Makarov is the name of the protagonist, a poet suffering a writer’s block. It is also the name of a pistol he buys with the ten thousand rubles he earned on his last book. He happens to to be offered the gun just after he collects the money. The poet doesn’t feel safe in the face of Moscow’s crime wave. The question is whether Russia needs more guns or more poetry. The film has plenty of both. Characters recite lines of poetry as an ironic commentary on events. Makarov becomes more and more obsessed by his Makarov, despite his family and friends encouraging him to keep writing. He keeps wondering what he is and what he is becoming. managed to evoke the extremely grim, dismal and explosive atmosphere of contemporary Moscow.
