Potapov, k doske!

Loved this movie. So did my Russian friends who saw it. Although it's for kids, it's filled with so much nostalgia and childhood memories, and beauty and even some meditative quality that I was almost mesmerized by it. I think everyone who grew up in Russia would really get this film and love it.

It's the story of a young boy and his infatuation with his pretty classmate. Often times you see the girl and the worlds through the boy's eyes, the fly-aways around her head glowing in the sun as she awaits a bus, the map in the classroom that we see in reverse, the beauty of the small Russian town the protagonist lives in. The boy produces several "shows" in an attempt to get the girl's interest. And it's so interesting and touching to watch him do it, and the girl and other kids react to them. I almost think this movie is not so much for children as for their parents, to cater to their sense of nostalgia and memories of their Russian childhood. Maybe that quality of the film is especially acute to me because I have moved to the US years ago.