At Monstrous Industry, the Gutter’s own Carol Borden writes a bit about Karen Shakhnazarov’s absurd satire/mystery, Zerograd / Zero City (1998). “Zerograd is a film that requires a lot of pondering–especially in its presentation of the implications of distorting history, personal and otherwise. And it requires some thought about the pressures to go along with these stories. There is no show of force or threat. There is only the weight of expectation that Vakarin and everyone else will go along will go along with what people have decided is true. Who wouldn’t prefer to be a part of an ancient lineage of neolithic chief who battled for dominion to the reality of being someone in a small town that makes outdated air conditioners? This all has resonance now as we live in a time when people prefer stories where they are part of exciting, righteous movements battling vast secret evils to boring, pedestrian truth.”

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