'Dovlatov' sigue durante seis días al brillante e irónico escritor que vio más allá de los rígidos límites de la Unión Soviética de los 70. Sergei Dovlatov luchó para conservar su propio talento y su decencia con el poeta y escritor Joseph Brodsky, mientras veía cómo sus amigos artistas sufrían ante la maquinaria del estado.
A fat middle-aged man in German officer's uniform gets off a train somewhere in Russia in winter. He is a doctor who has just been called up we learn eventually. This is the end of the line- the Germans are about to retreat. He goes to a hospital which is being evacuated and is thrown out. Kicked out he wanders with another conscript- a failed actor turned postman. The postman is deafened by a shell explosion. They meet their Russian equivalents, others as bad at killing as they are, while other Russians and Germans kill one another around them.
