The action takes place shortly after the end of the Second World War in the Siberian hinterland, among Russians and Germans with damaged personal stories and a strange transformation: the victors seem to be crawling into the skins of the defeated, and vice versa. Ignat, is the embodiment of the larger-than-life image of the Soviet victorious warrior who, in fact, proves to be shell-shocked, sick and broken, although not completely destroyed. Trains become fetish for the heroes of the film, and speed becomes a mania; they virtually become one with their steam engines, while the machines take on human names. The heroes set up an almost fatal race in the Siberian forest, risking their own lives and those of others.
Returning to Saint Petersburg after a long exile, the dashing Yakovlev, a retired army officer, makes a comfortable living by winning other people's duels. An enigmatic, focused, and extremely skilled professional, he leaves a trail of dead bodies behind him as he swirls through polite society, frequently called upon to wield a pistol as a surrogate in duels at dawn. But when Yakovlev meets the naïve young Prince Tuchov and his beautiful sister, Princess Martha, the normally cold-hearted mercenary is surprised by hitherto undetected emotions. What transpires uncovers a series of revelations about his past and his present self.
When in 1977 these guys came to Moscow from Pyatigorsk, for two they had 160 rubles and a can of cornel jam. And Muscovites contemptuously called them the limit. Years passed, and the brilliant abilities of the young children were realized. Misha became a bank employee, encrypting all documentation on a computer, Ivan - a criminal hacker, which no computer protection could resist. Fulfilling the tasks of mafia structures and penetrating the banking network, Ivan helped customers rob banks, thereby gaining unquestioned authority in the criminal world.
A wife finds her life transformed after a torrid affair in this story of murder. Katia is a rather dull young woman who types manuscripts for Irina, her husband’s mother and successful writer of romance novels. Katia’s husband is a real momma’s boy. They go to Irina’s summer house to work. There Katia encounters the intense and sexy Serguei who creates passionate longings with in her. Overcome she and Serguei engage in vigorous love-making upon a windowsill where Irina sees them. Irina has a weak heart. Quiet Katia, having rediscovered the joys of sex, changes and becomes more assertive and flighty. Serguei quickly loses interest in her. Strange and deadly things begin happening at the summer house which calls the attention of a judge who is extremely familiar with Irina’s writing.
In 1930s Poland Christian boy Ivan goes to live with a Jewish family to learn a trade. He becomes friends with Abraham, the son of the family. However, anti-Semitism is rife in their environment, and they flee to escape an upcoming conflict. Journeying together, they demonstrate their inseparability.
In 1946, a soldier fathers a child then dies before its birth. Jump to 1952: on a train, the child and his mother meet a handsome soldier who makes a play for her. She accepts. Posing as a married family, the soldier finds them a rooming house where he becomes everyone's favorite through his good looks and generosity. Meanwhile he gives the boy, Sanya, lessons in life: to fight back, to win at all costs. The child's mother, Katya, is head-over-heels in love with Tolyan, the soldier, but the relationship becomes rocky when Tolyan's true plans for the rooming house become clear. It starts them on a treadmill of flight that risks Katya's life, Tolyan's liberty, and Sanya's trust.
Dovlatov charts six days in the life of brilliant, ironic writer who saw far beyond the rigid limits of 70s Soviet Russia. Sergei Dovlatov fought to preserve his own talent and decency with poet and writer Joseph Brodsky while watching his artist friends get crushed by the iron-willed state machinery.
What about a son whose parents ask a question every day, whom does he love more? Mom or dad? What should mom do if she madly loves her son, but circumstances force him to take the child away from his father? What should be done to dad if his son is taken to America forever, and he cannot imagine his life without him? ⠀ This is a story of choice. When deciding for a child, a parent often does as he is comfortable with. The child agrees, afraid to hurt the parent, but time will pass, he will mature and at some point he will decide for himself. Only the parent from this will be much more painful.
This is a film about forces that posses people like demons making them strive towards their goal no matter what, leaving a bloody trail behind. This is a film about a woman who abandoned her child at birth and now twenty three years later she tries to find that child. More than twenty years of have passed since the day out main character Lisa abandoned her child. Now she is obsessed to find her daughter. She search leads her to a young girl that Lisa believs to be the one that she left at the orphanage a long time ago. Lisa begins to spy on her, invades her life. Even though later she will find out the truth, this is not her daughter. Lisa will not be able to stop being the mother figure that she has now become. And like a ruthless wolf she will not let anything stand in her way of saving her child. Two lonely souls that find a family in each other. One become a mother, that other a daughter. What is the price that they had to pay for this encounter?