Zerograd

Zerograd, Zero City
Directed by	Karen Shakhnazarov
Written by	Karen Shakhnazarov Aleksandr Borodyansky
Starring	Leonid Filatov Oleg Basilashvili Vladimir Menshov Armen Dzhigarkhanyan Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev
Cinematography	Nikolay Nemolyaev
Music by	Eduard Artemyev
Release date	1989 (1989)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

Zerograd (Russian: Город Зеро, romanized: Gorod Zero), also translated as City Zero, Zero City or Zero Town, is a 1989 Russian mystery film directed by Karen Shakhnazarov, described as an absurdist comedy by Mosfilm. A Moscow engineer Alexey Varakin visits a factory in a small town on a business trip, where his bizarre adventures begin. At the factory he sees a naked secretary, but nobody seems to pay attention to this; later we encounters a prosecutor who wants to commit a crime, and other strange characters. In addition it turns out that he cannot leave the town.

Plot

Alexei Varakin is an engineer from Moscow, on a business trip to a nameless town in the Soviet Union. When Alexei arrives at the factory, the pass he requested is missing. Inside, the manager's secretary is working naked, but nobody seems to mind. The manager is unaware of the chief engineer's death. During lunch at an empty restaurant, Alexei is offered a cake shaped like his head, which he refuses. The cook who made the cake is upset and commits suicide.

After giving his statement to the authorities, Alexei tries to leave town but finds all train tickets sold out. His desperation to return to Moscow only intensifies, his pleas falling on deaf ears. A taxi driver takes him to a remote place with an underground local history museum, where the museum's caretaker, shows Alexei a diverse exhibition spanning different cultures and time periods, including artifacts from the Trojans, Romans, and Soviet leaders.

Alexei stops overnight at the home of a local electrician, whose son Misha confidently tells him that he will never leave the town, surprising Alexei by giving detailed information about his life and future plans. Later, a local driver named Anna offers to drive Alexei to the Perebrodino station for Moscow-bound trains. A black police 'Volga' car intercepts them. The local investigator informs Varakin that his biological father was a deceased cook named Nikolayev and reveals that his real name is Mahmud. The town's prosecutor, who secretly harbors a desire to commit a crime, uncovers Varakin that what was believed to be a supposed suicide was actually a premeditated murder.

Anna takes Alexei to a summer house belonging to poet Vasily Chugunov, where he learns that the cook Nikolayev used to be a famous rock'n'roll dancer in their town. Later that evening, they attend the opening of the Nikolayev Rock'n'Roll Fans Club, where prominent members of the town are also present. Before the dance party begins, Chugunov proclaims this event as another triumph for democracy. Meanwhile, the prosecutor, whom Alexei had previously talked to, attempts to shoot himself with his service gun, but it misfires several times.

As the night grew dark, a group from the dance party, led by Alexei, decides to visit the renowned 1,000-year-old oak tree that was believed to grant power to those who dared to cut its branches. The tree is now dying, but they still collect its branches as souvenirs. The prosecutor offers Alexei a chance to escape, and after running through a forest, he finds an abandoned boat without oars and goes in it with the river flow.

Cast

• Leonid Filatov as Alexey Varakin
• Oleg Basilashvili as writer Vasily Chugunov
• Vladimir Menshov as prosecutor Nikolay Smorodinov
• Armen Dzhigarkhanyan as factory director Pavel Palych
• Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev as keeper of the local history museum
• Aleksei Zharkov as police detective
• Pyotr Scherbakov as head of the city executive committee
• Elena Arzhanik as secretary
• Tatiana Khvostikova as Anna
• Yury Sherstnev as waiter Kurdyumov
• Michael Solodovnik as Attila
• Alexander Bespaly as hospitable host
• Eugene Zernov as cook

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10.

Awards

• The film was selected as the Soviet entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
• 1989: Gold Hugo at 25th Chicago Film Festival for best international feature film
• 1989: Silver prize in the full feature film section at the 34th Valladolid International Film Festival

External links

• Zerograd at IMDb
• Zero Town on YouTube, Mosfilm channel