After the "Dnevnik ego zheny"(2000) it was a matter of time when this one would come knocking. With the total length of almost 2 hours this slow story tells us about second half of Maksim Gorkiy's life. About his attempts to write, be politicaly active, love and live, simultaneously. "Master of the word" is rightfully among the best writers in Russian literature and the best parts of this mini-series are when the characters quote parts of his poems, novels, plays or letters. All other dialogues are made for dramatic purposes and can be easily skipped. Low budget, made for TV and it shows, yet it's still got a solid cast even in the small parts with Georgiy Taratorkin playing the lead.
It can make your dull evening a little slower if nothing is good on TV when you're stuck in your Groundhog day in 2010, but otherwise there is no point of searching for this one. Read some Gorkiy instead. Treat yourself.
