can we add a person, like Мне этот фильм кажется скучным? How does that work?

Yes, very naturally:

Мне этот фильм кажется скучным.
– To me, this film seems boring.

Here:

мне is dative (“to me”) and marks the experiencer – whose impression it is.
этот фильм is still the subject (nominative).
скучным is still the instrumental complement.

You can change the person:

Тебе этот фильм кажется скучным? – Does this film seem boring to you?
Ему/ей этот фильм кажется скучным. – To him/her, this film seems boring.

Your original sentence just states a general impression without saying whose impression it is (it can be understood as “it seems boring (to people / in general)”).

Where is the word “is” in он интересный? Why is there no verb like in English?

In Russian, in the present tense, the verb “to be” (быть) is normally omitted in simple “X is Y” sentences.

So:

Он интересный.
Literally corresponds to: Он (есть) интересный.
– “He is interesting.”

The same with nouns:

Она студентка. – She is a student.
Это проблема. – This is a problem.

In the past and future you must show the verb:

Он был интересным. – He was interesting.
Он будет интересным. – He will be interesting.

In your sentence, он интересный has an “invisible” present-tense быть, which is why the adjective stands in the nominative.

Does кажется here mean “it seems” in an impersonal way, like Кажется, этот фильм скучный? Are those two sentences different?

There are two related but different patterns:

Personal, with a clear subject:
- Этот фильм кажется скучным.
  – This film seems boring.
Here, фильм is the grammatical subject. You’re saying: the film itself seems boring.
Impersonal, with “кажется” at the start:
- Кажется, этот фильм скучный.
  – It seems (to me/us) that this film is boring.
In this pattern:
- Кажется works more like English “It seems…”.
- What follows (этот фильм скучный) is a whole clause, not just a complement.

So:

Этот фильм кажется скучным. – Focus on the film’s apparent quality.
Кажется, этот фильм скучный. – Focus on the speaker’s impression/opinion (“it seems that…”).

Both are correct, but the grammar and nuance are slightly different.

Can we omit он and say …но на самом деле интересный?

In careful, standard Russian, you normally keep the pronoun:

✅ …но на самом деле он интересный.

If you drop он, you can get:

…но на самом деле интересный.

This can appear in very colloquial speech, especially if the subject is completely obvious from context, but in writing or for learners it is better to keep the pronoun.

More natural “shortened” options include repeating the noun or rephrasing:

Этот фильм кажется скучным, но на самом деле интересный фильм. (not great style, a bit clumsy)
Better: Этот фильм кажется скучным, но на самом деле он очень интересный.

So for your purposes: use the explicit “он”.

Could we say Этот фильм кажется скучным, но на самом деле он интересным (instrumental again)? Why or why not?

In the present tense, with a simple “X is Y” structure, Russian normally uses the nominative for the predicate adjective:

Он интересный. – He is interesting.
Фильм хороший. – The film is good.

Instrumental (интересным) in the present tense is used when there is an explicit or implied verb that typically takes instrumental for roles/qualities (быть in some meanings, стать, работать, казаться, etc.), or in certain special stylistic cases.

In your sentence:

There is no second verb like кажется, становится, etc., in the second clause.
It’s simply он (есть) интересный → nominative.

So:

✅ …но на самом деле он интересный.
❌ …но на самом деле он интересным. (incorrect in standard Russian in this context)

If you changed the tense or structure, instrumental could appear:

…но на самом деле он был интересным. – But in reality he was interesting. (past, explicit был)

But in the present with an omitted быть, you use интересный.