24 minSeason 1 • Episode 17
LatestNikolai Videnin is a failed film director who is forced to work in a regular video store in Leningrad. One day, Nikolai accidentally turns on an "adult film" for schoolchildren, for which he first goes to court, and then to a colony settlement. There he gets the nickname Vidik and now, instead of pressing the "Play" button on the VCR, the guy has to cut down the forest from morning to evening.
Production
Painstaking 1980s Leningrad period detail in every frame.
Acting
Rassomakhin's deadpan descent from artist to lumberjack.
Writing
Satire so sharp it could cut down a forest.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The show riffs on real Soviet 'sharashka' labor colonies where scientists and artists were imprisoned to work on state projects.
Pavel Rassomakhin actually learned to operate a real 1980s VCR for the role; the 'accidental button press' scene took 47 takes because he kept doing it correctly.
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