Classic 1998

Set in 1990s Russia, a billiard masters club raises funds to build a luxury retirement home for the sport’s aging teachers, a gesture meant to honor a generation that helped shape the game. When a crime lord named Savitsky [Juozas Budraitis] is asked for his $20,000 share, he grudgingly pays up but then turns the money into his own stash, sending hired goons after the couriers and stealing the entire sum for himself. A surviving courier suggests they climb higher, toward Moscow, but the plan quickly shifts as the capital signals the arrival of a master player, known only as the Classic, who will challenge Savitsky to a duel with a staggering $150,000 bet. Savitsky, hungry for victory at any cost, borrows money to back his scheme, risking his entire criminal empire in the process.

Enter Gorsky [Sergey Nikonenko], an elderly billiard legend who arrives with his loyal bodyguard Yuri [Aleksey Guskov], posing as a famous writer who can afford such a wager. His skill at the table and his keen grasp of classic literature give him away as more than a seasoned player, and Savitsky quickly concludes that Gorsky must be the Classic, prompting him to accept the duel under tightly drawn rules. The rules are brutal: refusing to play counts as a loss, and the duel’s arbiter is a fearsome crime lord known as Monarch [Vladimir Etush].

On the eve of the match, Savitsky’s men stage a brutal hit on Gorsky and assault his fiancée, Irina [Valentina Telichkina], to force a convenient outcome. A spy named Lily [Lydia Velezheva] is dispatched to seduce Yuri and uncover the pair’s next moves. Crippled but defiant, Gorsky reveals that Yuri will have to play in his stead, using a device that employs magnetic balls directed by a remote control. Savitsky appears to neutralize the system, seemingly guaranteeing his win, but the cunning of the aging champion remains unseen.

Dawn breaks, and Monarch permits Yuri to stand in for Gorsky. Yuri plays with near-flawless precision, effectively denying Gorsky any chance to strike. Yet Gorsky stages a dramatic reversal: he reveals he is ambidextrous and armed with a hidden revolver, and the two escape the arena, vanishing toward Moscow while Savitsky watches his fortune unravel. The pursuit ends with Savitsky left to face the consequences of a debt that spreads across his entire network.

Back in Moscow, the retirement home opens its doors, a symbol of the old guard’s resilience. The film closes on Vasiliy [Vladimir Zeldin], the club’s eldest and most respected player, who is granted the honor to begin the first party with a flawless move, his hands shaking yet steady with decades spent at the table. The world of the billiard masters club—its legends, its schemes, and its ruthless new reality—lingers on as a tale of wit, nerve, and loyalty in an era of upheaval.

In the cast, the story is carried by Savitsky [Juozas Budraitis], Gorsky [Sergey Nikonenko], Yuri [Aleksey Guskov], Lily [Lydia Velezheva], Irina [Valentina Telichkina], Monarch [Vladimir Etush], the mansion’s owner [Valeriy Barinov], and Vasiliy [Vladimir Zeldin], each adding depth to a narrative that blends billiards, crime, and aging glory.