Shirli-myrli

1995 Russian film

1995 (1995)

Running time

136 minutesCountryRussiaLanguageRussian

Shirli-myrli (Russian: Ширли-мырли, also released as What a Mess!) is a 1995 farce comedy film of the early post-soviet era directed by Vladimir Menshov.^[1] Centered around a pursued con man, who stole a huge diamond, the movie, among other things, satirizes chauvinism, antisemitism and other ethnic tensions in the 1990s Russia. Valery Garkalin plays multiple roles as identical twins who were raised believing they belong to different cultures and races and used to look down on each other's.

Plot summary

While digging in the diamond mine "Unpromising" in Yakutia an enormous diamond was found. It is called The Savior of Russia: officials declare that the sale of the diamond could pay off the national debt and pay for every Russian citizen to take a three-year-long vacation at the Canary Islands.

While the diamond is being transported to Moscow (by Antonov An-124 Ruslan)^[1] it is stolen by the crime boss Kozulskiy (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan), who is then robbed by professional thief Vasiliy Krolikov (Valeri Garkalin).

For the remainder of the film, the plot revolves around Krolikov, a con man raised as a Russian and his two other identical multiple birth brothers, one was raised as a Jew to become a world famous musician, another as a Russian Roma to become a Romani tabor [ru] chief and a deputy of the parliament. Krolikov is pursued by Kozulskiy's mafia and two militsiya officers - Jean-Paul Piskunov (Igor Ugolnikov) and an unnamed lieutenant (Sergey Batalov). At the end of the film it turns out that there is a fourth brother, raised as an African American, making all characters played by Garkalin at least quadruplets.

Cast

Valery Garkalin as Vasily Krolikov, Innokentiy Shniperson, Roman Almazov and Patrick Crolikow
Vera Alentova as Carol Abzats, Zemfira Almazova, Lusiena Krolikova and Whitney Crolikow^[1]
Inna Churikova as Praskoviya Alekseyevna Krolikova
Igor Ugolnikov as Jean-Paul Nikolayevich Piskunov
Leonid Kuravlyov as US Ambassador to Russia
Lyubov Polishchuk as Jennifer, Ambassador's wife
Aleksandr Pankratov-Chyorny as Ambassador's bodyguard
Mikhail Kokshenov as Ambassador's bodyguard
Valeri Afanasyev as Anatoly Ivanov^[1]
Yevgeni Aleksandrov as TV journalist
Nina Alisova as music-lover
Irina Apeksimova as Step performer and the Violinist from Conservatory
Sergei Artsybashev as Registry Office Worker
Sergey Batalov as Detective
Lev Borisov as Mafioso
Aleksei Buldakov^[1] as commander of the An-124 crew
Yelena Bushuyeva
Rolan Bykov as Head of Mafia and the Brilliant's buyer
Yuri Chernov as Suitcase carrier
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan as Kozyulski
Sergei Gabrielyan as Ravil Beliletdinov
Yevgeni Gerchakov as Symphony Orchestra Conductor
Maksim Glotov as Police Officer
Marina Golub as Director of the Philharmonic
Vladimir Gusev as General
Arkadi Koval as TV Announcer
Tatyana Kravchenko as Bronislava Rosembaum, geologist
Yuriy Kuzmenkov as Man with a goat
Anatoly Kuznetsov as Father^[1]
Vladimir Menshov as Russian President / Commentator on TV
Pyotr Merkuryev as Meloman
Nonna Mordyukova as Registry Office Worker
Valeri Nikolayev as Step performer
Vsevolod Sanayev
Boris Smorchkov as General
Oleg Tabakov as Sukhodrishchev
Yevgeni Vesnik as Doctor
Aleksandr Voroshilo as Spectator
Oleg Yefremov as Neighbour