AllMovie

Though technically an adaptation of Jack Kerouac's Beat generation novel The Subterraneans, Russian filmmaker Gleb Teleshov was more interested in having the tone, language, atmosphere and plot line echo the book rather than retell its story to the letter. Teleshov 's interpretation represents the Russian mythology surrounding Beatnik culture. Filmed entirely in black and white, he set his story in Russia in a place where alienated, directionless travelers hang out in smoky cellar cafes smoking innumerable cigarettes sharing marijuana-induced insights and the occasional bed when the jazz clubs close.