Back when he was kid, Petrovich (Alexander Tkashuck as an adult, Timur Savin as a kid) was attacked by a feral dog - and even though he wasn't gravely injured back when, it was a drama that has stayed with him all through his life. About 40 years later, Petrovich is the owner of a failing grocery store, in a town that houses a worrying number of stray dogs - worrying to him that is -, including one that has taken up residence under the stairs of his shop, and whatever effort he makes to chase the animal away, he's just not very good at it. And yet the less successful he is at driving this dog away, the more angry he gets about all the dogs in the city. Enter one of his shop's few regulars, Lenya (Evgeny Sivko), an unemployed freeloader and trouble maker, and he promises to help Petrovich in his war against dogkind in exchange for freebies, first laying out poisoned sausages for the strays to eat, and when that backfires organizing an anti-dog attack group. Thing is, there are plenty of doglovers in the city as well, including Petrovich's daughter Dasha (Eva Pilichinskaya), and it's soon war between doglovers and doghaters, and since city hall can't decide on a position on the subject, things are sure to get out of hand ...

On one hand, Grumpy of course is a pretty powersul parable on how far one will go to defend one's convictions, no matter how wrong they might be or what flimsy evidence they're based on, on the other it's also a very amusing satire on small town life, including a political spin on it. But what really makes the movie is that it has quite some heart, something which really comes to the fore in the film's finale. And the film's competent performances and  a directorial effort with a definite feel for subtle comedy help make this one into a really worthwhile short.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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