My Dad Baryshnikov

About The Film

A ballet-obsessed adolescent dreams of performing at the Bolshoi Theatre amidst Russian political and social upheaval in MY DAD BARYSHNIKOV, a coming-of-age comedy set during the Perestroika era. Clumsy, scrawny, Jewish, and something of an outsider, 14-year-old Boris Fishkin is neglected by his mother (Anna Mikhalkova), pampered by his grandparents (Ilya Rutberg and Marina Politseimako) and prone to any influence. Struggling to master ballet at a Moscow performing arts academy, his skills improve after he obsessively studies a banned VHS tape of the 1985 film White Nights starring dissident Mikhail Baryshnikov. Equally out of childish fantasy and a desire to impress, Boris begins to convince classmates that he is Baryshnikov’s illegitimate son. Using sharp dialogue, well-observed situational comedy and a killer soundtrack, writer-director Dmitry Povolotsky’s semiautobiographical film is an endearing crowd-pleaser.