Who is popular today?

This smart, stylish and gory debut by Russia’s Kirill Sokolov follows the twists and violence that ensue when a hammer-wielding man turns up at the door
A macabre and ultraviolent Venus flytrap of a film from Russia that snaps shut with a steely clang. Its original title conveys a bit more succinctly what it’s about: “Papa, sdokhni”, or “Daddy, die”. With its slick and ingenious brutality, it exists on a continuum somewhere between a Guy Ritchie film and a Quentin Tarantino one, maybe triangulated with a bit of Sergio Leone: there’s some Morricone-ish keening on the soundtrack.
Andrei is a middle-aged cop, played by Vitaliy Khaev: a bulky, shaven-headed guy clearly accustomed to a career in violence. His wife is Tasha (Elena Shevchenko), who has retreated into an ethereal depression. We join the story as he is sitting down to supper in his modest apartment, with Tasha busying herself morosely in the kitchen, when a tough-looking young man called Metvey (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) rings the doorbell, asking to be let in. Continue reading...