Russian comedies usually give me the unpleasant feeling of committing a sin against world of cinema. And nothing predicted any change this time. The “The Man With A Guarantee” didn't sound like something worth two hours of my lifetime, though I always give in to the “why not?” argument.
I was 10 minutes late, but it took me just a few
seconds to understand what it is about. Every next turn of the story
could be easily guessed and the whole idea was trivial.
The movie starts with the argument between
two business partners – a fat man in his 40s and a nice woman in
her 30s. Iryna (Nona Grishaeva) owes some big sum of money to
Volodya (Dmitriy Nagiev) and instead of paying it out, bet with her
creditor about…getting married with an average Russian man in five
days. From here out, this is the only rather unexpected turn of the
plot.
So according to the bet, she had to start
working in one of her fancy shopping malls, as… well, here is the
question. I couldn’t decide what her job is until the end of the
film and actually the end didn’t explain me anything. Iryna became
an intern for the security guard and was doing just everything, from
putting the stickers on the products to washing the floor and
selling underwear. What the security guard was supposed to teach her
left a forever mystery.
The guard himself is a cute guy who helps
everyone and has an unusual life story. He actually appears to be
someone like the good spirit of the shopping mall he works and lives
in, but he is basically just a weird guy with strange ideas. He, of
course, falls in love with his charming and self-motivated intern
and the things almost work out for her as the five days end, but…
evil spirits (the creditor) ruin everything and the princess
(business lady Iryna) have to lose and then get everything back
again. Bla-bla-bla.
Aside from the plot, the jokes are sharp-witted,
the actors are good and the minor characters give a perfect picture
of life in modern Russian city and relationships within Russian
society.
For example
somewhere in the middle of the movie heroine finds out that they can
eat all the expired products, sleep in beds in furniture department
and take shower in jacuzzis
from sanitary ware department.
The other great
reality shot is definitely Baba Nadya,
starring Olga Volkova. She is the granny who comes to the shopping
mall once in a week feeds loved-by-all security guard and grumble
around. She comes from one shop to another, reads the prices and
curses a storm. The security guard explains
that she just needs some time to express her feelings before she can
go back to harmony in her life. The only this episode, I think,
can be an enough excuse for the too simple story.
It was easy to laugh during this movie. I don’t
want to describe it as a somewhat romantic drama-comedy, even though
the director was obviously trying to make it one. It was definitely
one of the few Russian comedies I would recommend.
“The Man With The Guarantee”
Sept. 27 – Oct. 3
at all Kyiv cinemas
