Iankovskii’s first film, which received two Nika Awards in 2003 including best cinematography, is a male melodrama about a successful journalist, Sasha Gur’ev (Konstantin Khabenskii) and his search for an authentic identity in glitzy, capitalist Moscow. He and his partner-paparazzo Lisa (Elena Perova) make a living by selling celebrity stories to Moscow tabloids. Sasha’s sensational lies, in combination with Lisa’s scandalous pictures, provide him a comfortable life in a spacious Western-style condominium, a stylish German car, and a constant cash flow from his publishers. La Dolce vita Russian-style comes at the price of constant lying and role playing.
