Freeze, Die, Come to Life 1990

In 1947, in the desolate mining town Suchan, two teenagers Valerka and Galia form a wary but enduring friendship as they navigate the stark realities of life in a postwar town. On market day, Valerka spots Galia selling hot water labeled as “tea” in the freezing air, and he mimics her, claiming his water is fresher. With his earnings, he buys skates, only to have them stolen, but Galia helps him retrieve them, showing early on that they can watch each other’s backs.

Valerka also gets into trouble at school for a prank involving yeast in the toilets, and his mother begs the principal not to expel him [Elena Popova]. After a local train operator beats him for riding coal cars, Valerka’s mischief escalates when he slyly redirects a rail switch, causing the train to derail. Afraid of being caught, he confides in Galia and flees to Vladivostok, where he briefly joins a gang, unwittingly participating in a jewelry store robbery that turns violent. When the gang suspects him of being a snitch, they decide to kill him.

Galia, visiting Vladivostok, finds him and warns that the authorities had been looking for him at his mother’s request and that he’s no longer a suspect for the train accident. Together they narrowly escape from the gang, moving partway by train and then on foot as they head back toward Suchan. As they journey, Valerka recites poetry and sings songs about love to Galia, a small, lyrical thread that softens the brutal edges of their world.

In the film’s final moments, the gang closes in. The closing scene reveals Galia’s lifeless body being brought home on a cart by her grieving father, while Valerka’s mother is said to be taking him to the hospital, leaving the town to reckon with the cost of a life forged in cold winters, rough streets, and fragile dreams.