Russki business: tough uneven, this menage a trois comedy signals the start of new queer Russian cinema.

You I Love * Written by Olga Stolpovskaya * Directed by Stolpovskaya and Dmitry Troitsky * Starring Evgeny Koryakovsky, Lubov Tolkalina, and Damir Badmaev * Picture This

Earlier this year, famed Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov's film Father and Son opened in the United States to mostly positive reviews and speculation about the film's images of male intimacy. For whatever reason, a displeased Sokurov responded to critics' use of adjectives like "homoerotic" with a resounding "nyet." If the new Russian comedy You I Love is an accurate portrayal of Russian cultural standards where homosexuality is concerned, maybe Sokurov's reaction was typical of his countrymen.

A clumsy but still likable film, You I Love tells the story of yuppie adman Timofei (Evgeny Koryakovsky); his TV news anchor girlfriend, Vera (Lubov Tolkalina); and the young homeless man, Uloomji (Damir Badmaev), who comes between them. After falling on the hood of Timofei's car, Uloomji becomes the formerly heterosexual man's boy toy, much to Vera's dismay. Not wanting to dissolve their relationship, Vera slowly comes to accept the menage as a fact of life. She even helps the cause when Uloomji's angry family shows up to demand their son's return to being "a real man."

Bold polysexual love story aside, all is not quite right in this odd, stiff effort. The direction is flat, and the characters are so slightly written that it seems as though the filmmakers exhausted all their energy in just giving these people modern lives and unconventional sexual habits. Real, complex personalities would have made their story more compelling.

Further, and most interesting, there's an air of timidity to the storytelling. It's as if the movie is asking permission to be about its still somewhat taboo subject and afraid of encountering that same "nyet" in response. And for that reason alone You 1 Love is worth a look. It's a chance to watch the first steps of gay Russian filmmaking. Hopefully, there'll be more--and more assured ones--to come.

White writes about film for E! Online.