The Menkoff Method

The Menkoff Method is a 2020 Australian comedy about a Russian guru named Max Menkoff (Noah Taylor), who uses drugs and mind control to take over a corporation. The film costars Lachlan Woods, David Whitely, and Jessica Clarke.

Plot
Guy (Whitely) is an unhappy executive at a failing Australian bank. He is approached by Max Menkoff, a Russian on the run from a Mongolian hit squad, who offers him an unusual proposition- hire him to implement his "Menkoff Method," which will turn the bank's fortunes around. Guy agrees, and has Clive (Robert Taylor), the bank CEO, framed for insider trading. In short order, Guy is named the new CEO, Menkoff is hired as the new HR director, and Menkoff's assistants Svetlana (Olga Makeeva) and Karpov (Mal Kennard) arrive to implement the Method.

David (Woods) is a meek but kind-hearted bank employee, aspiring artist, and die-hard 'Foxy Chaos' manga fan. After seeing Guy's new executive assistant Ruby (Clarke) dressed as Foxy at a pub, David is smitten, and he sneaks into the office late at night to hack the employee database in the hope of learning more about her. While there, he catches Svetlana adding drugs to the office water cooler. The next day, he finds nearly all of his coworkers have become mindless drones who obey Menkoff's every command. The only free-willed employees left are Ruby, Guy, and Marjorie (Catherine McClements), the former HR director, but Guy is in on the plot and Marjorie is accidentally killed by the Mongolians. Ruby discovers that Guy and Menkoff keep an antidote to the mind control drug (to be used whenever the drugged employees become too zombie-like) stashed away in a bank vault, and she and David enlist Clive's help in retrieving it.

Unfortunately, Karpov has figured out that David is an un-drugged 'spy,' and when Ruby and David report to work the next day, David is knocked out and Ruby is turned into a drone. Menkoff explains to David that all of the hypnotized employees have taken out life insurance policies naming the bank as their beneficiary; he plans to poison them all using the polonium he stole from the Mongolians and then collect on their policies. David is able to kill Svetlana before she can torture him to death and knocks out the brainwashed Ruby. Clive retrieves the antidote and the two men use it to free Ruby from the mind control.

The three heroes race back to the office building. David impersonates Menkoff and orders the employees to leave the building, but Menkoff, on the roof with the polonium, orders them back inside. David and Ruby head to the roof to stop him; they are joined by the remaining Mongolian assassin. A rooftop battle ensues, and ends with Menkoff and the assassin falling to their deaths. Ruby and David kiss while Clive administers the antidote to the staff.

The film closes with David and Ruby turning their story into a 'Foxy Chaos' manga. They present it to Foxy's creator (and David's idol) Takuya Fujimoro (Ferdinand Hoang), who smiles with approval.