Movie review by Dennis D. McDonald

My favorite line of dialog: “She devours them like plums.”

A naive young man goes to the big city and flunks his college entrance exams. Afraid to go home and tell his mom he stays in an apartment with the friend of a friend.

The friend is a gorgeous young “model” who acts as his confidante and “big sister.” Naturally a romance blossoms, but the romance is an extremely rocky one as he soon gradually discovers the girl is not all that she seems.

We’ve all seen the “youthful angst” theme before but this one is different. The dialog is clever, the direction, editing, and soundtrack are superb, and the performances are realistic. Plus we get to see a bit of Moscow from a non-tourist perspective.

I suppose if you are a  parent of a young person who has just left home “for the big city” this movie will give you nightmares. But it’s all very affecting and heartfelt, even the histrionics. It seems real. At times it’s funny and at other times it’s sad. In an odd way it reminds me a bit of Midnight Cowboy.

Review copyright (c) 2014 by Dennis D. McDonald.