5.9/10
Senior Film Conservator

A definitive 5.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Pozdravlyayu s perekhodom remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Look, if you want high-octane thrills, steer clear. You’ll be bored to tears within five minutes. But if you’re the kind of person who likes watching dust motes dance in a sunbeam while characters decide what to do with their messy lives, you might dig this. It’s definitely a niche experience, for sure.
The pacing is… well, it’s not really there. It just sort of drifts along.
There’s a specific scene where V. Yavorskaya is just standing by a window, and the light hits the floor in this really weird, washed-out way. It feels like the camera operator forgot to check the exposure, but it works? It creates this lonely, detached feeling that hangs over the whole movie.
It reminds me a bit of the mood in The Storm, though less intense. Maybe less focused, too.
The dialogue isn't exactly snappy. It feels like a stage play that got lost on its way to the theater. Sometimes the lines just stop. Just stop dead in the middle of a thought. I kind of loved that. It felt more real than some polished, studio-approved monologue.
It doesn't have the punch of The Champ, but then again, it’s not trying to make you cry until your face hurts. It’s just trying to exist.
Did I get everything? Probably not. I’m not even sure the movie knows where it’s going half the time. It’s like a conversation you have at 3:00 AM—lots of pauses, a few gems of truth, and a lot of just sitting there, waiting for the coffee to kick in. ☕
Worth a watch if you’re in a mood for something slow. Or maybe just skip it if you’ve got laundry to do.