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.
A young investigator, Andrews, arrives in a small town from Vilnius to investigate a trivial case of the theft of 8 tons of meat from a local factory. Due to the lack of places in the hotel, Andrews stayed at the house of Ewaldas Shvegreda. Andrews feels that there is some kind of connection between Shvegzhda and the accountant of the meat processing plant, Stankevicius...
