I Am Twenty

The film opens with three Red Guards from the October era. Gradually the scene shifts, replacing them with a group of young contemporaries and then a discharged soldier, Sergey Zhuravlev. This transition frames the film's meditation on memory and renewal.

We learn Sergey's father died on the front during the Great Patriotic War. He now lives with his mother and sister in a communal apartment near Zastava Ilyicha Square. The family history shapes Sergey's sense of duty and belonging.

The film follows Sergey and his friends Slava Kostikov and Nikolai Fokin as they navigate life in the postwar memory era. Slava is married with a child but keeps spending free time with friends, neglecting family duties. Nikolai is a cheerful optimist, yet his own moral compass is tested by the world around him.

Nikolai's boss tries to recruit him as an informant; he refuses, standing against betrayal. He later laments in private that a young man can become a scoundrel, revealing his disillusionment with the system.

Sergey is seen searching for a purpose in life and for a woman who meets his high ideals. This inner quest frames his later encounters and choices.

During a May Day parade, Sergey meets Anya, the daughter of wealthy parents, sparking a potential romance. The moment contrasts his modest upbringing with her privileged background.

Sergey and Anya attend a poetry evening where major Soviet poets recite their works, capturing the era's cultural beat. The lineup includes Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Andrei Voznesensky, Rimma Kazakova, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Mikhail Svetlov, Bella Akhmadulina, and Bulat Okudzhava.

Boris Slutsky reads poems by his late friends Mikhail Kulchitsky and Pavel Kogan, who died in the war, linking personal memory with national trauma. This interweaving of memory and loss deepens the film's meditation on the war's long shadow.

Sergey attends Anya's birthday party but feels out of place among the 'golden youth' who surround her. The social gap amplifies Sergey's sense of distance.

Seeking guidance, Sergey encounters his father, who died at 21, and cannot offer practical advice. The moment reinforces the fragility of memory and the burden of expectations.

Sergey notices the room filled with his father’s wartime comrades, all asleep, a surreal image that deepens the theme of memory and generations. The scene suggests that the past remains present but distant.

The film closes with a ceremonial changing of the guards at Lenin's Mausoleum, a ritual that frames the new generation within the continuity of history. It leaves the characters at a moment of quiet reflection about their place in a continuing story.