An unknown benefactor promises to pay for a hugely expensive operation which would restore eyesight to a blind orphan. There is just one condition: the girl has to marry the benefactor. Sounds like pulp literature, yes? But not in the case of Konstantin Lopushanski who is known as a herald of the apocalypse and in his first film, ‘Dead Man’s Letters’, predicted the Chernobyl catastrophe.
It is not even easy to say which genre the film belongs to. Is it a melodrama, with tense intrigue and exaggerated emotionality – so different from the oppressive anti-utopias and fantasy worlds characteristic of Lopushanski? Or a philosophical parable with elements of melodrama? A political satirical tragedy? In any case, the audience will see an intriguingly distorted Cinderella story of today’s Russia where two extremely different world views nearly mythically collide and where intelligence fades and ethical and religious principles shrink under cynicism and vulgarity and soulless materialism in an avalanche of apocalyptic dimensions.
Maksim Sukhanov’s acting performance here is something very special – even devilishly brilliant! His character, the caricature-like benefactor, a Russian oligarch whose hands render all sacred things to ashes, is ridiculous and pitiful in places, and utterly scary in others – and at times all of that at once. Is sanctity even possible in our era of cruel life truths? It is, rings Lopushanski’s answer... Let the film tell you the rest.
Tiit Tuumalu
https://poff.ee/en