Todorovsky's film examines life in a provincial Russian town (that is too small to even appear on the map) just outside of Stalingrad during the famous WWII Battle. This is NOT a traditional war film, and the epic events of the battle take place almost entirely off screen. Instead, Todorovsky...
Vitya is a teenage rock-music and motorbike fanatic whose father is arrested for embezzlement. Vitya is devastated, and in this state of shock he falls prey to a supposed mystic called Cassius.
The second World War echoes throughout the whole Khutsiyev's oeuvre. The director himself did not participate in the war: "The thing is, I didn't fight. I had been a sickly boy, so I was turned down because I still looked like a child. This is sort of like a debt I've been repaying ever since". In...
The picture is dedicated to the fate of Lyudmila Mikhailovna Kusakova - production designer of the Mosfilm film studio, who created costumes and sets for the cult Soviet films Anna Karenina, Pomegranate Bracelet, Aybolit-66, Ordinary Miracle, Pokrovskie Gates and many , many others.
