A Friend of the Deceased (1997)
"Priyatel pokoynika" (original title)

Tolla takes out a contract on himself and then changes his mind.

Directors:

Leonid Boyko, Vyacheslav Krishtofovich

Writer:

Andrei Kurkov (novel)

Stars:

Aleksandr Lazarev, Anzhelika Nevolina, Elena Korikova

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aleksandr Lazarev	...	Anatoli
Anzhelika Nevolina	...	Katia
Elena Korikova	...	Marina
Tetyana Kryvytska Stang Lund	...	Lena / Vika (as Tatyana Krivitskaya)
Evgeniy Pashin	...	Dima
Sergey Romanyuk	...	Ivan (as Serhiy Romaniuk)
Anatoliy Mateshko	...	Boris
Konstantin Kostyshin	...	Kostia
Valentina Iliashenko	...	Barmaid
Rostislav Yankovsky	...	Igor Lvovich
Aleksey Goncharenko	...	Vadim Semyonovich
Shubra Chakraborti
Elena Stefanska	...	Alissa
Boris Zelenetski	...	Photographer
Tamara Plashenko	...	Judge

Storyline

Tolla is an unemployed translator whose wife is leaving him. Despondent and weak, he submits to the suggestion of an acquantance to have a contract placed on the man that his wife is seeing. Instead, however, he arranges for the hit to be placed on himself. Before the contract is executed, he develops a relationship with a prostitute, and then changes his mind. In order to survive he takes the obvious course of action, which turns out to have possibly been unnecessary, and then he must deal with the guilt.

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Plot Keywords:

panties | thong panties | black panties | based on novel

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some nudity and language

Details

Country:

France Ukraine

Language:

Ukrainian

Release Date:

1 May 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Friend of the Deceased

Filming Locations:

Kiev, Ukraine

Box Office

Gross:

$145,443 (USA) (29 May 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), Compagnie Est-Ouest, Compagnie des Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Comedy or drama?

"A Friend of the Deceased" starts as an old tale about a despondent man who takes out a contract on his own life and then renegs. The film is a plodding work with little going for it save the curious plot and interesting twists on the hacked storyline. There's plenty of behind the Iron Curtain-rod contempo symbolism; everyone drinks without regard for time of day; beggars everywhere; somber atmospherics; American money in a Ukraine wallet; and a kind of woebegone milieu not to mention one character's personal commentary about the state of the country. A sober and understated work with an anticlimactic conclusion, "A Friend..." does manage some poignancy and will be of most interest to foreign film buffs, especially those into Russian flicks. (C+)