Dmitri Pevtsov Movies

This fast-paced, convoluted bit of European escapist fare is set in crumbling contemporary Moscow, where a French composer finds himself seduced into a fantastic adventure after his flight to Paris is delayed and he finds himself broke and stranded in the Moscow airport. His temptress is the mischievous Oksana, who convinces him to sneak out of the airport to sample the Moscow nightlife. He doesn't realize that she is actually the daughter of Papa, a powerful local Mafia don. Papa looks weak and helpless, but he is anything but and secretly drugs the composer Phillipe's drink and then kidnaps him. When Phillipe awakens, Papa forces him to impersonate the commercial director of a huge French textile mill so the Mafioso can continue to con the leader of a recently liberated Central Asian country into investing in a non-existent mill. The plot works until the bilked gets his own revenge. Meanwhile, Phillipe and Oksana fall in love even though they realize that one of them must be sacrificed to save face. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Alia (Yvgenya Dobrovolskaya) is a single mother who has no home and no money. Caring for her infant is almost impossible, and she feels that she is doing the best thing for her child and for herself when she abandons it in a public toilet, where it is sure to be found and brought to an orphanage. Later, however, she is overcome with guilt, and a priest suggests she get a job in an orphanage in order to deal with. She succeeds in finding one, and is horrified to discover the abusive and threadbare circumstances the children endure there. Rather than assuaging her guilt, thanks to this job she now has a serious case of righteous anger to cope with as well. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The social ferment in late 19th century Russia which led to the 1917 Russian Revolution is movingly portrayed in this lengthy historical drama, which is very faithful to the 1907 novel The Mother by the celebrated Marxist writer Maxim Gorky (1868-1936). In the story, "the mother" (Inna Tchourikova) has no other recourse than to watch her decent, kindly husband turn into an animalistic, drunken brute as a result of working in the inhuman conditions of a steel mill in the town of Sormovo. When he begins to express his suppressed rage by beating her, she is defended by her teenaged son Pavel (depicted Viktor Rakov as an adult, Sacha Chichonok as a boy). After his father's death, Pavel is forced to go to work in the same factory. However, Pavel and his friends begin investigating Marxism and socialist thought, and work to organize their fellow workers. One of them becomes a police informer, and when the friends discover this, they force him to commit suicide. Later, when Pavel is captured by the police, he pretends to be willing to inform on his group as well, but this is a ruse, and he leads demonstrations against the ownership of the factory. Meanwhile, Pavel's mother has gotten involved in the cause in small way. When the socialist cell Pavel belongs to is taken away to trial, they are sentenced to a prison term in Siberia, and he makes a fiery pro-socialist speech from the train platform as he is being shipped away. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi