God's Smile or Odessa Story

Vladimir Alenikov

Russian Federation

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Synopsis

A naive young Russian-American finds himself falling through time holes in Odessa, Ukraine while trying to retrieve his grandfather's cat.

REVIEW

"A real man is real when his girl's at the wheel. You hold the key to your happiness; know that the city holds the rest..."

The voice singing these lines belongs to a sly middle-aged guy, who is giving advice to a winsome young man soon to be identified as Alan, the hero of "God's Smile" or "The Odessa Story."

It is night in a brightly lit park in Odessa where a crowd of jubilant Russians dances down a grassy lane while singing "Red City Red City Red City." Central to it all is that winsome lad and a saucy young redhead surrounded by what appears to be every Russian character actor since the days of Stanislavski. From the outset you know you are in for something delectably idiosyncratic, slightly skewered, and very special.

Looking jaunty in their colorful, creative costumes the revelers surrender to toe-tapping folk melodies with infectious abandon. Amid waving banners and firecrackers, vigorous songs of Russia segues into lovelorn strains of Puccini, as festive Odessa fades into steel-and-glass Chicago. This is home to Alan Olshanski and his family of Russian expatriates. Alan's well-planned life, girl trouble and college woes notwithstanding, takes an unexpected turn when ailing Grandpa sends him packing to Odessa, the family's hometown: "The cat's alive" says Grandpa, "don't hurry to come back." 

Odessa had always been described to Alan as "extraordinary," but he is about to get more than he bargained for.  It all starts when a voluptuous guide suggests a tour of mysterious catacombs that run under the entire city.  Down into subterranean Odessa Alan goes, only to drop through the underground into one time warp after another and a series of clever and telling misadventures.

From Russia today to Soviet past, grand parade to Grande Opera, and fish to flood, he will grapple with a series of daffy and telling misadventures. From flying ladders to burning buildings, and overwhelmed peasant women to overblown divas, he will survive madcap calamities with winning grace.  In what could be called a Russian screwball fantasy, "God's Smile" benefits vastly from director Vladimir Alenikov's sense of the absurd, as well as his uncanny eye for great faces and engaging screen portraiture, and sharp political parody, ever informed by good nature, even when the going is rough.

-Jeffrey Gorney