It’s the kind of high end suburban subdivision where if you came home drunk, the cookie-cutter design having you turning a dozen doorknobs before finding home. But who is this mystery man traipsing through this community of unity at all hours with a collapsible bed in tow? A prostitute offering curbside service? Of sorts. It’s Zehnia (Alec Utgoff), a Polish masseur who casts a hypnotic spell over his Russian clientele — the title refers to the ashes of Chernobyl — relaxing them into a somnambular state, then awakening them with a snap of the fingers. Each shot is meticulously composed to the point where the writing-directing team of Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert had me waiting for something that never came. Like dogs running around in an empty pool, the film went nowhere. As a fan of both style as subject and fantasies geared for adults that don’t also involve costumed belligerents waging battle against a green screen galaxy, I was somewhat surprised to find how little effect this comedy/mystery had on me. (2020) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.