Stars: Natalya Pavlenkova, Dmitriy Groshev, Irina Chipizhenko, Aleksandr Nekhoroshikh | Written and Directed by Ivan I. Tverdovskiy
The sophomore directorial feature of Russian youngster Ivan I. Tverdovskiy (he debuted in 2014 with Corrections Class), Zoology is an intriguing and sad slice of magical realism.
Natasha (Natalya Pavlenkova) is an asthenic middle-aged middle-manager, working at a zoo in a Russian coastal town. She’s lonely and shy and she lives with her elderly mother (Irina Chipizhenko). Natasha also has a tail. A real tail: a full, living continuation of the spine. The locals, including Natasha’s own mother, whisper rumours of a woman who’s “sinned with an ape”; a woman with three tails; a woman of the Devil. Local folklore is rife, isolating Natasha further. She finally decides to have her tail looked at by doctors, which brings her into contact with Peter (Dmitriy Groshev), a handsome young radiologist many years her junior.
The sophomore directorial feature of Russian youngster Ivan I. Tverdovskiy (he debuted in 2014 with Corrections Class), Zoology is an intriguing and sad slice of magical realism.
Natasha (Natalya Pavlenkova) is an asthenic middle-aged middle-manager, working at a zoo in a Russian coastal town. She’s lonely and shy and she lives with her elderly mother (Irina Chipizhenko). Natasha also has a tail. A real tail: a full, living continuation of the spine. The locals, including Natasha’s own mother, whisper rumours of a woman who’s “sinned with an ape”; a woman with three tails; a woman of the Devil. Local folklore is rife, isolating Natasha further. She finally decides to have her tail looked at by doctors, which brings her into contact with Peter (Dmitriy Groshev), a handsome young radiologist many years her junior.
- 10/30/2017
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
A zoo-worker’s unexpected new addition triggers an affair in this fable about conformity, reactionary sexual politics and religious fervour
There are strains of Gogol and Kafka in this intriguing if flawed movie from Russian director Ivan I Tverdovskiy, shot in a restless handheld style, the camera roaming and panning across a dreary workaday world. It all makes his sudden money shot all the more striking: the sight of a certain anatomical abnormality.
Our careworn heroine is Natasha (Natalya Pavlenkova), who works in a zoo. Natasha’s only pleasure is wandering there after-hours, feeding the animals herself with strictly forbidden fruit and buns. One afternoon, she faints, apparently as a result of a fusion of midlife crisis and animal-empathy epiphany; when she awakes she is growing a tail, which triggers a new youthful sensuality and a relationship with the handsome young doctor Petya (Dmitriy Groshev) treating her.
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There are strains of Gogol and Kafka in this intriguing if flawed movie from Russian director Ivan I Tverdovskiy, shot in a restless handheld style, the camera roaming and panning across a dreary workaday world. It all makes his sudden money shot all the more striking: the sight of a certain anatomical abnormality.
Our careworn heroine is Natasha (Natalya Pavlenkova), who works in a zoo. Natasha’s only pleasure is wandering there after-hours, feeding the animals herself with strictly forbidden fruit and buns. One afternoon, she faints, apparently as a result of a fusion of midlife crisis and animal-empathy epiphany; when she awakes she is growing a tail, which triggers a new youthful sensuality and a relationship with the handsome young doctor Petya (Dmitriy Groshev) treating her.
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- 9/29/2017
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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