''The Last Minister'' (
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
: Последний Министр,
translit. ''Posledniy Ministr'') is a Russian
dark comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
television series made by
Sreda
The Moscow Literary Sreda (russian: Моско́вская Литерату́рная Cреда, Moskovskaya Literaturnaya Sreda/Moskovskaja Literaturnaja Sreda) was a Moscow literary group founded in 1899 by Nikolai Teleshov. The name Sreda me ...
for
KinoPoisk
Kinopoisk (russian: Кинопоиск, a portmanteau of "cinema" and "search") is a Russian online database of information related to films, TV shows including cast, production team, biographies, plot summaries, ratings, and reviews. Since 2018 ...
streaming service. As of now two seasons have been produced, plus a 40-minute
Christmas special
Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in in literature and Christmas music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptation ...
. Season 2 premiere episode was screened at the
Kinotavr Film Festival
Kinotavr (russian: Кинотавр), also known as the Sochi Open Russian Film Festival is an open film festival held in the resort city of Sochi, Russia annually in June since 1991, until it was cancelled in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasi ...
on September 25, 2021 with the rest of the season starting to air on December 2 same year. In February 2022 the show permanently went off the air at the request of its show-runner
Roman Volobuev
Roman Olegovich Volobuev (Russian: Роман Олегович Волобуев; born July 31, 1977, Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian film and television director, writer, producer, and former film critic. Volobuev is best known for his 8-year ...
in protest against
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
.
Premise
Tikhomirov, a well-meaning but hapless
apparatchik
__NOTOC__
An apparatchik (; russian: аппара́тчик ) was a full-time, professional functionary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union or the Soviet government ''apparat'' ( аппарат, apparatus), someone who held any position ...
in grips of mid-life crisis is appointed to run Russia's Ministry of Long-term planning - a small, underfunded, understaffed and generally ignored state agency. With a team consisting of sycophants and corrupt cynics he embarks on an idiotic quest to make Russia great again.
Cast and characters
Main
*
Yan Tsapnik
Yan Yurevich Tsapnik (russian: Ян Ю́рьевич Ца́пник; born 15 August 1968) is a Soviet and Russian theatre and film actor. Yan appeared in more than 200 films.
Biography Early life
Yan Tsapnik was born in Irkutsk, Russian SFSR, Sov ...
as Tikhomirov, Minister of Long-term planning
*
Olga Sutulova
Olga Aleksandrovna Sutulova (russian: О́льга Алекса́ндровна Суту́лова; born 4 May 1980) is a Russian theater and film actress.
Biography
Olga Sutulova was born in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Saint Pe ...
as Nechaeva, a corrupt 1st Deputy Minister
*
Sergey Epishev as Vikentyev, an insane 2nd Deputy Minister
*
Sofia Lebedeva as Sonya, a naive intern who's rapidly rising through the Ministry's ranks
*
Anna Shepeleva as Ingeborge, a permanently pregnant Minister's personal assistant
*Darya and Ekaterina Nosik as Lutch and Skotch, diabolical twins who run Ministry's Analytical Department
*Alexandra Drozdova as Lera, Sonya's assistant (Season 2)
Recurring
*
Nelli Uvarova
Nelli Vladimirovna Uvarova (russian: Не́лли Влади́мировна Ува́рова; born 14 March 1980) is a Russian theater and film actress.
Early life
Nelli Uvarova was born in Mažeikiai, Lithuania to a Russian father and Armenia ...
as Raisa, Minister's ex-wife and concrete tycoon
*Olga Dibtseva as Larisa, a
biathlete
The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and shooting sports, rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into sh ...
and Minister's mistress
*Polina Fedina as Kira, Minister's teenage daughter
*Fyodor Lavrov as Plotnikov, a functionary from the Prime Minister's Office
*Alisa Khazanova as Antonova, a detective with the
Investigative Committee of Russia
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (russian: link=no, Следственный комитет Российской Федерации) has since January 2011 been the main federal investigating authority in Russia. Its name (' ...
(season 2; guest season 1)
*Grigoriy Kaninin as Smirnov, a federal investigator and Antonova's partner (season 2; guest season 1)
*Alexander Iliyn as X, prime minister's chief of staff
*
Roman Volobuev
Roman Olegovich Volobuev (Russian: Роман Олегович Волобуев; born July 31, 1977, Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian film and television director, writer, producer, and former film critic. Volobuev is best known for his 8-year ...
as Y, head of the Department of External Policy
*
Ekaterina Vilkova
Ekaterina Nikolaevna Vilkova (russian: Екатери́на Никола́евна Вилко́ва; born 11 July 1984) is a Russian actress. She is known for her roles in ''Black Lightning'' (2009), '' Hipsters'' (2008), ''The PyraMMMid'' (2011 ...
as Z, head of the Department of Internal Policy (season 2)
*Konstantin Murzenko as Father Vitaliy, a liaison with the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
*Ekaterina Gorina as Gerasimenko, an investigative reporter for ''Telegraph'', Russia's only surviving newspaper (season 1)
*Ekaterina Steblina as Nemirovskaya, a Moscow correspondent for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' (season 2; guest season 1),
Guests
*
Konstantin Bogomolov
Konstantin Yuryevich Bogomolov (russian: Константи́н Ю́рьевич Богомо́лов; born July 23, 1975) is a Russian theater director, poet, and actor. He has served as the art director of the . He is the son of the film crit ...
as Fyodor, a Russia's only Oscar-winning filmmaker
*
Anna Chipovskaya
Anna Borisovna Chipovskaya (russian: А́нна Бори́совна Чипо́вская; born 16 June 1987) is a Russian actress who has appeared in theater, television and film.
Early life
Anna Chipovskaya was born in Moscow. She was born ...
as Redkina, a vice president of
Pornhub
Pornhub is a Canadian-owned internet pornography website. It is one of several pornographic video-streaming websites owned by MindGeek. , Pornhub is the 10th-most-trafficked website in the world and the second-most-trafficked adult website aft ...
*
Andrey Merzlikin
Andrey Ilyich Merzlikin (russian: Андре́й Ильи́ч Мерзли́кин; born 24 March 1973) is a Russian film and theater actor.
Early life
Andrey Merzlikin was born in Kaliningrad, Moscow Oblast. In the first education – radio e ...
as Vasya, Minister's childhood friend and a former gangster
*Yuri Tsurilo as Ranevskiy, the Governor of Saratov Oblast
*
Odin Biron as
Edward Snowden
Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and su ...
(season 2)
*
Alexander Gorchilin
Alexander Pavlovich Gorchilin (russian: Алекса́ндр Па́влович Горчи́лин; born March 3, 1992) is a Russian film and stage actor, voice actor and film director.
Gained fame after playing roles in the TV series ''Daddy's Da ...
as
Andrey Zvyaginsev (season 2)
*Sergey Gilev as Igor F. Baranoff, Alaskan separatist (season 2)
*
Timofey Tribuntsev
Timofey Vladimirovich Tribuntsev (russian: link=no, Тимофе́й Влади́мирович Трибу́нцев) is a Russian actor. Winner of the '' Nika Award-2017.
Biography
Timofey was born on July 1, 1973. He studied at the '' Mikhail ...
as the voice of Prime Minister (seаson 1)
*
Aleksandr Bashirov
Alexander Nikolaevich Bashirov (russian: Александр Николаевич Баширов; born 24 September 1955, in Sogom) is a Russian film and theater actor, director and screenwriter. He performed in more than sixty films since 1986.
...
as Prime Minister (seаson 2)
Episodes
Season 1 (2020)
Season 2 (2021)
Production
Background
Producer
Aleksandr Tsekalo
Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Tsekalo, uk, Олександр Євгенович Цекало, Oleksandr Yevhenovich Tsekalo (born 22 March 1961) is a Soviet and Russian musician, actor, radio and TV host. Founder of production company Sreda, he is ...
started developing a comedy about corrupt bureaucrats originally known as ''The Ministry'' in 2015.
The pilot was written by Pavel Bardin
with
Maksim Pezhemsky
Maksim Pezhemsky (born 30 March 1963) is a Russian film director and screenwriter. His film '' Perekhod tovarishcha Chkalova cherez severnyy polyus'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.
Filmography
* ...
slated to direct.
Due to high level of political censorship on Russian
broadcast TV
Broadcast television systems (or terrestrial television systems outside the US and Canada) are the encoding or formatting systems for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals.
Analog television systems were standardized by ...
Tsekalo was unable to find a network willing to commission the show,
but the emergence of streaming services eventually allowed him to sidestep the obstacle. In 2018 Roman Volobuev and Lena Vaninа were signed to write a 15-episode first season with Volobuev directing.
Writing
Volobuev described ''The Last Minister'' as "an Aaron Sorkin show were everyone has irrevocably lost their conscience". Some of the show's characters and ideas were borrowed
from Volobuev and Vanina's aborted series ''Zavtra'' about Russia’s liberal opposition unexpectedly winning presidential elections in 2018.
Filming
The show's first season was filmed in 2019 over period of 3 months mostly on soundstage in Moscow. Principal photography on the second season started in October 2020.
Reception
Critical response
The show's first season won acclaim from Russian critics for its absurdist setting, writing and visual stile. Mikhail Trofimenkov of ''
Kommersant
''Kommersant'' (russian: Коммерсантъ, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia ...
'' called it “the one comedy to capture and preserve the spirit of ‘era of stability’ (an ironic Russian moniker for Putin's years in power)”. It was also praised for breaking an unofficial ban on LGBTQ characters on Russian TV by making one of its main protagonists — Nechaeva — a closeted lesbian. Some outlets criticised the series for relying too heavily on inside jokes and playing safe with its political subject matter.
Ogoniok
''Ogoniok'' ( rus, Огонёк, t=Spark, p=ɐɡɐˈnʲɵk, a=Ru-огонёк.ogg; pre-reform orthography: ''Огонекъ'') was one of the oldest weekly illustrated magazines in Russia.
History and profile
''Ogoniok'' has issued since . I ...
’s Andrey Archangelsky called out show’s writing team for “falling too much in love with their own characters, effectively becoming their hostages” and eventually “drifting away from the subjects of big politics, greed and power-lust towards much safer and well-trodden melodramatic story”.
Awards
For its first season ''The Last Minister'' was nominated for APKiT Awards in a Best Comedy Series category.
Second season was nominated for National Web Industry Awards in three categories: best series, best director and best actor.
Censorship controversy
After Season 2 was completed in early 2021 its release was delayed'','' pre-production on the planned Season 3 was also halted. According to the ''
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
'' investigation the show was deemed ‘politically problematic’ because of episodes depicting a fictional secession of
Saratov Oblast
Saratov Oblast (russian: Сара́товская о́бласть, ''Saratovskaya oblast'') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the types of ...
from the Russian Federation and satirising a real-life criminal case against the former
Khabarovsk Krai
Khabarovsk Krai ( rus, Хабаровский край, r=Khabarovsky kray, p=xɐˈbarəfskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Russian Far East and is a part of the Far Eastern Federal District ...
Governor
Sergei Furgal
Sergei Ivanovich Furgal (; russian: Серге́й Ива́нович Фурга́л; born 12 February 1970) is a Russian politician who served as Governor of Khabarovsk Krai from 2018 until his arrest and removal in 2020. In response to his a ...
. A week after
''BBC Russian Service'' broke the story Season 2 air date was announced. ''KinoPoisk'' CEO and show’s executive producer Olga Filipuk later denied censorship claims citing “boring aspects of repertoire planning, nothing as dramatic as being banned or unbanned” as a sole reason for Season 2 being delayed.
Going off the air in protest against Russian invasion of Ukraine
Season 2 finale slated to air on February 23, 2022 was shelved indefinitely in protest against Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement posted on Twitter Roman Volobuev wrote that this was done at his request since he no longer saw it possible to make light-hearted jokes about Russian politics. He also called out show’s supposed fans among Russian government officials: ‘Horror films should be made about you, not comedies. Go take a look in a mirror, check if your reflection still looks human’.
References
External links
*
The Last Ministeron
kinopoisk.ru
Kinopoisk (russian: Кинопоиск, a portmanteau of "cinema" and "search") is a Russian online database of information related to films, TV shows including cast, production team, biographies, plot summaries, ratings, and reviews. Since 2018 ...
The Last Ministeron
Mubi
Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusivel ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Minister (TV series), The
2020s Russian television series
Russian political television series