Just Like Grown Ups

How often do we live through two, three, or even more versions of ourselves during one lifetime? How often do we change, irreversibly, under the influence of other people, often close relatives? The timid Polya (24) works as an accountant and studies economics. She is in love with Kirill (25), who is her polar opposite. Kirill is a young cameraman: ambitious and talented. Kirill and Polya love each other and try to live together, but each of them has their own philosophy, their own value system and their own convictions. Even when they part, Kirill and Polya continue to carry on an inner dialogue with each other. Everyone tries to prove to the other that they can achieve everything on the other’s wish list. Twenty years later they meet, and now the heroes must find out the most important thing: whether one of them has found happiness in those years.

Directed by Oksana Karas, Just Like Grown Ups leans on a strong ensemble — Renata Litvinova, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Iana Gladkikh — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 2016.