New Directors/New Films Review: Corruption Drama 'The Fool' Is Must-See Cinema

Are we in the midst of a new Russian cinematic wave? It’s starting to feel that way. It hasn’t been a full year since Andrey Zvyagintsev’s astounding “Leviathan” premiered at Cannes on its way to a Golden Globe win and an Academy Award nomination. But while the film stormed through the festival circuit last year, Zvyagintsev’s David vs. Goliath tale was an unwitting Goliath to Yuriy Bykov’s David. A smaller film in almost every respect and less sophisticated in execution but unquestionably cut from the same cloth, Bykov’s “The Fool” tells the story of one man’s desperate attempt to save 800 tenants living in a dangerously dilapidated building. It’s another thunderous win for Russian cinema, mercilessly tearing at the stitches of a country’s political system to reveal a festering wound.

In an unnamed Russian town one long night, Dima’s (Artyom Bystrov) entire world is rocked to its core. He is a plumber living a humble and crammed lifestyle with a wife (Darya Moroz), a young...