Review: Finding connection in ‘Russian Doll’
Nadia Vulvokav — played by the flame-haired Natasha Lyonne — is a lonely, cynical, and even sardonic video game programmer on the brink of wanting to end it all. In the opening scene, she stares at herself in the bathroom mirror as an invasive knock pounds into the ears and minds of the viewers. Nadia might hear the knock too, but her gaze, pointed directly at the camera, feels empty and distracted. Nadia is not having the time of her life at her 36th birthday party, and she wants us to know it. She lives a reckless life, taking whatever joint is offered her and sleeping with whomever might cross her path. “Staring down the barrel of mortality always beats fun,” Nadia jokes, not knowing that she will be fatally hit by a cab that same night while drunkenly searching for her cat, Oatmeal.