A Hot Stone

Based on a story by WWII-slain Soviet popular author Arkady Gaidar, this moral tale drawn in a distinctive, heroic storybook style finds a delinquent young boy trying to redeem his wrongs against a saintly village grandpa. But instead of accepting the supposedly magic, youth-restoring stone Aleksy has found, the old man prefers sharing his backstory of participating in "the most wonderful revolution in the world." - Dennis Harvey