Danila goes to his successful brother, Victor, in Petersburg to start a new life. Unknown to Danila, Victor is a contract killer, but is in hiding after asking for too much money to assassinate a Chechen mob boss. To avoid exposure, Victor convinces Danila to kill the boss instead.
To earn money for married life, a young engaged man takes a job as an engineer on a privately operated oil drilling rig in the far North of Russia. A friend's letter brings the sad news that his fiancée has already married someone else and in desperation he quits his job and flies back to Moscow. There all his vast efforts to win her back seem in vain...
Closely based on Franz Kafka's book "Das Schloß", the movie shares the same action on a land surveyor who is called to a village to do a job that no one seems to have ordered. Once there, he takes up the struggle against bureaucracy emanating from the castle.
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.
Two people meet one another in a multi-million city...
Knowing that he will soon pass on, elderly Valentin Grack hires private detective Stanislav to follow him around for an entire day and write down everything that he does. It is a cold day and during Grack's travels he encounters a younger woman who addresses him as professor. He then meets a prostitute who turns out to be his daughter, and finally he meets an old woman, his worried wife who has been searching eight days for him. In between meeting the women, Grack finds himself in some almost surreal situations and having flashbacks about his youth.
A popular middle-aged writer is warned by a fortuneteller that he will die in exactly 24 hours. He then meets a man, who claims to be him. The writer uses this bizarre situation to change his life and take revenge.
A young Russian store clerk has a drab existence in times of shortages and is berated by her ailing mother for not seeing men. So she brings home an unknown young man who she met on the tram. She dreams many things but pines for this man.
Russian countess in 1893 has strange dreams about herself living a life as a dishwasher in 1993' Moscow after dissolution of the USSR.
Mefody, a wise master, comes to a weird village one day to teach local men wisdom and life. The strange thing about the village is all the men living there are of different nationalities: German, Jewish, Ukrainian, Russian, Uzbek, Gypsy etc.. Mefodi teaches all them the way to understand each other, he speaks about music, cabala, fairy tales, sex etc. Finally all of them become even more friendly to each other and find success in life.
Starting 1970s. Marina Rodionova gives birth to a child from a donor. Grown up son Andrei she tells the legend of the deceased father. It takes many years. Son of a student accidentally discovers that his father is a professor Hlyuzdin who teaches at his institute. Andrew's friend can not get from Ladder strict professor and then Andrew decides to introduce his father and mother.
The hero of the film, afraid of losing both his wife and his mistress, is ultimately left alone.
Almanac of five short stories commissioned by ROSKOMKINO to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema.
Representatives of the Russian nobility gathered at the dacha. A young nobleman Vlas, in love with the mistress of the estate, a simpering poetess, a writer who has long stopped writing, a frivolous wife, her lover and a jealous husband. Their lives are measured and unhurried. They talk about nothing, get bored and quarrel, flirt and have fun… But even passionate romances, which are now and then tied up here, usually end at the same time as the holiday season...
When the powerful of this world give a small scoundrel the opportunity to become a big scoundrel - how many opportunities there are for a funny comedy...
A rich, smart, charming philanthropist from Saint-Petersburg Andrei Rokshin is found dead at home. The culprit is a woman wearing a black veil. Investigator Sinev takes the case.
