MUZHCHINI (2003)

“MUZHCHINI”, when pronounced by emphasizing every letter, means “mature men” in Russian. It is a catchphrase of Yevgeniy Yufit, the father of the Russian necrorealist movement and the hero of the film. This word well describes his attitude towards and interest in specific elements of Russian masculinity, which have been among the several themes of his own films. The second protagonist is Yuri Zverlin, an artist from St. Petersburg and star of Yufit’s feature “Killed by Lightning”; the third, an anonymous “Lenfilm” filmmaker. We were on a trip to the sacred monastery of lake Seliger; it all started inside its ecological pyramid, built without single nail supposedly maintaining the equilibrium of the region. It has no effect on us…