Rimas Tuminas' adaptation of two novels by Grigory Kanovich, is a dreamy, ruminative, comedic road trip, centering around the parlous fortunes of Eastern European Jews at the start of the 20th century. A period piece that carries a modern conscious, Smile Upon Us, is a Becket-like "Waiting for Jehovah" featuring three towering figures from the Russian stage, Viktor Sukhorukov, Aleksei Guskov and Vladimir Simonov.