Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

If you enjoy the Odessa humor the kind of self pity with bit of Jewish saddens in dead-end reality of the present days (in particular time, Soviet and post Soviet times) you are in for a treat. The film was shown as a part of Russian Film Festival in Chicago, before it came out in movie theaters in Moscow and other cities of former USSR. The film is full with nostalgia, good memories and elements of fairy tail. Being familiar with both cities Chicago and Odessa as well understanding the nature of Ex-Soviet Russian speaking immigrants in America and present and former Odessians ( Odessa Residents) I could say creators of the movie found and show really good depictions of main characters in a film. The cast of the film is excellent, seeing such talent of Soviet and Russian cinema as Armen Dzhijerhanyan, Roman Kartsev, Aleksanr Ponkratov-Cherniy and Stanislav Sadalsky as well as a new young actors was a real treat.