Sergei Veksler Movies

In the new Russia, everyone is seeking "hard" currency -- that is to say, cash in a form that is reliably worth something, instead of rubles which cannot easily be used overseas. In this film, a pimp who is reputed to have a large supply of that kind of money gets kidnapped. However, in this action movie, more than one underworld group wants that cash, so plots and counterplots meet up with betrayals and untrustworthy alliances while the pimp, no good guy himself, seeks his freedom. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Rich imagery and political allegory enliven an already complex story in this late Soviet-era mystery/drama. In the story, a government investigator has come to town to look into the validity of bribery charges that were brought against an official there. In the meantime, we discover that a twin and his brother have been engaged in a kind of very close warfare. One twin was a medical doctor, and was married to a beautiful woman. The second twin was interested in bedding the wife, and had no feeling for his brother. Thus, he impersonated him in the hospital, and openly engaged in medical malpractice of the grossest sort, resulting in a patient's death. The first twin lost his career and was forced to support himself by going door to door selling kerosene. The second (and clearly sociopathic) twin, naturally, became an important figure in the activities of his local soviet. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide