Pure detective! This two-part television film produced by Dovzhenko (by the way, quite suitable for the definition of “film performance”, which I have been trying to introduce into cinema for several years) is made in the spirit and style of the best Soviet TV-films of past years. The initial meeting of friends and fellow detectives refers us to “The investigation is led by the ZontoKi” (they are even similar!). Same thing partly and further! Before our eyes, a detective investigation is being played out, interesting in itself, and not the chase-murders that frame it. No special effects, no graphics! A pure detective, where the main thing is to closely monitor the development of events, intrigue, the behavior of the actors and the play of the actors performing them. Why am I explaining this to you here? You have a mustache bigger than mine! Well, I'm here - short, concise, huh?
... Yak Garen here is still so young Bogdan Stupka (kingdom of heaven to him!) in the main role of the “sledak-important” Stasenko! But the case he is investigating (Soviet and collective-farm swindlers and petty “tsehoviki”) in modern viewers can cause if not homeric laughter, then at least sad, understanding laughter. For we, the inhabitants of modern Russia, know perfectly well how to “boot” various juices-drinks, how beef sausages are made from non-existent gobs. It all started then, at the beginning of the notorious Perestroika (and the film was shot just in 1986; it would have been banned before!). So it's a sin to smile, and it's time to scratch your turnips! And watch the second part of “Slander”!
7 out of 10