Katka and Shiz

Katka and Shiz (1992) — watch this Soviet crime film online on iFILM, directed by Tigran Keosayan with Denis Karasev and Armen Dzhigarkhanyan in the leads.

A young art restorer swaps a genuine Van Dyck for a forgery and pockets the money. When investigators and a very unhappy buyer start closing in, he does the only thing he can think of: fake a breakdown and check himself into a psychiatric ward. The plan holds — until someone decides to spring him from the clinic by force, and his mental health record turns out to be the least of his problems.

Sharp comic timing and Dzhigarkhanyan's reliably sardonic screen presence make the film work. Early-nineties Russian atmosphere throughout. Stream Katka and Shiz (1992) online on iFILM.