Gorod Zero (1988)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Karen Shakhnazarov

Writers:

Aleksandr Borodyansky (writer)
Karen Shakhnazarov (writer)

Release Date:

16 March 1990 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An engineer in charge of the production line of a factory in Moscow is sent to a small town to try to...

Plot Keywords:

Black Comedy | Head | Farce | Train | Cake

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Leonid Filatov	...	Aleksei Varakin
Oleg Basilashvili	...	The Writer
Vladimir Menshov	...	The Prosecutor
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan	...	The Factory Director
Evgeni Evstigneev	...	The Museum Director
Aleksei Zharkov	...	Investigator
Pyotr Shcherbakov	...	The Mayor
Yuri Sherstnyov	...	The Waiter
Yelena Arzhanik	...	The Secretary
Tatyana Khvostikova
Aleksandr Bespalyj
Yevgeni Zernov
Arkadi Ides

Also Known As:

Город Зеро (Soviet Union: Russian title)
City Zero
Zero City

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-8

Company:

Mosfilm

Soundtrack:

Jailhouse Rock

Weird film begging to be released on DVD!

I only saw one scene from this film, in the 'entertainment' section of a TV news magazine from India. the clip they showed was from a scene in a restaurant, and was the most bizarre thing I had ever seen, though with a strong sense of black humor, not gross or repulsive. here's the scene in brief (for those who want to read about it):

a guy dining by himself in a corner of the restaurant, is approached by the staff with dessert (covered by a lid). the guy tells them he didn't order any dessert, but the staff persist him to partake of it, saying that the cook made it specially for him and that if he doesn't eat it, the cook will be heartbroken. the guy glances over to the kitchen door, and sees the cook ready to slice his own throat with a knife. alarmed, he agrees to taste the dessert. the staff take off the lid, and the guy gasps as he sees his own head on the platter! the staff tells him to relax, as it is just a cake made to look like his head. they carve a slice off the top of the 'head' and serve it to the bewildered and scared guy.

I have been looking for this film since 1988, & hope it gets a DVD release soon. and based on just that one scene, I would recommend this film strongly to anyone who likes David Lynch, The Coen Bros, Franz Kafka, etc...or anyone who wants to see something different for a change (that is, after you are done with your Matrix, Charlie's Angels, etc. of course).