the film “Odessa. New York. Kiev. Criminal Rhapsody”
Odessa. New York. Kiev. Criminal Rhapsody”
Mikhail nicknamed Dlinny is closely connected with the criminal world of Odessa and at 24 he is already influential. “Working” in shell games he meets a beautiful girl from Kiev Marina. They start a relationship, but the problem is that Marina is married. She cannot leave her husband, although she has been dreaming for it for a very long time: he is jealous and short-tempered, due to his jealousy he does utter things (puts a wiretap in the apartment, is on the trail of his wife, hiding in the trunk of her car, etc.). But he is a former Afghan soldier and now an important high-ranking police officer, and if Marina tries to leave him, she and her beloved do not live.
Mikhail and Marina grab moments in Kiev and their relationship is completely innocent until the husband makes another utter scene. So Marina decides to become Mikhail’s mistress. Her husband, German Yaguzhinsky feels that something has changed in his wife. Returning home in a bad mood he abuses her. It is the last straw and she goes to her parents’ house. Next morning, knowing that her husband is not at home, she returns for her stuff and her husband, warned by a neighbour, comes home, beats and abuses her again. Upon hearing that, Mikhail arrives from Odessa, beats Yaguzhinsky and helps Marina to launch the abuse inquiry against her husband. Marina, frightened that Yaguzhinsky will kill Mikhail, asks him to leave.
Mikhail leaves for his father, who moved to America long time ago. There he first works at his father’s gas station, then becomes a taxi driver. But money is sorely lacking. Everything changes when he meets his old friends, immigrants from the former USSR. Together they go “under the command” of the well-known crime boss Magadan. Magadan immediately paid particular attention to Mikhail and the envy arises in his friends, the twin brothers Valik and Sanjok Grimm. A short time later, they decided to leave Magadan’s gang for another business.
Meanwhile in Kiev Marina resorts to the well-known crime boss Ryzhy (Redhead) on Mikhail’s referral. Amazed by her beauty Rizhy is ready to help but offers to become his shouter. Marina refuses. Ryzhy is impressed because he is not used to being rejected by girls seriously falls in love and helps her for free. All the documents to leave the country are ready but Marina is caught at the airport, and, after some abasement, she was released. Now the trip is out of the question for the next 5 years and morally devastated Marina is picked up near the airport by Yaguzhinsky.
Meanwhile in New York Magadan’s gang start to gain momentum, successfully demarcating spheres of influence with a Chechen criminal team and an Italian mafia. This kind of success anger the boss of the main criminal entity in Russia – the Solntsevskaya gang – Seva Temnopolsky.
Meanwhile in Ukraine, representatives of the Donetsk gang flip out at the President, demanding money. The president resorts to the mafia for help. Seva Temnopolsky suggest Magadan to “resolve some questions”: in this way he wants to clean up the mess using others, and when everything works out Magadan can be “moved”. Magadan sends Mikhail to Kiev, and he interceds with Magadan for the brothers Valik and Sanjok: the ball is not set in motion with the business and they ask for the return. Magadan warns: the brothers can frame up at any moment. But Mikhail takes them with him nevertheless.
Mikhail with his excellent managerial capabilities “resolves some questions” by available for him means using, calling a spade a spade, well-known bandit methods. Unexpectedly, he meets Marina: she continues to live with Yaguzhinsky, no longer risking leaving him (especially now, when Yaguzhinsky has more power and even is well in with the President). Mikhail’s feelings did not go bust, but the woman refuses to meet him: the second time she will not survive this, she just won’t stand for it.
On arrival in Ukraine Magadan drew back hotheaded Valik and Sanjok. They hold a grudge.
Marina is drinking and starts to sniff cocaine. Worried about her condition, Mikhail asks Marina’s friend, Kalya (the President’s mistress), to appeal for support to the President. Marina is sent to a high-altitude clinic in Central Asia where women’s alcoholism and drug addiction are successfully treated. Marina practically returns to a conscious state when Mikhail and her husband arrive at the same time. A young woman has a nervous breakdown. She remains in the clinic and once the treatment was completed, she appealed to Ryzhy for support, explaining that she does not want anyone else to know where she is.
Yaguzhinsky recognizes in Dlinny the man who beat him several years ago. He goes after Mikhail and at the same time after his “comrades-in-arms.” Yaguzhinsky with company, the almost omnipotent Seva Temnopolsky (after all, Magadan has done his job and now is no longer needed) and the President himself, who does not like to depend on someone for a long time now are against Magadan.
The grudge of Valik and Sanjok finds a way out: Seva Temnopolsky suggests them to kill Magadan and to head the affair.
Meanwhile, Ryzhy is imprisoned, but he decides to tell Mikhail where is Marina. The relationship between Marina and Mikhail is living a second flowering. Despite all the precautions, they do not notice that Yaguzhinsky’s people are keeping tabs on them.
Valik and Sanjok kill Magadan. Upon learning of this, Dlinny calls them traitors and leaves the affair. The brothers must pay him his portion and he plans to return to America. But first he decides to send there Marina and this time successfully.
Yaguzhinsky, realizing that Dlinny will be killed or by Valik and Sanjok or by Temnopolsky’s people, and that in this case Marina will not survive he decides to kill Dlinny on his own and thereby save Marina. But Mikhail’s friend is keeping tabs on Yaguzhinsky and once he arranged a “trap” for Dlinny, Yaguzhinsky and his people fall into it themselves. Dlinny explains to Yaguzhinsky that Seva Temnopolsky hand over a secret information and that Marina has already escaped from Yaguzhinsky’s control and will not get there again.
Michael flies to America and at the airport he meets a long-time foe Benya, at whom Valik and Sanjok once made an attempt, and he invites Mikhail to take revenge on Valik and Sanjok together. They hire a killer, but at the moment of transferring the money Benya was arrested and shortly also Dlinny was caught by FBI.
Dlinny goes to cooperate and tells everything about his partners in crime. After 8 years in jail Mikhail is released and finds out that Marina was killed by order of Seva Temnopolsky: for Seva it was impossible to reach Mikhail personally but at least he messed with him. Furthermore Marina knew quite a lot and Seva was afraid that she might say something important somewhere. At Marina’s grave Mikhail meets Yaguzhinsky.
This is a short love story. But the film abounds with scenes of criminal adventures of Magadan’s gang. There are fights, explosions and firefights in the style of “Heat”. The genre is crime melodrama.