Scenes are stitched together with a pop-song rhythm—an old Soviet ballad sampling a Western pop hook. Camera lingers on the trivial: chipped blue enamel teacups, a poster peeling from a kiosk, a mismatched pair of shoes abandoned on a tram. Dialogue is spare; most confession happens in the tilt of a head, an overheard phrase, the way a cigarette ash refuses to fall. Characters are weathered saints and amateur saints—parents who smile too brightly, a waiter with ink-stained fingers, a boy who keeps a marble in his pocket like a planet.