STRANA OZ

This unconventional addition to the ranks to the very Russian genre of new year's comedies from Vassily Sigarev sees Lenka Shabadinova (Sigarev's wife) make a number of unexpected acquaintances. In the process a panorama of sexual obsession and asexual relationships is opened before our eyes, beyond the realm of good and evil.

Sigarev forays into the world of comedy. Motivated by the absurdity of contemporary Russia and the collective delusion that has gripped society, he claims that the only escape is that of the fantasy world. Yet saying that this work represents a continuation of the self-styled enfant terrible playwright and film director's signature style of bone-chilling, head-on realism, as manifested in VOLCHOK (2009) and ZHIT (2012). His predilection for his fellow countrymen's quirky behaviour and excesses of violence is also on show here, taking on unspeakable dimensions as Lenka gets caught up in a series of adventures on her way to work in a small roadside kiosk (where cult actor Aleksandr Bashirov is also up to no good). This naïve Dorothy from the Russian provinces is left not only left gobsmacked by this Yekaterinburg wonderland of profanities, but also ends up in deep snow (surrounded by fireworks) and prison (surrounded by prostitutes) and, what's perhaps worst of all, confronted by everyday men, faults, failings and all.

Despite the presence of a guardian angel, this was never an adventure Lenka was going to survive unscathed, and yet she's happy, since the man at her bedside (wonderfully performed by Yuriy Kutsenko), who has likewise risen from the dead, reads her a self-composed poem accompanied by two smart phones. Though the nurse might not think much of this “bloody poet”, his “Where Love Defeats the Pain” is guaranteed to pull at the viewer's heartstrings. BW