A Cool Change (Seasons 1–2)

Can a man teach kids when he flunked the school of life himself? That question drives A Cool Change (2023), a Russian comedy-drama you can watch online on iFILM. Going against a family line of teachers, Andrey chased a career in Moscow instead — and his business collapsed, leaving him buried in debt he can't repay.

The only fix is selling the family house where, legend says, Pushkin once stayed. But the sale needs the blessing of his father, who is doing time in a prison colony and still blames his son for everything. To win back the old man's trust, Andrey takes two jobs at once: literature teacher at a regular school by day, and instructor at the colony's evening classes by night. One room is full of restless teenagers, the other full of convicts — and it's not always obvious which is the safer place to be.

Directed by Karen Oganesyan, the series stars Nikita Yefremov alongside Ivan Dobronravov, Olga Medynich and Igor Chernevich. It runs on the awkward collisions between those two worlds rather than gags, and it suits anyone who likes their comedy with a bitter edge and characters who feel real. Stream A Cool Change (2023) online on iFILM.