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Morphia (2008)
Director: Alexei Balabanov
Movie review
From Time Out Online
Sickbags at the ready for Balabanov’s (‘Cargo 200’, ‘Of Freaks and Men’) deliciously funny and graphically gory take on Mikhail Bulgakov’s ‘Notes Of A Young Doctor’ as he juxtaposes the worsening morphine addiction of a bookish young medic in his backwoods hospital with the 1917 Bolshevik revolution which rages in the neighbouring cities. Divided into short episodes all with laugh-out-loud titles (The First Injection, The First Amputation, etc.) which comically hint at the ensuing carnage, the film offers a vision of humanity bent on self-destruction and where the social pillars of religion, politics, media and medicine are all irredeemably corrupt. The exhaustive production design deserves special mention.Author: David Jenkins
Time Out Online London Film Festival 2009
Cast & crew
Director: Alexei Balabanov
Cast: Leonid Kalashnikov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Andrei Panin
Genre(s): Drama
Duration: 102 mins
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