Ryaba, My Chicken

Judging by the film, the Bolshevik attempt to create a new Soviet person failed in a painful way. Rulers changed, ideologies alternated, but the Russian countryside remains equally passive, alcoholic, and envious, as many classic Russian writers, starting with Gogol, wrote about in the past. Formerly, only the communists could steal, now there is democracy and we can all steal, says a line from one of the characters, and the local farmers' collective successfully follows this motto. Konchalovsky's film accurately captures the atmosphere of Yeltsin's Russia in the first half of the 90s, when Russians started imitating conditions in Central America instead of catching up with the West. Ryaba, My Chicken successfully functions as a satire and the director manages to precisely capture the sore spots of society in a series of scenes, for example, when a businessman pacifies rebellious collective farmers with a few bottles of vodka. Corruption is omnipresent in Konchalovsky's film and mostly affordable. I would be more cautious with labeling it as a comedy. The film is actually quite bleak and hopeless. There is no one to identify with or root for. Konchalovsky is strong as the director but his performance as the screenwriter is not great. The plot with the golden egg could have been more developed and offered much more humor and playfulness than Konchalovsky ultimately extracted from it. A heap of morally distorted characters directly called for situations full of black humor and sarcastic jabs. Well, considering the presence of the great Inna Churikova, alias Marfusha, I will ultimately lean towards 4 stars and an overall impression of 70%. (21/01/2021)