Poor Relatives

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Poor Relatives
DVD cover with Russian title: Бедные родственники
Bednye Rodstvenniki
Directed byPavel Lungin
Written byGennady Ostrovsky
Produced byCatherine Dussart
Pavel Lungin
Olga Vasilyeva
StarringKonstantin Khabensky
Sergei Garmash[1]
Marina Golub
Daniil Spivakovsky
Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet
Leonid Kanevsky
CinematographyMikhail Krichman
Edited bySophie Brunet
Music byMichelle Arbatts
Roche Ave
Yuval Misenmasher
Distributed byCatherine Dussart Productions (CDP)
Onix
Arte France Cinema
Release date
  • 2005 (2005)
Running time
103 minutes
CountriesRussia
France
LanguageRussian

Poor Relatives (Russian: Бедные родственники, romanizedBednye Rodstvenniki), also released as Roots, is a 2005 Russian black comedy film directed by Pavel Lungin.[2]

The film tells the story of a Russian grifter who defrauds foreigners by introducing them to ordinary people hired to pose as long lost relatives.[3]

Plot

Young con artist with a rather nice personality, Edik (Konstantin Khabensky) gets in trouble gathering long lost foreign relatives together. Wealthy and middle-class émigrés who have made it in the new lands (the Americas, Israel) return to the homeland, to the roots from which they were severed. The implicit motivation for their return is the search for spiritual nourishment, and so the émigrés sacrifice the material comforts of their villas and Western civilization to journey to their ancestral past, the timeless village of Golotvin. They believe that here they will be able to complete themselves by reconnecting with their heritage. All for the nominal fee of Edik, a free agent and a small-time crook who orchestrates an elaborate crime with the intention of earning a pile of money by tricking a group of pilgrims into thinking that a small village is their homeland and its inhabitants are their long lost relatives. The levels of deception multiply quickly...

Cast

Awards

Kinotavr (2005)[4]

  • Main Prize
  • Best Male Actor (Konstantin Khabensky)
  • Best Script (Gennady Ostrovsky)
  • Prize of the Governor of Kuban

White Elephant (2005)

  • Best Male Supporting Actor (Sergei Garmash)[5]

Golden Aries (2006)

  • Best Male Actor in the Popular Vote (Konstantin Khabensky)[6]

References

  1. ^ Номинанты Национальной кинематографической премии «НИКА» за 2005 год Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Бедные родственники. Х/ф". Russia-1.
  3. ^ "A Russian grifter fleeces foreigners by introducing them to ordinary folk hired to pose as long lost relatives in director Pavel Loungine's bawdy, bubbly black comedy "Roots."". Variety.
  4. ^ Открытый Российский кинофестиваль «Кинотавр»: Призеры 1991-2005 гг. Archived 2012-08-06 at the Wayback Machine Kinotavr.ru
  5. ^ "2005". Russian Guild of Film Critics.
  6. ^ Marina Timasheva. "Констатину Хабенскому присуждена кинопремия "Золотой Овен"". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

External links