Sergei Nakariakov

"The Caruso of the trumpet," critics say. "Caruso? The Nakariakov of the tenor voice," they'll say soon. Portrait of the 27-year old genius from Gorki. Sergei Nakariakov, trumpetist from Nizhny Novgorod living in Paris is a phenomenon. He plays the trumpet with a unique virtuosity and at the same time leaves this virtuosity behind. He doesn't play the trumpet, he sings it. He phrases like the great Bel Canto singers who aimed at the true legato. The film presents the 27-year-old musician at his best but it also shows the victim of a soviet child prodigy biography. The mature Nakariakov's breathtaking virtuosity is contrasted with footage of the child whose lips are sore from practicing. Is it true that Sergei was "never a wunderkind", as he claims in the interview?

The story opens with Yukiko and her business partner in Moscow searching for Russian items for their store in Tokyo. There they meet a Russian translator, Nicholai, played by Sergei Nakariakov - a trumpeter from Russia. Some months later after they have returned, Nicholai and Yukiko meet again while he is auditioning for the Tokyo orchestra where seeds of romance begin. Yukiko's father, however, is diagnosed with a terminal case of cancer. Yukiko returns home to be with him in his final months as he decides not to go through therapy and let the disease run its course. Coming into contact with a childhood friend while at home Yukiko is left to choose between her old friend and Nicholai, all while having to face the emotional struggle of dealing with her father's impending death.