What begins like an (unintended) Russian version of the American cult TV comedy Workaholics gradually becomes something much, much uglier, as many of the same nationalist, violent impulses that devoured much of America’s soul in recent years swallow whole this film’s trio of unprincipled slackers.
Gleb (Evgeniy Zarubin), Gosha (Ivan Shary), and Vlad (Andrei Yasinsky) are twentysomething friends who share a cramped office at a business selling financial instruments and chasing down delinquent loan payers over the phone. They hate the work (they also fail at it) but feel trapped by limited opportunities in Russia, as well as their own cynicism about pursuing life-affirming goals such as relationships and marriage.
After being bawled out by their boss one afternoon, the trio goes out for drinks (accompanied by a female coworker who carefully sets strict limits on participating, a sure sign she has their number). The guys speak about her (while she’s in the restroom) in a monstrously crude fashion, a sign of things to come.
As the liquor kicks in, they begin rolling out what sounds like threadbare grievances about how their dim prospects result from the West actively trying to destroy Russia. As Gosha, Vlad and Gleb begin roaming the streets, they assault other targets of their wrath: immigrants, Muslims. They don’t even need an excuse to cause harm; descending into utter nihilism, they savagely beat a kid outside a club and later gang rape a woman acquaintance.
Filmmaker Vladimir Kozlov defies expectations at every turn. We ask ourselves where the bottom is in the characters’ cruelty, only to find there is no floor, just greater and greater degrees of moral detachment. Kozlov’s irony extends to the way he sometimes films Vlad, Gosha, and Gleb in group shots like pop stars, a perverse comment on the way violent scapegoating has become part of the zeitgeist in much of the world. Strongly recommended.