Ivan Shestov

Beginning with perestroika and reaching its peak after the demise of the Soviet Union, pessimistic youth sub-culture films abounded in Russia and the former republics. Anguely V Rayou is another example of these "youth without future" films. Based on the novel Two Notebooks by Piotr Kojevnikov, the action takes place in the Leningrad of 1975, when the "stagnation" era is at its peak. Two teenagers, Micha and Galia, are experiencing a slow death in the slums of the city. Galia's aunt is going crazy in her desperation. Micha's mother is killed by a drunk. One of their friends has committed suicide. These kids are typical of a generation wasted by alcohol and misfortune. Some are bound to become outcasts, some will be destroyed, and others will be sacrificed in Afghanistan. The title is ironic, as there is neither paradise nor angels in this story.

An experimental feature film, shot by a team of artists from Moscow and Saint Petersburg without any institutional or production support. Gloomy but not entirely devoid of comedy, it represents a rather amusing mixture of slapstick, early avantgarde, Švankmajer-esque animation and Leningrad Necrorealism. At the heart of it is the life story of a depersonalised hermit who has been thrown out of historical time and is stuck in a looped timelessness. This is the story of a solitary war, fought simultaneously in external and internal territories, while blurring the boundaries between them in the dreams and reveries of a madman.