V Subbotu (2011)

The film is set in the 1980s, in a small Soviet town, over the course of a single day. At night, Komsomol official Valery Kabysh (Anton Shagin) spots a fire at a nuclear power plant in the distance. To find out what is happening, he goes to his superiors and overhears them discussing an accident at the plant. To avoid causing panic, they decide not to tell the townspeople about the danger of radioactive contamination for the time being. Kabysh goes to the plant with one of the officials, who wants to see for himself that the reactor has been damaged, and witnesses the destruction and fire firsthand. He runs back to town and, in the morning, fetches Vera from her dormitory—a girl he once liked. She does not believe the news of the accident at first, but Kabysh persuades her to run to the railway station and leave on the first train. They race across the town, where an ordinary Saturday is beginning and the residents have no idea what is happening. At the station, Vera breaks a heel, and they miss the train. Vera suggests going to a shop to buy herself a new pair of shoes, which have just come in for sale. After that, she goes to a restaurant to retrieve her passport, which she had left there as a deposit. It turns out that Vera had arranged to sing at a wedding in the restaurant that Saturday, accompanied by a band. When Vera is gone for a long time, Kabysh goes to the restaurant after her and gets swept up in the merry wedding celebrations of one of his acquaintances. The musicians are also former friends of Kabysh’s, with whom he used to play in a vocal-instrumental ensemble, but whom he later abandoned to pursue a career in the Party hierarchy. Although the musicians learn about the accident, they keep putting off leaving the wedding because the restaurant’s Saturday “gig circuit” promises them a lot of money. Since the band’s drummer is drunk, Kabysh takes his place at the drum kit and plays with the group, just as he used to. Performances, settling scores with his former colleagues, and drinking take up the whole day, and night falls. The band’s drummer wakes up, and at some point Kabysh discovers Vera in his arms. At dawn, Kabysh wakes up on a boat, traveling down the river with the band’s musicians and Vera. They are laughing, while Kabysh sees the view of the reactor, destroyed by the explosion, opening up right beside them. He shakes his fist at the reactor. Vera’s face leans over him.