Aleksei Balabanov's 'Me Too' Premieres at Venice Film Festival

Aleksei Balabanov's film 'Ja Tozhe Hochu (Me Too)' premiered at the Venice Film Festival (Mostra del Cinema) in 2012. The surreal road movie follows a group of misfits—a bandit named Matvei, his elderly father, a musician, and a prostitute with a philosophy degree—on a quest to find the Bell Tower of Happiness, hidden between St. Petersburg and the city of Uglic near an abandoned nuclear plant. The area's radiation levels exceed those of Chernobyl, and those not accepted by the tower's patriarch face certain death. The film blends Chekhovian tones with absurdist humor, featuring metaphysical landscapes, non-sense dialogues, and long takes. Balabanov's direction employs innovative camera movements and rhetorical devices. The review by Federica Polidoro highlights the film's unpredictable narrative and technical prowess.