4 (2005)

Feature Film | Drama | Russia/France/Netherlands | Russian | 2h6m
Dir: Ilya Khrzhanovsky | Scr: Vladimir Sorokin | Ph: Shandor Berkeshi, Alexandre Ilkhovski, & Alisher Khamidkhodjaev | Prod: Yelena Yatsura | Ed: Igor Malakhov | Snd: Kirill Vasilenko | Cast: Marina Vovchenko, Irina Vovchenko, Svetlana Vovchenko, Sergey Shnurov, Yuri Laguta, Konstantin Murzenko, Aleksey Khvostenko, Anatoly Adoskin, Leonid Fedorov, Gennady Votrin

A young call girl returns to her remote home village to attend the funeral of one of her childhood friends – a friend who she had fallen out with several years earlier – and finds herself in the midst of a pork-, vodka-, death-, and boobs-filled orgy of grief and despair, in Khrzhanovsky’s beguilingly enigmatic allegorical tale. The film’s meandering pace, alluring photography, disquieting soundtrack, and wholehearted performances combine to great effect.