For families in Russia and throughout the former Soviet Union, the wistful strains of the opening song from one of the region's most beloved classics "Ironia sudby," or "The Irony of Fate," are deeply familiar and reminiscent of New Year's Eve.

The bittersweet comedy, made in 1975, deftly satirizes the oppressive uniformity of life in the Soviet Union. For many, its annual broadcast is synonymous with December 31 festivities.

This year, however, Russian director Timur Bekmambetov has debuted a sequel to the cult film that picks up where the previous film left off. Is a new classic satire in the making?

The made-for-television film by director Eldar Ryazanov has become traditional holiday viewing for millions. The film tells the story of a man, Zhenya, who, after a drunken evening in a Moscow banya, or bathhouse, is mistakenly put on a plane to Leningrad.

Zhenya fails to realize the error, however, because everything -- his Moscow street address, his flat, and even the lock on his door -- has an exact, generic equal in Leningrad. "Street names are not very inventive," Zhenya declares. "Which city doesn't have its First Garden street, its Second Country street, its Third Factory street? Staircases are all the same, painted with a standard, pleasant color. Standard flats are decorated with standard furniture, and the indistinguishable doors have standard locks."

What follows is an artful combination of farce and bittersweet romance. Zhenya wakes up to find a strange woman, Nadya, standing in his flat. But of course the flat is Nadya's, and it is Zhenya who is the intruder -- something that he, in his drunken state, refuses to comprehend.

The comedy in "Ironia sudby, ili S lyogkim parom!' ("The Irony of Fate, Or Have a Nice Steam"), as the film is known in full, finds its source in the uniformity of life in the Soviet Union. It is both a sharp critique and a nostalgic portrait of life in the Brezhnev era.

So for many, it was a surprise when one of Russia's most popular new directors, Timur Bekmambetov, announced he was remaking the popular classic.

Click here to read the rest of the article by The Moscow Times.