The Half Life of Timofey Berezin
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The Half life of Timofey Berezin is a 2007 film directed by Hollywood Producer Scott Z Burns based on the book 'PU-239 and Other Russian Fantasies' written by Ken Kalfus.
The film stars Paddy Considine as Timofey Berezin and Radha Mitchell as Marina Berezin. It shown at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.
[edit] Plot
Timofey Berezin (Paddy Considine) works at a top-secret, badly rundown plutonium plant in a remote Russian town. At the film's outset, he is exposed to radiation while selflessly trying to stop a malfunction. The facility's draconian managers maintain his exposure was negligible, while accusing him of sabotage and suspending him. Loyal coworkers, however, help Timofey discover the truth: he was exposed to one thousand REMs of radiation (the citizens of Hiroshima received less). He has acute radiation poisoning and only days to live.
Before Timofey's adoring wife, Marina (Radha Mitchell), is fully aware of his fate, he has left for Moscow on a mission to secure a better future for her and their young son. He hooks up with a small-stakes gangster, Shiv (Oscar Isaac), in hopes of finding a buyer for a vial of weapons-grade plutonium he has stolen. It's 1995, only a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and their demented Moscow night hurtles them through the hotels, nightclubs and private palaces of the new underworld, and ricocheting between two rival crime lords (charismatic, terrifying performances by Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Steven Berkoff). However, what Timofey and Shiv never realize is that they are both caught in the same vise: trying to find a way free of a certain fate, hoping to do right by their loved ones before it is too late. This tragic premise sets the stage for Scott Z Burns's remarkable and cutting debut feature. The story is an adaptation of the short story 'PU-239 and Other Russian Fantasies' by Ken Kalfus.
[edit] Trivia
The original name of the film was to be 'PU-239' which is the atomic mass for Plutonium.
Executive producers for this film include George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh. whom are responsible for films such as Traffic, Erin Brockovich, Ocean's Eleven and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
The film was shot in Romania.
