You're reading: The Boston Globe: ‘Vodka Empire,’ a tradition of 80-proof potatoes

Daniel Edelstyn’s grandmother, Maroussia, was a dancer and violinist in czarist Russia. She was also the daughter of a wealthy distiller. She fled to Britain after the revolution.

When Edelstyn, a British writer and musician in his 30s, discovered an autobiographical manuscript of hers he resolved to explore her Ukrainian past. The distillery and a sugar factory the family owned are about two hours from Kiev. He decided to try to export vodka from his ancestral village to Britain. More than that, he’d make a documentary about the attempt.

“How to Re-Establish a Vodka Empire” is Edelstyn’s first film and it feels like it. It’s lively and careless (in a good way). Edelstyn tries all sorts of things. There’s much too much footage of him walking around — a little rumpledness goes a long way, and he’s a lot rumpled. There’s also newsreel footage, family photographs, contemporary interviews, filming of the documentary being filmed, animation, reenactments (Edelstyn’s wife plays Maroussia, Edelstyn plays his grandfather).

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