Sovershennoletiye (1935) review: Fluffy hair and scratchy audio

If you have seventy minutes to spare and a deep tolerance for scratchy 1930s audio, Sovershennoletiye is actually a weirdly charming watch. It is perfect for anyone obsessed with early Soviet cinema or those who want to see a baby-faced Pavel Kadochnikov in his very first role.

But let's be real. If you cannot stand heavy-handed political messaging or movies where characters stare intensely into the distance to show they are *thinking about the future*, you will probably hate this.

The whole thing is basically about a bunch of young Komsomol members growing up and learning how to be good Soviet citizens. It is less of a cohesive story and more of a collection of moments where people argue about duty while wearing very oversized caps.

I found myself completely distracted by the sound design. Every time someone shuts a door, it sounds like a small explosion, which is honestly pretty funny.

There is this one scene where a young woman is reading a pamphlet. The camera just *lingers* on her face for what feels like three minutes while some dramatic accordion music plays in the background.

You can see the director, Isay Zonne, trying to figure out how sound works here. It is nothing like the smooth transitions you get in American stuff from the same era, like Oh! Shoot, which knew exactly what it was doing with its pacing.

Instead, this movie has these massive, awkward silences where you can hear the physical film hiss. I kind of love that, though.

Pavel Kadochnikov is the main reason to watch this, honestly. He plays Mikhas, and you can already tell he has that weird, magnetic screen presence, even when he is just standing around looking confused.

His hair is incredibly fluffy in this. Like, distractingly fluffy for a movie about serious social duty.

There is another actor, Leonid Makaryev, who plays his role with so much intensity it feels like he is trying to shout at the back row of a very large theater. He does not seem to realize the camera is right in front of his face.

At one point, a group of characters starts singing a revolutionary song. It is supposed to be this big, inspiring moment, but half the actors look like they forgot the words and are just humming along.

I also noticed a dog in the background of one street scene that just keeps walking in circles. I spent about five minutes wondering if the dog was okay or if it was just bored.

It reminds me of the chaotic energy you sometimes get in weird B-movies like The Yokel, where the background details are way more interesting than the main plot.

The film doesn't really have a traditional ending. It just sort of stops when the characters seem to have reached some level of political maturity.

It is definitely not a masterpiece. But as a dusty little time capsule, it is pretty neat.