Pu-239

An HBO-aired film based on Ken Kalfus' short story “The Half Life of Timofey Berezin,” director Scott Z. Burns' stylish sociopolitical black-comedy thriller set in post-perestroika Russia focuses on nuclear facility worker Timofey (Paddy Considine), a longtime employee exposed to a radiation leak, who is summarily dumped (placed on unpaid leave, pending an investigation). Suffering from exposure and concerned about his wife (Radha Mitchell) and child, Timofey impulsively steals a small amount of weapons-grade plutonium and hatches a desperate plan, traveling to Moscow where he meets up with a softhearted criminal named Shiv (Oscar Isaac), who is caring for a girlfriend and her son. Shiv is in a bit of trouble himself—indebted to Moscow gangster Tusk (Nikolaj Lie Kaas)—and the two “fathers” Timofey and Shiv end up forming an unlikely friendship, while also trying to arrange the sale of the plutonium, an operation that carries considerable risks for all concerned. Filmed in Romania with an international cast, Pu-239 looks visually accurate, but sometimes sounds wrong, thanks to wobbly accents and a narrative tone that alternates between the existential film noir of D.O.A. and the lowlife hijinks of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Fortunately, however, the pace never slackens and the actors make up in charisma what they lack in dialect finesse. Recommended. [DVD extras include audio commentary by director Burns and executive producer Peter Berg (of Friday Night Lights fame). Bottom line: a small but solid extras package for an interesting film.] (K. Fennessy)