A lonely boy stumbles upon a ghost and teaches him how to fly a real plane. What starts as a strange friendship quickly becomes the adventure of a lifetime, high above the clouds.

‘SPOILER ALERT’

a renowned aircraft designer named Yuri, boards the YUG-1, a revolutionary plane he designed with his best friend Gene, who’s also his co-pilot. Gene is scared that Yuri will perform aerial tricks with the plane and begs him not to.

Meanwhile, Emily Derville, a reporter from a French paper called Les Nouvelles de technique, cuts the gate blocking off Yuri’s runway just to get an interview with him. The controller tells Yuri about this and he has a crazy idea to let the reporter aboard. Despite Gene repeatedly pointing out that she’s not qualified, Yuri switches him out for her.

Now, Gene is left chasing after the plane, yelling that Yuri can’t fly it without a co-pilot. The whole time, Yuri is preoccupied talking with Emily, and even takes off.

Lena, his girlfriend and head of the aviation company, comes raging in, joining Gene at the control tower as he tries to tell Yuri how risky it is to fly without a co-pilot. Lena tries to rip him a new one but Yuri is busy sharing a drink with his reporter guest. She leaves to use the bathroom and Yuri pretends like the connection on his headset isn’t working. This doesn’t stop Lena from advising him some more.

He eventually takes her advice and fakes a crash in such a way that he comes to Emily’s rescue. Her partner back on the ground catches the nose diving plane on camera.

Yuri then lies that his guest will be getting the only parachute and she hugs him tightly before he dumps her out of the plane. Returning to the controls, Yuri adjusts the flight pattern and screeches the plane to a halt on the runway. A very worried Lena is the first to come through the door, also hugging Yuri and complaining about how worried she was.

Turns out that our favorite pilot is also a player, seeing as he claims he’ll do anything for Lena, but Emily’s suit is practically inches away. Sadly, the reporter lands in the middle of nowhere.

In the city, Mrs. Kuznetsov and her son, Vanya, are driving to his school. She brings up dance classes, and he stutters as he reminds her about how his instructors have been saying he’s no good. Moments later, Vanya notices that his mom sewed his name, grade, and address into his backpack and isn’t even sorry.

Later on, Lena asks to stay home with Yuri, but he asks for a raincheck, hoping to celebrate a successful test flight with Gene.

Vanya arrives at school and can’t take his eyes off of Polina, and when she says hi, he thinks she’s talking to him. Sadly, she just wants to plan a date with Stas, the friendly neighborhood bully.

That night, Gene and Yuri go out as planned and are barely three drinks in when Polzunov, a competitor, steps in. He doesn’t want too much fuss, so he challenges Yuri to a drinking game – the winner gets information on the YUG-1.

With this, Yuri sends Gene home to his daughters and the game begins. It’s practically chess, but instead of actual players, they have shot glasses filled with cognac. Polzunov mocks Yuri, claiming that only he and Gene can fly his plane, but he believes the future belongs to the young. Well, Polzunov would rather stay in the present. In one more move, he checkmates Yuri and walks away.

Right outside, Lena is waiting for the drunk pilot alongside Gene. She hugs him, takes away his keys, and leaves him in his best friend’s care. Unfortunately, Yuri swipes Gene’s keys and drives off without warning. On his way, he calls up Emily, flirting like he didn’t just leave his girlfriend.

Anyway, in the blink of an eye, he crashes head first into a demarcation, but doesn’t notice because his ghost goes on ahead. He parks the car and steps out of it, hearing beeping sounds and feeling chest pains as defibrillators try to bring him back to life.

Suddenly, he finds himself in the hospital, still oblivious to the fact that he’s dead. He tries calling out to a doctor, but she goes about her business. He tries the same thing with Lena but she just goes out the back. Perplexed, Yuri goes to the front desk, asking the receptionist for his shoes. She doesn’t pay him any mind, so he tracks down Lena barefoot.

The way he sees it, she’s giving him the silent treatment despite him coming back from the dead. He just sits in the front and yaps on as Lena drives. They arrive at the company soon, and Lena steps out to take her bag out the back, making Yuri think she opened the door for him.

He then steps into the building, only to come across Olya, an excited young girl, and her equally excited partner. Yuri tries to stop them from carrying on, but his hands just go through them. His reality starts to sink in at this point. Four steps back and he goes through the wall, three more steps and he goes through an entire human being.

Yuri starts to lose his mind and goes as far as screaming to grab anyone’s attention. Sadly, he notices his obituary picture up on the wall and Lena and Gene crying as they stare at it.

The crying continues at his funeral, with a small crowd dressed in black and gathered around an open grave. Gene gives such a touching speech, mentioning the YUG-1 project Yuri was working on before he died. It’s just one week to launch, so Gene can’t help but cry for his friend’s unfulfilled dream. All this while, Yuri just stands there bamboozled.

Time passes and everyone except Lena remains. She’s mourning in silence until Polzunov stops by to ruin the ambience. She then leaves him by Yuri’s grave to taunt the poor dead man. Seconds later, he chases after Lena, promising that she can rely on him on matters concerning Yuri’s invention. In turn, she asks for some time to think about it, much to Yuri’s dismay.

Later on, the ghost walks through the busy streets, angrily yelling at people who can’t hear him and walking through cars in traffic.

It’s the end of a school day and Stas and some delinquents stop Vanya by the gate. He claims that they want to have a bike race to aid dying arctic animals and that the camera attached is meant to record it for the Greenpeace foundation. Vanya believes him and gets on the bike. In truth, Stas cut the brakes, but he only finds this out when he’s already in motion.

The delinquents watch and laugh as Vanya struggles with the bike, going downhill and screaming for anybody to help him. At the same time, Yuri makes his way uphill, praying to God that he sends anybody that can hear him.

For some reason, Yuri passes through every other thing except Vanya, who hugs him tight to stop from crashing. He scolds the boy for riding recklessly, and when Vanya apologizes, he realizes that the boy can actually see him. He bombards poor Vanya with so many questions, mentioning how he was buried not long ago.

This only freaks out the youngster, pushing him to run as fast as his scrawny frame can carry him into the nearest bus. Of course, Yuri chases after him, phasing through the bus until he grabs Vanya and slams him into the back seat. The moment he reaches his apartment building, Vanya runs like there’s coal on the ground. He locks himself in his apartment, only to find Yuri already inside.

Screaming doesn’t help, but it’s all he can do before running into his room. Immediately, he googles ghosts and contacts a shaman via Skype. Yuri walks into his room at this point, informing him that the shaman is a scammer, but Vanya will take answers anywhere he can find them.

He explains the situation to the shaman, even trying to show Yuri on camera. Of course, it doesn’t work, but the shaman is certain that Yuri only has 9 days to walk the horizontal plane. Furthermore, he’s only talking to Vanya because he’s a pure soul.

This doesn’t concern the boy. All he wants to know is how to get rid of the ghost, so the shaman reveals that a silver bullet will do the trick. Since Vanya doesn’t own any guns, he leaves to retrieve a silver fork.

By the time he returns, Yuri is scared that it just might work and disappears into the wall behind him. It’s at this moment that Mrs Kuznetsov steps into the apartment. Yuri reappears and gets stabbed by the fork, but nothing comes of it. He begins to argue with Vanya in the presence of his mom and this really freaks her out.

She’s so freaked out that she takes him to visit his guidance counselor, who asks Vanya if the so-called ghost is in the room with them. Yuri advises him to say no, but Vanya says yes instead, worrying his mom even more. The psychiatrist claims it’s an “inside voice”, leaving Vanya to reassure his mom that he’s not crazy.

He goes to class next, but Yuri follows him, taunting the poor boy to help him out after school. He yells that he’s not listening to Yuri but the teacher thinks he’s talking to her. For this reason, she calls him out to teach the class instead. She asks him a question he knows nothing about, but Yuri happens to be an expert on dynamics, so he helps him out.

The teacher asks for an example, and once again, Yuri helps him out, leading him to take a half drunk can of soda, some pencils, candy, and lastly, scotch tape. He goes on to explain how a hydraulic rocket works and starts by wrapping the pencils around the soda can using scotch tape. He then drops a piece of candy into the can but doesn’t know what to do next.

Having the upper hand, Yuri makes him promise to help him out before giving him the answer. Vanya then turns the bottle upside down, and in a few seconds, it takes off just like a rocket, zooming all over the classroom. The teacher gives him an A but asks him to come with his mom.

As planned, Yuri leads Vanya to the ministry of aviation after school, telling the boy that all he has to do is repeat whatever he tells him to. Together, they sneak into a meeting held by bureaucrats as they decide whether to fund Yuri’s project at Zhukovsky, a renowned town in Moscow known for its advancement in aviation.

At this point, Vanya sits at the back, watching as they cue the footage Emily’s assistant filmed of the plane taking a nosedive. It was a calculated fall, and Yuri wants everyone to know it. Sadly, Vanya isn’t bold enough to say a thing before he’s escorted out of the meeting.

To make matters worse, Emily is called forth as a witness. She explains everything from how they had a drink to how he sent her out with a parachute, and hopes that they continue his legacy. The committee asks for the black box from the plane but a jealous Lena simply cancels the tender application for the YUG-1.

She doesn’t listen to anyone as she stomps out of the meeting, so Gene runs after her. Sadly, his pleas make no difference, seeing as Lena makes him promise not to hand over the black box. She then reveals that she’s going on vacation and puts Gene in charge while she’s gone.

Back in the meeting, Polzunov doesn’t believe Yuri up and died, so he calls up someone, instructing him to find the YUG-1.

The next day, after school, Stas is up to no good. He apologizes to Vanya for the whole bike incident and catches a glimpse of his dance costume. He then spins a tale of how he always wanted to dance, and a gullible Vanya falls for it. He dresses up in his costume and takes Stas to the school gym.

Stas pretends not to follow the dance steps, and asks to film Vanya so he can practice at home. The gullible youngster agrees and dances his heart out. When he’s done, he suddenly hears jeering laughs from above. Apparently, Stas set him up and even threatens to show the video to Polina, Vanya’s crush.

Yuri saw the whole thing, but only claps after the other students are gone. Before Vanya can storm off, he offers to help him bag Polina. This piques his interest.

The ghost apologizes for yelling at the ministry and they talk things out as they walk down the hallway. Soon, Polina calls out to Vanya, who thought she was going to invite him to her birthday party. Unfortunately, she just wants the essay he promised to help her with.

He almost hands it to her, but Yuri intervenes. He makes Vanya stop, blocks his mouth from saying anything, and then makes him pretend like he has somewhere better to be. As he turns to leave, Polina calls out to him once again. This time, she invites him to the party.

After school, he heads down with his dark shades on, and per Yuri’s instructions, tells Polina that she has to come with him to get her gift. Yuri had told him to say this and not look back, so as much as he wanted to, Vanya obeys.

It works.

Polina follows him, and they continue walking with Vanya setting the pace. He leads her to a spot on the bridge and takes her picture, claiming that the sunset can only be captured at this particular time. She’s intrigued to say the least, and when Yuri tries to get him to leave, Polina asks if Vanya would like to take a walk.

The poor boy loses all sense of reason after this, pulling away from Yuri and approaching Polina with way too much familiarity. Angry, she slaps him across the cheek and walks away without looking back.

Yuri and Vanya then make their way across town, only stopping when Yuri catches a glimpse of Polzunov on the news. Perplexed, he leads Vanya to sector 7, asking him to steal the black box from the YUG-1.

He easily phases through the entrance, and comes back to tell Vanya the code. The youngster then steps in to witness YUG-1 in all its glory. After a moment of admiration, they board the plane. Yuri leads him to the tail section, feeds him another code, and has him grab the black box.

Almost immediately, they hear the hangar doors sliding open. Yuri speculates that it could be Gene, only to find out that the plane is being illegally transported to Polzunov’s hangar via a truck.

He can’t let this slide, so he pushes a scared Vanya to take the helm, using his hands as a medium to set up the controls. Meanwhile, the truck driver is preoccupied with some problems at home. This doesn’t help Vanya feel any bolder about stealing a plane though.

The youngster refuses to move one more muscle, so Yuri grabs his hand and forces him to. Just like that, he puts the plane on reverse and it rolls off the truck while the driver is still deep in conversation. In no time, with Yuri’s help, Vanya stops the reverse, and redirects the plane into the closest right lane.

Ever so quietly, they pull up into a concealed space and Vanya hits the brakes. Together, the ghost and his sidekick get out of the plane, planning to inform only Gene of its whereabouts. Vanya is worried about what his mom will do to him, and rightly so.

At dinner, she asks where he’s been and Yuri urges him to lie that he’s been at school working on his bio homework. Mrs Kuznetsov drills him about the topic and he claims it’s about seals, so she asks for his textbook. As she continues to question him, Yuri spies on the textbook and feeds Vanya the answers, leaving his mom so impressed that she makes him some tea.

Meanwhile, Gene has had the most hectic day. He’s about to have a drink when Olya comes with news about the interior office ministry joining in the search for the YUG-1.  He still hasn’t had that drink when Polzunov steps in, applauding him for stealing the plane from right under his nose.

Just then, Gene gets a text from Vanya, asking to meet after school, but he pretends not to get it for Polzunov’s sake. The aviation mogul goes on to taunt Gene some more and then offers to hire him as the general manager at his company. He seeks to leave after this, only to turn back as Gene pulls his drink out, mentioning how alcoholics don’t last in his company.

After school the next day, Vanya directs Gene to the bathroom where they discuss landing the YUG-1 at Zhukovsky, seeing as Polzunov plans to get rid of it anyway. Gene agrees, but it’s just to get the black box from Vanya.

While the youngster retrieves it from his bag, Yuri gets a glimpse of Gene’s phone, only to notice him texting Polzunov. Immediately, he advises Vanya to make a run for it, but when he tries to, Gene blocks his path.

They begin to struggle and Yuri feeds Vanya memories he and Gene shared just to snap his friend out of it. Gene lets go of Vanya for a split second and the boy runs into the closest bathroom stall. There, he continues to remind Gene of their past but it only annoys him. Apparently, Yuri had spent most of their money on champagne and flowers for girls.

The cleaning lady stops by at this moment and it’s just the distraction Vanya needs to make a run for it. Gene chases after him, leaving him no choice but to hide out on a ledge. Soon, other students begin to gather, thinking that Vanya is trying to jump to his death. But it’s quite the opposite.

With Gene waiting by the window, he has no choice but to remain there. He almost falls off at one point, but Yuri grabs his hand and pulls him back in. His guidance counselor shows up with a megaphone, followed closely by an ambulance. They then set up a giant inflatable while the guidance counselor gives the most terrible speech in history.

Polina has to grab the megaphone from him, and announces that she likes Vanya. His mood switches from fear to interest as she goes on about how they can go out to dance that weekend. Without a second thought, Vanya jumps onto the giant inflatable, only for Gene to follow him.

Unfortunately, Gene breaks his leg in the fall and Vanya gets arrested. He looks so cool in the eyes of his classmates, including Stas, who he winks at.

Sadly, Polina wasn’t being serious about the date, but Yuri is the only one who knows this. At the back of the cop car, Vanya is still as energized as ever, so the ghost approaches him with the intention of telling him the truth. He doesn’t.

This is because Vanya offers to pilot the YUG-1 to Zhukovsky. To ensure things run smoothly, Yuri makes him promise not to have any contact with Polina until the mission is achieved. Just then, his mom comes through, banging on the cop car and yelling for her son to be given to her.

The cop loses the fight hands down.

On their way home, she drills him about what happened and Yuri has him lie that he was trying to get to his dance class by walking past the ledge. She buys it. In fact, she’s impressed and yaps on about how dance changed her life.

They continue to bond until she parks the car abruptly, pointing out that Vanya’s no longer stuttering. Tears come to her eyes as she savors the moment, only driving when the honks become too much.

Meanwhile, Gene is in his office with a nurse and Polzunov. He tries to explain that Yuri is Vanya but Polzunov thinks he’s under stress from a near death experience. His blood pressure, at 180/90, doesn’t help his case.

Later on, Yuri and Vanya pay a visit to the arcade, and then a rollercoaster, and then an aviation library, all so Vanya can acquaint himself with what flying is all about. They return to the flight simulators at the arcade a couple of times to prepare the youngster, and Yuri takes him to an airport just to see planes in motion.

A night to their mission, Yuri questions him on everything he needs to know, and tells him to get some sleep after, seeing as they’ll be flying the YUG-1 to Zhukovsky the next day.

Come daybreak, Vanya prepares for his dance date with Polina and Yuri stands against it. The youngster is pretty adamant but Yuri reminds him that they have to be wheels up in an hour. With this, he excuses himself and pays Lena a visit.

He watches her all the way from her car to her apartment, observing as a bottle of milk falls and shatters. Lena squats to pick up the shards, and for a moment, it seems like she’s looking Yuri in the eyes. He just spends the remainder of the hour watching tv with her one last time.

At the same time, Vanya announces that he’s heading to the disco, only for his mom to give him the silent treatment. He sits opposite her to find out what’s wrong and she lambasts him for hiding things from her. He almost reveals everything about the plane, but finds out that his mom is referring to him missing dance classes one week in a row.

She gets emotional as she pulls out all his dance outfits since he was three, but Vanya isn’t moved. He makes it clear that he’s never putting on any of these outfits again. Angry, Mrs Kuznetsov bans him from going to the disco and slams the door behind her. Vanya still isn’t moved. Instead, he just looks around and his eyes catch the window.

Minutes later, Yuri comes wandering back but stops when he notices something strange outside Vanya’s room. Mrs Kuznetsov also enters his room at this point, and sees a rope made out of clothes hanging out his window. For some reason, she’s more impressed than angry.

Vanya waltzes into the disco feeling like a million bucks, dapping as many people as he can until he reaches the mic. The DJ cuts the music for him and he takes the opportunity to confess his love for Polina. Of course, everyone else laughs at him but Vanya pays them no mind. He just approaches the girl of his dreams and asks her to dance, only for Stas to call him an idiot.

Polina stands there silent as he bashes Vanya, explaining that she didn’t just want him to jump the other day. The youngster doesn’t take Stas seriously, so he asks Polina to dance once again. This time, Yuri shows up and drags him to a corner to repeat the same thing Stas said. Sadness returns to Vanya’s eyes, and so does his stutter as he tells Yuri that he hates him. Head down, the youngster walks out of the room.

Yuri walks up to Polina, who’s still dancing hand in hand with Stas, and yells at her for being so inconsiderate. Once again, it seems like she can see him, as evidenced by her letting go of Stas and picking up her phone. She calls Vanya and Yuri listens in. Apparently, she wants to apologize, but Vanya claims that it’s nothing. She then tries to find out his location, only for him to say that he just wants to fly away.

Upon hearing this, Yuri knows exactly where the boy is.

The YUG-1 slides out of its hiding spot as Vanya kicks things off, and soon enough, Yuri comes rushing in, trying to get the boy to go back to his normal life. He doesn’t listen. Vanya starts up the engine, and when Yuri tries to stop it, his hand just passes through the lever.

Seeing how serious Vanya is, the aircraft designer has no choice but to give him tips. Together, they make use of the extremely short runway, taking off at the risk of crashing into a crane. Vanya squeezes his eyes shut the entire time, only opening them after getting into the air successfully.

At this point, he can’t descend because of all the high buildings around, so he practically flies the plane through town, drawing the attention of a bunch of people. It’s a struggle cruising through town; they have to swerve to the left and then to the right, all in an attempt not to crash.

Tension increases at the home stretch, but thanks to Yuri’s expertise, they retract their landing gear and float into clear airspace. When things stabilize, Yuri asks for a talk with Vanya, pointing out that they’ll arrive in Zhukovsky in five minutes.

Meanwhile, at Zhukovsky, Polzunov rounds up a presentation on one of his aircrafts. He’s applauded as he stands to his feet, and then spends the next few minutes talking smack about Yuri’s aircraft and how its specs are unreasonable. Shortly after, he calls up Gene, his new chief designer, to say a few words.

With minutes to land, Yuri starts to set things up, but he soon realizes that the Instrument Landing System (ILS) has been shut off, making it nearly impossible for a rookie pilot to land the plane. Thinking on his feet, Yuri suggests that they fly to Sheremetyevo for a better chance at landing.

Meanwhile, Gene gives his speech, mentioning a groundbreaking, world-changing aircraft, as he makes a paper plane. The moment he lets it fly, the YUG-1, in all its glory, whooshes past, intriguing everyone who lays eyes on it.

In the plane, Yuri is still trying to convince Vanya to fly to Sheremetyevo but the youngster is adamant. He asks for instructions to request the ILS, and Yuri, having no other choice, agrees. He explains the frequency he’s to tap into and the code words he’s to say to the Zhukovsky control tower – “Yuri-Gene 1”.

Polzunov had made sure the ILS was turned off and Gene knew this. Even with his broken leg, he limps over to the control tower, but Vanya is left stranded before he gets there. The rookie pilot repeats the code words over and over again but doesn’t get a response. Meanwhile, Gene and Polzunov struggle at the door to the control tower, with the latter getting locked outside courtesy of Gene’s crutches.

He continues to limp his way up the stairs while Vanya runs out of fuel. Yuri practically gives up at this point, but the youngster doesn’t. He continues to try the control tower even as Gene arrives at the top of the stairs. Tired and hurt, he crawls his way to the controls and turns on the ILS, but Yuri and Vanya don’t notice immediately. They only realize it’s turned on when Vanya gives in and tries to switch the frequency to Sheremetyevo’s.

Gene falls to the ground a happy man, leaving everything else in the hands of his best friend.

The last lap approaches as Yuri tells his protege to align his flight pattern with the guidance system. They begin to descend in no time, and all Polzunov can do is watch from below. Vanya accelerates a bit, bouncing the tires off of the runway and hitting reverse just in time to screech the plane to a halt.

A huge exhale escapes his lungs as the plane stops, but within the minute, an ambulance shows up. They attach the stairs to the door of the plane and come up to check on him, struggling to believe that he flew it alone.

As he makes his way down, reporters crowd him, but the EMTs shield him just enough. A small smile sprawls across Yuri’s face as he watches his dream come true, only for Gene to come limping through the crowd. He thinks Yuri possessed Vanya and the youngster plays along, pleading with him to distract the reporters. Gene gets on it immediately, giving Vanya a chance to run after Yuri.

He begs the ghost not to leave, but Yuri believes his time is up. Hearing this isn’t easy for Vanya, so much so that he rushes into Yuri’s embrace, tears leaking from his eyes.

To lighten the mood, the ghost makes Vanya teach him some dance steps, but it doesn’t help. He can’t bring himself to stop crying as they say their final goodbyes, and he just stares, eyes heavy, as Yuri dances into the distance. He fades away like a distant memory, swaying his hips into life eternal.

Later on, it begins to rain, but it doesn’t stop Vanya from waiting outside the school. He props up the moment Polina steps out and gathers enough courage to call out to her. Quietly, she walks up to him, only speaking to repeat how much she likes him.

Like a charmer, he takes her hand, but stutters as he asks her to go with him. She points this out, so Vanya claims that it’s just because he’s freezing. They then share a hearty laugh, one of the many they’ll share as they continue their journey through life.

Vanya, a loser by society’s standards, possessed a soul so pure that he could see a ghost. Helping Yuri fulfill his lifelong dream became his mission, and in the end, he got the girl of his dreams. Sometimes, it’s the moment others don’t see that define our true worth.

Prizrak 2015.