Ya tozhe khochu

A killer and an alcoholic singer meet at their favoured bathhouse, a typical "banya" in St. Petersburg. Together they resolve to hit the road in search of the "Bell Tower of Happiness". On the journey North they rescue a fellow drunkard and his father, as well as a one-time student 0/ philosophy who now earns her living as a prostitute.
All of them are united by the pursuit of happiness. The director's forthright, sarcastic portrayals of modern Russia have bestowed works such as BRAT, CRUZ 200 and MORFII a certain cult status. Though the laconism of his most recent work is reminiscent of filmmakers such as Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismäki and the sud¬den outbreaks of violence and neverending monologues of Quentin Tarantino, Balaba¬nov has nevertheless developed his own and unique signature style in the course of producing what now amount to fourteen films; he's interested in the underdogs, the mobsters, the drunkards. His disposition towards cynicism and scathing provocation regularly cause irritation amongst the powers that be in Russian cinema and politics and yet, nevertheless, he is able to continue regularly producing films.
This portrayal of a road trip represents a certain evolution in Balabanov's work towards an attitude of composure and serenity. As profoundly homophobic and racist as his protagonists might be, they remain nevertheless anything other than wholly disagreeable. In addition, as so often the case with Balabanov, the sound¬track, this time recorded by rock musician Leonid Fedorov, makes a decisive contribu¬tion towards the overall impression the work generates on the viewer.