First off I'm gonna say there are a few reviews without a tag which do spoil a bit. The movie has a couple of scenes which make the plot, and it's far better viewing if you don't know about them. I'm not gonna go into details, but I'm still putting the spoiler tag on.
This movie had pretty much everything for me to like it. It's a Russian film, I catch one every time I can. It was nominated in Cannes, it's slow paced, it's got great cinematography and it's a movie that requires you're brain to be turned on, rather than off. Even if slow, you really need to be awake for the whole duration.
Still it didn't turn out quite as good as I hoped. I had no problem with the duration, it never felt too slow or dragging. Very little actually happens plot wise. The tension and atmosphere are hand felt. Acting top notch, lot's of symbolic references. Scenery and images are amazing. There are a couple of scenes where the camera work really goes into Tarkovsky territory.
The story is intriguing and gripping, but never really hits it. It's a mystery and a lot of stuff remain unsaid on screen and off screen. May require repeated viewing, but I felt the story left a bit too much in the shadows. I have nothing against clues and symbolism, but here the story is just too enigmatic. You also start to question the characters actions after a while. If in a horror movie you say "why is she going there alone", in this movie you say "why don't they just talk".
Might also be cultural differences, but I had a bit of trouble connecting to anyone in this movie and if you have to question every characters actions, the viewing experience becomes a bit heavy after a while. You're never really sure why they do what they are doing.
Speaking of cultural differences, I try to catch a Russian movie every time I can, because it's amazingly difficult to find a subtitled Russian movie in Finland. I was a bit disappointed how universal this movie was. It could've happened anywhere and reading from IMDb, the shooting locations were not in Russia. Without the dialogs I would've never guessed it's a Russian movie, in my book that's not a good thing for a movie.
Still definitely worth viewing, I'm gonna try and catch the directors earlier movie and will keep an eye on him in the future.
This movie had pretty much everything for me to like it. It's a Russian film, I catch one every time I can. It was nominated in Cannes, it's slow paced, it's got great cinematography and it's a movie that requires you're brain to be turned on, rather than off. Even if slow, you really need to be awake for the whole duration.
Still it didn't turn out quite as good as I hoped. I had no problem with the duration, it never felt too slow or dragging. Very little actually happens plot wise. The tension and atmosphere are hand felt. Acting top notch, lot's of symbolic references. Scenery and images are amazing. There are a couple of scenes where the camera work really goes into Tarkovsky territory.
The story is intriguing and gripping, but never really hits it. It's a mystery and a lot of stuff remain unsaid on screen and off screen. May require repeated viewing, but I felt the story left a bit too much in the shadows. I have nothing against clues and symbolism, but here the story is just too enigmatic. You also start to question the characters actions after a while. If in a horror movie you say "why is she going there alone", in this movie you say "why don't they just talk".
Might also be cultural differences, but I had a bit of trouble connecting to anyone in this movie and if you have to question every characters actions, the viewing experience becomes a bit heavy after a while. You're never really sure why they do what they are doing.
Speaking of cultural differences, I try to catch a Russian movie every time I can, because it's amazingly difficult to find a subtitled Russian movie in Finland. I was a bit disappointed how universal this movie was. It could've happened anywhere and reading from IMDb, the shooting locations were not in Russia. Without the dialogs I would've never guessed it's a Russian movie, in my book that's not a good thing for a movie.
Still definitely worth viewing, I'm gonna try and catch the directors earlier movie and will keep an eye on him in the future.