*Karaganda*: Red Mafia

What's most amazing about Max Weissberg's epic Russian adventure is that it's able to saddle its narrative upon a variety of genres without being beholden to any one: it manages to maintain a distinct old world feel, despite its new world provenance.

There are elements of action thrillers mixed in with the mob genre, epic narratives and soap opera. It jumps between time periods in a way that is at times disconcerting, but in the end manages to pull all these divergent strings together into a rather compelling piece that makes you feel a peculiar empathy for the slightly sociopathic protagonist.

The fact that Weissberg was able to accomplish this ambitious concept within the framework of such a limited budget is truly laudable.

The performances are all on point and believable, the score, moving and powerful, and the storyline draws you into the Machiavellian existence of its characters.

Still, there was some drag to the third act, which might have been lessened with more plot twists, more surprises, but all in all, it was a satisfying film.