Yuri Nazarov
- 1989
In this farcical dark comedy/melodrama, Lena (Natalya Negoda) manages to lose her place at college by virtue of throwing a minor hissy-fit when she catches her erstwhile boyfriend in bed with another girl. Instead of penalizing the boy for his behavior, Lena gets stuck with a court appearance and must pay a small fine, in addition to losing a boyfriend, her college career, and an apartment. Lena belongs to a film club which occasionally hands out awards, and the membership of it decides to send her into the Russian hinterlands to hand out an award to an obscure filmmaker. Once there, she is the object of many (married) men's attentions, which leads to one of the funnier moments in the film. Throughout the film, Lena has been associated with a bizarre con man named Stepanich (Alexei Zharkov) who, when his cons fall through, comes to her in the distant town she has gone to seeking her help in committing suicide. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alexei Zharkov, Natalya Negoda, (more)
The title character of the Russian Little Vera is a headstrong teenage girl, played by Natalya Negoda. To the dismay of her parents, Vera lives only for the moment, making no provision for her future. She'd rather hang out at local cafes in garish makeup and provocative clothing. A chance meeting with handsome student Sergei (Andrei Sokolov) develops into a sexual relationship. Her parents send out Vera's brother (Alexander Alexeyev-Negreba) to talk some sense into her, which proves to be doubly dicey when it turns out that the brother is an old acquaintance of the rebellious Sergei. Vera lies, saying that she's gotten pregnant by Sergei, so he obligingly marries her and moves in with her family, which serves only to make matters worse, as Vera's drunken father (Yuri Nazarov) ends up stabbing his son-in-law. Persuaded to lie about the incident to keep her father out of jail, Vera takes her family's side. A last-minute tragedy is barely averted, but the audience gets the distinct feeling that Vera's problems with her family in particular and her life in general are far from over. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natalya Negoda, Andrei Sokolov, (more)
