In the unfettered freedom of Russia''s new-found venture-capital frenzy, Max Borodin can organise anything - so long as the readies are ready. That''s why he''s Moscow''s most successful businessman.

But Max''s life has its downside: his wife, Tanya, nags him, his mistress, Sonya, exhausts him; his brother Evgeny needs him - to help extricate him from yet another shady business fiasco. Then there are always the country''s friendly mafia, keen to lend a helping hand with the profits of Max''s Universal Manufacturing Company - producer of documents, historical and otherwise, to suit every conceivable occasion.

Satire rarely comes more sulphuric than this. Let''s Put the Future Behind Us is the wittiest job of fictional surgery on New Russia since its iron curtain was amputated.

In the unfettered freedom of Russia''s new-found venture-capital frenzy, Max Borodin can organise anything - so long as the readies are ready. That''s why he''s Moscow''s most successful businessman.

But Max''s life has its downside: his wife, Tanya, nags him, his mistress, Sonya, exhausts him; his brother Evgeny needs him - to help extricate him from yet another shady business fiasco. Then there are always the country''s friendly mafia, keen to lend a helping hand with the profits of Max''s Universal Manufacturing Company - producer of documents, historical and otherwise, to suit every conceivable occasion.

Satire rarely comes more sulphuric than this. Let''s Put the Future Behind Us is the wittiest job of fictional surgery on New Russia since its iron curtain was amputated.