My Friend Ivan Lapshin

As a police detective in Stalinist Russia, Ivan Lapshin (Andrei Boltnev) lives a life of extremes. At home in the communal flat he shares with other families, he is a considerate, genial presence. In his love life, he is trying to seduce a young actress (Nina Ruslanova), and is almost comically inept. But in his work life, he is unimaginably cruel and brutal to those individuals the state wants rounded up. His latest case involves tracking down a gang that trades in human meat. …