Shirli-myrli explained

Shirli-myrli
Starring:	Valery Garkalin Vera Alentova Inna Churikova Igor Ugolnikov
Music:	Timur Kogan
Cinematography:	Vadim Alisov
Producer:	Vladimir Dostal Alexander Litvinov
Runtime:	136 minutes
Country:	Russia
Language:	Russian

Shirli-myrli (Russian: Ширли-мырли, also released as What a Mess!) is a 1995 farce comedy film of the early post-soviet era directed by Vladimir Menshov.^[1] Centered around a pursued con man, who stole a huge diamond, the movie, among other things, satirizes chauvinism, antisemitism and other ethnic tensions in the 1990s Russia. Valery Garkalin plays multiple roles as identical twins who were raised believing they belong to different cultures and races and used to look down on each other's.

Plot summary

While digging in the diamond mine "Unpromising" in Yakutia an enormous diamond was found. It is called The Savior of Russia: officials declare that the sale of the diamond could pay off the national debt and pay for every Russian citizen to take a three-year-long vacation at the Canary Islands.

While the diamond is being transported to Moscow (by Antonov An-124 Ruslan)^[1] it is stolen by the crime boss Kozulskiy (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan), who is then robbed by professional thief Vasiliy Krolikov (Valery Garkalin).

For the remainder of the film, the plot revolves around Krolikov, a con man raised as a Russian and his two other identical multiple birth brothers, one was raised as a Jew to become a world famous musician, another as a Russian Roma to become a chief and a member of the parliament. Krolikov is pursued by Kozulskiy's mafia and two militsiya officers - Captain Jean-Paul Piskunov (Igor Ugolnikov) and an unnamed lieutenant (Sergey Batalov). At the end of the film it turns out that there is a fourth brother, raised as an African American, making all characters played by Garkalin at least quadruplets.

Cast

Valery Garkalin as Vasily Krolikov, Innokentiy Shniperson, Roman Almazov and Patrick Crolikow
Vera Alentova as Carol Abzats, Zemfira Almazova, Lusiena Krolikova and Whitney Crolikow^[1]
Inna Churikova as Praskoviya Krolikova, Krolikov's supposed mother and the quadruplets's aunt
Armen Dzhigarkhanyan as Kozyulski, the crime boss
Igor Ugolnikov as Captain Jean-Paul Piskunov, militsiya special investigator
Sergey Batalov as the militsiya lieutenant
Leonid Kuravlyov as the US Ambassador to Russia
Lyubov Polishchuk as Jennifer, US Ambassador's wife
Oleg Tabakov as Sukhodrishchev, the drunkard
Aleksandr Voroshilo as Kozma, Shniperson's admirer
Nonna Mordyukova as the Female Registry Office Worker
Sergei Artsibashev as the Male Registry Office Worker
Arkadi Koval as the TV Announcer
Yevgeni Aleksandrov as the TV journalist (voiced by Sergey Bezrukov)
Lev Borisov as Mafioso Alexey Theophylactovich
Yuri Chernov as Alexey, the suitcase carrier
Oleg Yefremov as Nikolay Grigoryevich, the Krolikovs' alcoholic neighbor
Yevgeni Vesnik as the doctor
Rolan Bykov as the diamond buyer
Valeri Nikolayev as the male step dancer
Irina Apeksimova as the female step dancer
Viktor Gaynov as Mafioso Quasimodo
Aleksandr Pankratov-Chyorny as US Ambassador's bodyguard
Mikhail Kokshenov as US Ambassador's bodyguard
Tatyana Kravchenko as Bronislava Rosembaum, the geologist
Sergei Gabrielyan as Ravil Beliletdinov, the geologist
Valeri Afanasyev as Anatoly Ivanov, the geologist^[1]
Vladimir Menshov as the President of Russia
Vsevolod Sanayev as the male music lover
Nina Alisova as the female music lover
Vladimir Gusev as the General
Boris Smorchkov as the General
Gennadi Matveyev as the General
Pyotr Merkuryev as the member of the wedding
Aleksei Buldakov^[1] as the pilot of An-124
Yevgeni Gerchakov as the Symphony Orchestra Conductor
Yuriy Kuzmenkov as the man with a goat
Marina Golub as the manager of the philharmonic hall

Notes and References

Web site: "Ширли-мырли". https://web.archive.org/web/20160305104556/http://old.russiancinema.ru/template.php?dept_id=3&e_dept_id=&e_movie_id=7387. dead. Энциклопедия отечественного кино. 2016-03-05.