Director Kateryna Gornostai’s documentary-like film, originally released in 2021, has assumed a heartbreaking new significance since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
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The film does indeed present more of a world rather than a straight-forward narrative, although a central story does exist. Our hero is Masha (
Maria Fedorchenko), an introverted girl who hangs out with two other outsiders, Yana (
Yana Isaienko) and Senia (
Arsenii Markov). The rest of their class does not, however, represent a huge contrast as it would in a standard teenage comedy or drama there are no popular cheerleader or fraternity jock types here, just kids who belong to a larger, more conformist group.
One of them is Sasha (
Oleksandr Ivanov), a handsome boy who catches Masha s eye. In another twist on teenage tropes, it is actually Masha whose family is better off. They live in a modern apartment, in fact they are so cool that they are even growing an indoor marijuana plant. Mom and dad are often away, so Masha and her two besties have frequent sleepovers.