Speaking of Russian cinema – I watched the film "Volchok", an ambiguous but decent experiment.

It makes good use of Evgeny Tkachuk's talents, including his comedic ones. In my opinion, he is currently one of the 3-4 best actors in Russia. It's commendable to use an atypical setting for a story about a young runaway and his clumsy accidental mentor – here the historical background is needed not to make a historical film, but to set the atmosphere.

But at the same time, the film has a flat and predictable plot that doesn't even try to surprise you. It's a very lazily written movie. The visuals are also not entirely fine: on one hand, everything is quite nice and sometimes vivid (natural landscapes, in particular), on the other hand, artificiality is felt. A lifeless city, lifeless sets – all this breaks immersion in what's happening.

Nevertheless, it's better to watch such a film, sometimes naive and unsuccessful, than another fairy-tale craft that has been put on the assembly line here.