Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator

Honestly, only if you have a thing for early Soviet cinema or history that feels like it’s being held together by duct tape and sheer willpower. If you need clean plots or characters who act like real people, skip it. You’ll probably hate it if you want high-definition polish. But if you like watching movies that feel like they’re fighting against their own budget, you might actually enjoy the ride. 🎞️
The whole thing takes place over one night. Everything feels tight, claustrophobic, and kind of sweaty. The shadows are long, and the camera moves like it’s trying to hide from the actors.
There is this one scene where a character just stares at a wall for what feels like a week. It wasn't profound. It was just very weird. I checked my phone, thought about making tea, and when I looked back up, he was still staring. Why? I have no idea.
Lev Fenin is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Sometimes he looks like he’s having a genuine epiphany, and other times he looks like he’s just trying to remember where he parked his car. It’s a performance of extremes, which is honestly refreshing compared to the snooze-fest acting in modern dramas.
The pacing is a disaster, but it’s a charming disaster. You get these long, drawn-out speeches about the future of the nation, and then suddenly someone is running through a field for no reason. It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in Flop House, where things happen just because the script ran out of other options.
The sound design is basically just loud noises and muffled shouting. It gave me a headache, but it also made the riots feel appropriately messy. No clean heroics here. Just a bunch of tired people trying to stay awake while history happens around them.
I found myself thinking about The Avalanche while watching this. Both films have that same sense of "we are making this up as we go along." There’s a raw, jagged edge to the editing that you just don't see anymore. It’s not smooth. It’s not smart. It’s just there.
It’s not a masterpiece. It’s barely even a coherent movie half the time. But I’d rather watch this mess than another polished, soulless production. At least this one has a pulse. 🇷🇺

IMDb —
1926