The Russian Film Festival opened on Thursday night with 2019 Film, Odessa by Valeriy Todorovskiy. Starring Evgeniy Tsyganov, Evgenia Brik and Vladimir Koshevoy the story is based in 1970 Odessa when Boris and his 8 year old son visit from Moscow. Staying with his in-laws and their immediate family, his wife was unable to make the trip due to work commitments. Making things worse, there was a cholera outbreak preventing Boris and his son from returning to Moscow.
During his time with the family he falls in love with the 15 year old girl next door and things go from bad to worse. After being exposed by the girl’s mute Grandfather, Boris flees to the safety of a luxury cruise ship in port, being used to quarantine visitors before they may return to Moscow. He smuggles the girl onto the ship and refuses attempts from the family to rectify the situation.
The film is composed of some cinematic, arthouse shots but feels a tad long with various, unfinished storylines. A somewhat interesting film I give it 6 Russian vodkas out of 10.
Review by @journeywithjulian
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