My Perestroika, (2010) by Robin Hessman, documents five Russian adults in mid-life. They are surprisingly open, sharing home movies from their childhoods under Soviet rule and allowing cameras into their imperfect lives in today's Russia. The film gives the viewer an intimately close-in view, as if we're a guest at the kitchen table being offered a vodka. Old Soviet-era propaganda footage deepens Hessman's observation of post-Cold War skepticism. Two of the characters, Borya (top still) and Lyuba, are married; interactions with their young son convey the global commercialism that has perhaps replaced old ideologies.
