Lenin's Kisses

Deep within the Balou Mountains lies a small rural town populated by disabled people. Blind, deaf, and disfigured, the 197 citizens of the Village of Liven have until now enjoyed a peaceful, mutually supportive life out of sight and mind of the government. But when an unseasonal snowstorm wipes out that year's crops, a county official dreams up a money-making scheme that will boost his career and raise money for the district. He convinces the villagers to set up a traveling freak show showcasing their disabilities, including Blind Tonghua’s Acute Listening Act, Guess the Age of the Old Man, Deafman Ma’s Firecrackers-on-the-Ear, and One-Eye’s Needle Threading. With the money, he intends to buy Lenin’s embalmed corpse from an ailing Russia and install it in a splendid mausoleum in the mountains to attract tourism to this sleepy district. However, as we all know, even the best intentions can go astray. Provocative and bitingly funny, Lenin’s Kisses is a rollicking tragicomedy that stands as a cautionary tale of the all-consuming desire for power and wealth.