CLOUD HEAVEN

It's a rather typical humdrum Sunday in a drab Russian town. Feeling bored and wasting time in idle chit chat at his friend's, happylucky Kolia finds himself jokingly announcing his plans to leave town that same day. What begins as a ruse snowballs into a cause celebre among the townsfolk. Suddenly, everyone greets him wherever he turns and all his neighbors want him to visit. His departure becomes inevitable when a grand musical parade in his honor is set to lead Kolia to the bus that is going to transport him to who knows where. Kolia's predicament and the gently exaggerated depiction of the townsfolk are pointedly absurdist metaphors for the disorganization in presentday Russia, yet CLOUD HEAVEN resonates with a mystic grandeur that lends this simple tale an almost magical, fairytale flavor. In the spirit of the droll humor of Jacques Tati, this is a small gem that nearly got away. Thankfully, it didn't. K.K. In Russian with English subtitles.