Soviet corruption so petty it circles back to genius. A traffic jam starts a revolution.
Based on the play by Oleg Perekalin “I Demand a Court.” The organizers of constant fraud and theft in the suburban village of Kantirovka are Metel and brigadier Sanin, members of a gangster group at the regional level. In order to somehow attract the attention of the public, the worker, known for his integrity and partial attitude to embezzlement, arranges a traffic jam on the roadway. Investigator Streltsova thoughtfully and leisurely undertakes to investigate the causes of hooliganism of the worker and does not yet know who she will have to face in this, at first glance, harmless matter...
Writing
Play adaptation with razor-sharp dialogue on rot.
Acting
Tatyana Tashkova's unhurried investigator is magnetic.
Direction
Tashkov lets corruption feel terrifyingly ordinary.
Director
Yevgeni Tashkov
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Perekalin's play and this film capture late Soviet 'stagnation' era anxiety—corruption so endemic it became dark comedy.
Director Yevgeni Tashkov cast his daughter Tatyana Tashkova as Streltsova; she became a major Soviet star.
SU
