No wonder The Wedding was such a hit at the Toronto International Film Festival.

This tale of the chaos surrounding a marriage in a Russian village is a comic marvel and political commentary that winds up as a love story. Neat trick.

Director Pavel Lounguine wants you to know that there's a Russian proverb that goes like this: "Without one just man, a village cannot exist." He offers that as a clue to the movie, which is an extended metaphor for what happens to ordinary people in the new, not-at-all-improved Russia of today.

Speedily paced and visually dizzy and dazzling, The Wedding begins with the beautiful Tania (Maria Mironova) on her way back home after years of living large in Moscow. Home is a tiny mining village. There, she seeks out Mishka (Marat Basharov), a gentle man who has loved her since they were children.

Mishka, who is somewhat gormless, is the moral compass of the story. Before he knows what's hit him, Tania has determined that they are getting married.

Preparations for the wedding introduce a brilliant ensemble cast of characters -- here is Mishka's best friend, who is a drunk, and here are Mishka's father and mother, who are not keen on his marriage to this beauty with a "past."

What past that is, exactly, nobody quite knows, but never mind. And here is Mishka's spinster sister, and crazed grandpa, a belligerent caterer, local tradesmen, fellow miners, lunatic visiting relatives and one rich bad guy.

The day of the wedding happens to be the day that wages arrive in the village for the first time in six months. People are rioting for their money.

Mishka's only wish is to buy his beloved Tania a wedding gift, but he has to give his father all his wages. Mishka's dad, meanwhile, invites whichever officials he must to the wedding ceremony to keep everything on the up and up.

And poor Mishka discovers at the last minute that there's another man in Tania's life -- a rich and corrupt man from Moscow who wants to keep Tania for himself.

Mishka's search for a gift for Tania is high comedy. So is their wedding reception, initially. The Wedding slowly gets sober, though it never entirely loses its sunny spirit.

Everything hilarious about The Wedding is based on the flip side of funny -- the isolation and poverty of the people and the corruption and confusion involved in everyday life.

The apparent struggle for Tania between Mishka and his rival has obvious allegorical shades; you could say The Wedding is an acknowledgement of the Russian people and their spirit, circumstances be damned.

The Wedding, playing at the Cumberland theatre, is in Russian with English subtitles.

(This film is rated AA)

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