History Film / TheGarage1980

* AsYouKnow: We find out that Natasha the pretty younger woman is in a relationship with the significantly older Prof. Smirnov when she arrives at the meeting and another member (who was later revealed to be his daughter Marina) says, "Your woman's here."

** [[spoiler: He was the last one who lost his space in the garage, although the film cuts off as he was offered to draw the one piece of paper marked with a cross.

* OldSoldier: Yabukov, one of the four members who lost their spot in the garage, who is later revealed to be a much-decorated soldier in the [[UsefulNotes.GreatPatrioticWar Great Patriotic War.]] This prompts the board to reinstate his place in the cooperative.

* AsYouKnow: We find out that Natasha the pretty younger woman is in a relationship with the significantly older Prof. Smirnov when she arrives at the meeting and another member says "Your woman's here."

* MayDecemberRomance: Natasha is dating the much older Prof. Pavel Smirnov. She loves him and wants to get married, although he's reluctant. Natasha and Pavel's daughter Maria are the same age.

* SuddenlyVoiced: The formerly mute Khvostov suddenly regains the power of speech towards the end, and decisively steers the meeting to its final conclusion.

''The Garage'' (Гараж) is a 1980 film from the Soviet Union, by Creator/EldarRyazanov. You can watch it [[https://russianfilmhub.com/movies/the-garage-1980/ here]] on Russian Film Hub.

''The Garage'' (Гараж) is a 1980 film from the Soviet Union, by Creator/EldarRyazanov.

* TheSpeechless: Khvostov, who has temporarily lost the power of speech after diving into cold water to help a dolphin. Being The Speechless doesn't mean he'll go quietly, though. He disrupts the meeting by jumping up onto the table and lying down directly on top of the board's documents. Later he goes marching through the chaotic crowd with a sign that says "I'll show you!"

* SuddenlyVoiced: The formerly mute Khvostov suddenly regains the power of speech towards the end, and decisively steers the meeting to its final end.

The co-op board picks four unlucky people to lose their parking spots. They are, unsurprisingly, four of the least popular and least well-connected. Guskov the crane researcher isn't even there, being off in Siberia doing his research; he's represented by his wife. Yabukov is retired from the institute. Khvostov (Andrey Myagkov) can't even talk, having lost his voice after diving into cold water to save a seal. And Fetisov just generally seems to be a loser. The vote is taken and the meeting seems to be over. However, the four unlucky folks refuse to give up that easily, loudly protesting, accusing the board of corruption. They are supported by Lidia Malayeva, a junior researcher studying for her PhD, who pleads for her fellow members to behave better. Things really start to go sideways when Malayeva sneaks off with the keys and locks everyone in.

* KarmaHoudini: {{Lampshaded}} with [[spoiler: Sidorin]]: at the end, nearly everybody wants him to be expelled from the co-op, to the point of telling it to his face, but it still doesn't happen.

* BerserkButton: Insult Natasha, and aging, soft-spoken, meek professor Smirnov gets [[BewareOfTheNiceOnes really scary]].

** At some point Anikeeva explains that Kushakova, being very influential, helps the co-op in general, for the price of one garage box. According to the WordOfGod, the question of whether or not Anikeeva is guilty of taking bribes was intentionally left ambiguous.

The co-op board picks four unlucky people to lose their parking spots. They are, unsurprisingly, four of the least popular and least well-connected. Guskov the crane researcher isn't even there, being off in Siberia doing his research; he's represented by his wife. Yabukov is retired from the institute. Khvostov (Andrey Myagkov) can't even talk, having lost his voice after diving into cold water to save a seal. And Fetisov just generally seems to be a loser. The vote is taken and the meeting seems to be over. However, the four unlucky folks refuse to give up that easily, loudly protesting, accusing the board of corruption. They are supported by Lidia Malyaeva, a junior researcher studying for her PhD, who pleads for her fellow members to behave better. Things really start to go sideways when Malyaeva sneaks off with the keys and locks everyone in.

* {{Nepotism}}: Not everybody who has a space in the garage is a member of the zoological institute. One of the spaces went to young Miloserdov, son of the older and rich Miloserdov who is an influential patron of the institute. Young Miloserdov, who is a pretty nice fellow, is embarrassed about the whole thing.

* SuddenlyVoiced: The formerly mute Khvostov suddenly regains the power of speech towards the end, and decisively steers the meeting to its final end with the drawing of lots.

* RunningGag: One man, known only as "the groom", who complains all night long because he just got married that day and would very much like to go home and have sex with his wife.

* CreatorCameo: Eldar Ryazanov as the guy who sleeps through the whole meeting, nestled up against a fiberglass hippo. Consequently, he loses his parking space at the end.

The co-op board picks four unlucky people to lose their parking spots. They are, unsurprisingly, four of the least popular and least well-connected. Guskov the crane researcher isn't even there, being off in Siberia doing his research; he's represented by his wife. Yabukov is retired from the institute. Khvostov (Andrey Myagkov) can't even talk, having lost his voice after diving into cold water to save a seal. And Fetisov just generally seems to be a loser. The vote is taken and the meeting seems to be over. However, the four unlucky folks refuse to give up that easily, loudly protesting, accusing the board of corruption. Things really start to go sideways when Mrs. Guskov sneaks off with the keys and locks everyone in. The meeting dissolves into chaos as the members of the co-op hurl insults and accusations at each other...all except for Lidia Malayeva, a junior researcher studying for her Ph.D., who pleads for her fellow members to behave better.

* CorruptBureaucrat: Deputy director Anikeeva is accused of taking bribes. She denies it, but she's oddly solicitous of certain people, like Kushakova the supermarket director who isn't even part of the institute.