recommended

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I was actually surprised by this movie and by the fabulous storyline of it. I seem to notice that Russian directors are getting better and better keeping in mind such films as 9 rota, Nochnoj Dozor and Zhmurky. The story tells about a short guy who woks at sports centre as administrator and dreams about having sex with tall women, as if only they would possess something marvelous that he himself being short lacks. He has a girlfriend no taller than himself and somewhat considers her as second-class not only because she is short but also being the only girlfriend he has ever had. He keeps whining about his miserable state to his tall friend, who suggests him to take action himself and they make somewhat a bet, that at midnight 'cinderella becomes a pumpkin'. So the short guy goes to his work and searches for the phone numbers of all tall and beautiful girls that he considers had been nice to him. And then there is a different story about each girl or woman he phones. Two of them are fashion models who seem to be rather vain and easy going, one has an incredibly jealous ex-husband, who beats her, one appears to be an actually very shy and childish virgin girl, another, which was considered as a shy girl comes up being a prostitute. The last girl is most interesting: she somewhat tries to protest against her beauty, politics and the whole world surrounding her. Each and every one of them represents an incredibly felicitously portrayed personality. The drama in each characters life is represented in such an astonishing lifelike way, so that it Really touches you, not as in those cheesy American dramas that I have seen recently. I strongly recommend not to miss this masterpiece of Russian directing and great acting!