23 July, 2013 | By Mark Adams, chief film critic, Screendaily
The funny, smart and rather subversive Geographer Drank His Globe Away (Geograf Globus Propil) – which won the main prizes at this year’s Odessa International Film Festival and the Open Russian Film Festival ‘Kinotavr’ at Sochi – is a film that clicks with audiences who embrace with bitter humour, sexual shenanigans, engaging performances and bleak backdrop. Set for a Russian release later this year, it should find its home on the festival circuit, though whether it may be too mainstream to work for international art house distributors.
…Much of the humour may well be lost in translation, but the film moves at a good pace and is driven by strong performances and a nicely quirky sense of fun. Sex may be at the core (though drinking is also ever-present) but there is nothing explicit, with Sluzhkin always a rather genial and well-meaning character despite his flailing and failing life.