This beautifully filmed dreamlike fable takes us by the hand and binds us to the main character, Zhenia (Alec Utgof), a tall well-built young man with soft features (think Patrick Swayze) who glides effortlessly through a gloomy government building in the opening scene, seemingly with no electricity. He is seeking entrance into Poland from his birthplace, Chernobyl, Ukraine, so that he can practice his healing massage techniques. His origins seem to evoke various responses from sympathy to suspicion. He has an enigmatic quality about him with a quiet, yet direct gaze that seems to see through the usual protective barriers that humans tend to carry around with themselves. This disarming characteristic and the way that he speaks about healing pain and illness with his hands, gain him favor in a gated upscale community in a Polish suburb.

He walks to work from his dreary apartment block and is scrutinized by the initially suspicious gatekeeper. Once inside he seems to have access to as many clients as he can handle. The cookie-cutter similarity of the homes is slightly eerie from the outside, made more so by the fact that there are few cars and streets are largely deserted. The individual stories inside each house are another matter, indeed. The structure of the film which follows Zhenia from house to similar house where he is welcomed into domestic scenarios as various, dissimilar and messy as any team of series writers could dream up. The mood is one of disquiet as we watch Zhenia navigate the stultifyingly pristine monotony of the neighborhood and abruptly enter the demanding world of entitled, self-involved, highly neurotic, majorly dysfunctional families.

Zhenia remains a cypher, revealing little about himself, refusing to pass judgement on any of them. He is incredibly empathetic and only sees that to which he feels that he can bring some relief and/or healing. The residents are colorfully and quirkily original and often behave provocatively. It is as if they are trying to break through his composed and detached demeanor and bring him down to their all too human level. For the most part he behaves with perfect decorum in spite of the license he is given. Only occasionally, when he has put someone in a trance does he take the liberty of examining the accoutrements of their lives before waking them up. The possibility of ominous behavior never occurs.

For some, this will sound like a film that goes nowhere and has no point. However, it is thoroughly engaging and will hold your attention with the gorgeous cinematography, a subtly suggestive soundtrack, extremely original, wacky, delusional, yet always recognizable characters. Zhenia’s backstory is partially revealed in flashbacks of his childish attempts to heal his dying mother from the effects of Chernobyl. It is during that time that he developed superhero fantasies and practiced telekinesis and hypnotism. However, the enigma of Zhenia remains elusive, like the Herman Melville character Billy Budd. He appears from elsewhere and everyone projects their own needs and hopes on him. He is more angel than human and when he vanishes, we are left to wonder what it all means. Well, I leave it to you to find your own meaning. However, I think you will be haunted by the story and the characters as well as the beauty of the film.

Streaming from Kino Lorber.