Zerograd is a surreal satire of Communism directed by Karen Shakhnazarov. It is described as part Kafka, part Agatha Christie, and part Monty Python.
The story follows an Everyman engineer named Varakin (Leonid Filatov) who arrives in a remote city where nothing quite makes sense, but everyone acts as if it does. He becomes involved in the investigation of the suicide (or possibly murder?) of a local restaurant chef named Nikolaev, who may (or may not) be Varakin's missing father.
As the mystery becomes more complex and absurdist, Varakin's predicament becomes more poignant and plaintive. He desperately pleads, "I have to get back to Moscow," but to no avail.
The film features a bizarre and wonderful sideshow of non sequiturs reminiscent of a Wes Anderson film. This includes an underground museum filled with a thousand years of real and imagined Russian history, with waxwork figures frozen in time beneath the surface.
Overall, Zerograd is a marvelous and enigmatic satire of Soviet bureaucracy, accompanied by music from the great Eduard Artemyev (known for his work on SOLARIS and STALKER).
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Zerograd
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Jailhouse Rock
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(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock
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