# Priyatel pokojnika (1997)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    A FRIEND OF THE DECEASED
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes

    RATING (0 TO ****):  * 1/2

In the press information for his new film, A FRIEND OF THE DECEASED (PRIYATEL POKOINIKA), Ukrainian Director Vyacheslav Krishtofovich says the story is about all the "cultured people" living in what was once the Soviet Union. "In the absence of liberty, these people helped one another," he says. "Human warmth was very present. But freedom suddenly appeared and, with it, coldness and solitude." (He goes on to note that in Ukrainian the word for love and pity are sometimes considered synonyms.)

Thus we have a film of revisionist history in which the filmmaker seems to be saying that if, we just brought back Communist totalitarianism, the people would pull together and be happy again. But, without Big Brother to unite against, the people shuffle along without purpose, drinking and feeling sorry for themselves. Of course, the old Soviet Union under Stalin and his successors had a tremendous problem with alcoholism, and the citizens were not known for their excessive love of life.

Regardless of the background for the picture, the story by Andrei Kurkov has a promising plot but little more. The setup is that Anatoli, played with a single blank stare by Alexander Lazarev, has a beautiful blonde wife, Katia (Angelica Nevolina), who is cheating on him. During a drunken binge with his friend Dima (Yevgeni Pashin), he decides to put out a contract on Katia's boyfriend. The next morning, more despondent than ever, Anatoli decides to put out the hit on himself instead. Along comes a perky prostitute named Vika (Tatiana Krivitskaya), who serves up love and hope along with the sex, and Anatoli decides to change his mind. Unable to turn off the original killer, he hires a bodyguard, who sets out to kill the killer.

If this all sounds like a fascinating black comedy, it isn't. The movie is devoid of humor, and the director stages scenes way too slowly, emphasizing the tragedy of the film's depressed protagonist. Vladimir Gronsky's melancholy music permeates many of the scenes to remind of us of the pervasive sorrow in the land.

"Friendship disappeared with our glorious Soviet past," Dima remarks to Anatoli. And all the compelling characters disappeared from this movie before the filming started. All that we are left with is the outlines of a story.

A FRIEND OF THE DECEASED runs 1:40. It is in Russian with English subtitles. The picture is rated R for some nudity, profanity and violence and would be fine for older teenagers.

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