Dmitri Meskhiev's 'Mechanical Suite' reviewed by Birgit Beumers in ARTMargins Online

Birgit Beumers reviews Dmitri Meskhiev's film 'Mechanical Suite', noting his shift from experimental to commercial projects in the late 1990s. In 1998, Meskhiev released 'A Women's Property', produced by Slovo to encourage commercially viable work, and 'The American Bet', a Lenfilm production about 1970s youth. 'Mechanical Suite' marks a return to serious filmmaking with a non-commercial structure. The plot involves two men sent to a remote village to retrieve a colleague's body, facing financial constraints that force them to disguise it as a drunk on a train. A fellow passenger accidentally causes the body to fall, leading to its disposal and subsequent complications. Meskhiev's narrative falters in the second half with a mafia subplot involving a courier and gangsters, echoing his earlier commercial style. Despite this, the film balances comic and tragic elements, highlighting the poverty driving the humiliating transport method. Published on August 31, 2001, the review critiques Meskhiev's uneven career trajectory and the film's structural weaknesses.