Genre: Drama
Duration: 116mins
Director: Yuri Bikov
Cast: Artem Bistrov, Natalia Surkova, Yuri Tsurilo, Boris Nevzorov, Kiril Polukhinv

The universally acclaimed hit at the Locarno festival, Bykov’s third feature is powerful story about an honest plumber who discovers that a social housing high-rise is at risk of collapsing and makes the ‘foolish’ mistake of trying to convince corrupt local officials of the need for immediate action.

The plumber interrupts the local mayor at her 50th birthday party begging her to evacuate the building. But corruption run so deep that the mayor has nowhere to put the 800 people living in the tower block. The mayor’s bottom-line is to protect herself and her corrupt cronies, but she is also a victim of circumstances. Is it foolish to try to change the mindset of an entire system of corruption?  Variety’s Peter Debruge wrote at Locarno in his review, “Kafka meets ‘The Sopranos’ as Bykov creates a murky yet absurdist world of deep secrets and unmarked graves.”