A black-and-white crime drama about a group of young men keeping a secret about a murder: Kirill Sultanov’s debut feature stars Mark Eydelshteyn and Mikita Voronov.
Nikita (Mikita Voronov), a shabby kid from a children’s home, has a dark past: after beating up a man in a fit of rage he fled to a different city. There he meets trendy rich kid Dan (Mark Eydelshteyn) who likes to throw parties in his house in the country. During one such party Dan initiates a game of Russian roulette, then tells his friends about a murder he committed and suggests that they keep it secret to avoid being accused of complicity. Although he pays them well for their silence, his friends cannot imagine how much it will cost them.
Kirill Sultanov’s characters are no longer teenagers, but they are not adults either. They seem stuck somewhere on the verge of adulthood in their dangerous desire to test the boundaries of what is permitted. These boundaries keep moving further and further, pushed by despair and big money. The characters’ moral dilemmas are not unlike those explored by Dostoyevsky. Indeed, Sultanov lists Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment among his inspirations when working on the screenplay, along with Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. The film’s black-and-white cinematography underscores the inner contradictions that the characters are dealing with, especially in the scenes with optical distortions.
The film’s young cast received a special award at the Window to Europe festival, while the film itself won four awards at the Spirit of Fire festival.
The screening will be followed by Q& A with Kirill Sultanov and lead actor Mikita Voronov.
Summer Will Come
Director: Kirill Sultanov
Russia, Germany, 2024. 90 min
18+