juan_palmero2010 Reviews

Scarecrow (2020)

Sacrifice, or taking other people's pain.

[7/10 · 3 April 2021]

The film takes place in a village in Sakha (Yakutia), in the Siberian far east, and it is spoken mostly in the Yakut language.

The central caracter is a lonely female witch-doctor (a kind of shaman woman) who is feared, misunderstood and maltreated by most of the villagers, young and old alike. Her behaviour does not conform to the accepted standards. However, when problems arise and accidents happen, the villagers resort to her, often paying in kind by buying her food and vodka. After which they go back to ostracising her.

Her shamanic healing practice, accompanied by strange rituals, takes a toll on the woman's vital energy. Every time she helps someone she is seen vomiting and feeling unwell afterwards. She is aware of this, and often tries to refuse, but mostly gives in. She abuses the vodka she receives to go into some lonely stupor and dance. There are also hints about some important personal loss in the past which haunts her.

Beautifully filmed (we are told that in early winter, when the really harsh cold is still to come) with some unusual camera angles. An interesting psychological study, both of the main character as well as of the people who use her and abuse her. The acting by Valentina Romanova-Chyskyyray is powerful, courageous, very impressive.

Yurev den (2008)

Minimum common denominator

[7/10 · 30 March 2021]

Renowned Moscow opera diva Lyubov Pavlolvna is moving for good to Germany. Just before leaving, she goes on a nostalgic trip with her despondent son Andrey to her almost forgotten birthplace, Yurev, behaving and feeling like a tourist. While visiting the local kremlin, Andrey disappears. Lyubov starts a desperate and fruitless search for her son, after which she decides to stay in the town to wait for her son's return.

In just a few days, Lyubov suffers a painful transformation, eventually finding a common denominator with the locals, whose lives are so different to the glamorous life she has led in the capital.

The film shows the contrast between Lyubov's former world and some provincial Russia outside Moscow (and St. Petersburg and a few other major cities), where life is shown as cold, grim, poor, rude. But perhaps that "lower" life is also good enough, worth living for. And thus life leads Lyubov back to the starting point she had run away from many years earlier.

Not an easy film to watch, but one that I ultimately found rewarding. Despite a few questions about the logic behind certain elements.

Kseniya Rappoport's acting is outstanding, mesmerising. So much talent. She carries the film on her own.

Good as New (2019)

Pull yourself together and go.

[7/10 · 25 September 2020]

An old Russian man wakes up on a beach in Thailand. He does not know where he is, he can't remember his past, he can't even remember his own name. He has no money, not even a pair of shoes, and does not speak a word of Thai. He only has his wits to slowly find his way and reinvent himself in this unknown world.

From the initial intriguing questions, the film moves on to making us smile with the various adventures the main character, who turns out to be quite cheeky and resourceful, manages to get himself into. There are references to the Russian mafia and to the local Thai mafia, a bunch of bandits who turn out to be quite likeable after all. As it should be in a comedy film. Thailand is depicted with a few cliches here and there, but overall with nice touches reflecting some knowledge and feeling for the country. Including how Thailand magically softens some bitter characters.

The cinematography is quite pleasant, giving a good idea of what a Thai island is about. The acting by the main characters is very convincing.

A light and optimistic film, living up to its title (Happy End). It may not stay in your memory forever, but certainly worth watching.

Muzyka dlya dekabrya (1995)

God said to man: "Take all you want, but pay for it".

[7/10 · 30 August 2020]

The 1990s were a decade of deep changes in Russia and, with a few notable exceptions, not very productive as far as cinema is concerned. Dykhovichny's style was unique already for this age. Some lines in this film were to be further explored in his later film "Vdokh, vydokh".

Aleksandr Larin returns to Saint Petersburg in this changed country from the US because he realises he left something pending, namely the dream of a life together with the young woman he loves, Masha. Aleksandr used to love Anna, but fell in love and had a short relationship with Anna's daughter, Masha. Feeling guilt he left for the US. His return turns upside the lives of Anna (who, in the meantime has married a Russian new rich she does not love) and the more calculating Masha, who is engaged to Mitya, a young artist.

The film is a collection of scenes, as if in a theatre play, where profound subjects are lightly touched, not fully developed: what money can buy and can't (art, talent, a meaningful life, love), greed, patriotism. Is loneliness the price of becoming wealthy?

The cinematography is very good, the music by Anton Batagov is excellent.

Visitor of a Museum (1989)

Let us out

[6/10 · 17 May 2020]

Made in 1989, a few years after Dead Man's Letter, this film contains some similarities: a post-apocalyptic world where civilisation has collapsed, in this case because of ecological catastrophe. The ecological catastrophe is the result of man's careless treatment and overexploitation of nature. All that remains is a barren landscape (not a tree to be seen), pollution and lots of rubbish.

Like the earlier film, it is shot with a very limited colour gamma, mostly dark reds and blacks. I found it easier to see the point of Dead Man's Letters. The Museum Visitor has several very powerful scenes, but it is harder to se it as a coherent whole.

The film's hero is a "tourist" who travels to see a museum that can only be reached when the seas part. He is one of the few human left who still keep the old attitude and way of thinking. More numerous are some kind of mutants or idiots (most indeed played by people with real disabilities) who live in reservations in some kind of permanent religious exaltation. Normal, intelligent humans are sceptical atheists, and keep the idiots away, inter alia by lighting fires on their windowsills. However, even the normal world has been turned upside down, and thus for example the new fashion dictates that men wear high heels and tights. An old man at an inn asks the tourist to close his eyes and open the scriptures at random and point at a paragraph. But nobody is able any longer to understand the meaning of the scriptures. The world is too far gone, too close to the end to be able to appeal to any gods.

While trying to reach the museum, the "tourist" undergoes a profound deep transformation and ends up on his own via crucis.

I would hesitate before recommending this very tough, depressing film, except to those who have enjoyed other films by the same director.

Night Fun (1991)

This one will surprise you

[8/10 · 15 May 2020]

A flat in central Moscow. A family photo in the living room: Dad, Mum and grown-up Daughter. All seems well. This particular evening, Mum is eager to see daughter off with her boyfriend, and insists on her spending the night at friend´s. Soon, we learn why. Mum has a lover, who is none other than Dad´s boss. The boss regularly sends Dad away on trips, so we can have a lovely time with Mum. We later learn that the whole family benefits materially from this liaison, knowingly or unknowingly.

While away at a party, the daughter is betrayed by her lover, and decides to change her plans return home. Upon returning, she realises Mum is home with another man, and thus feels doubly betrayed. Growing despondent, she agrees to invite home a total stranger who´s called her by chance as a joke. She believes she has an opportunity to save her father´s honour and to teach her mother a lesson. They all end up in a closed flat. The whole film lasts just a night, but what a night! It is to change some destinies for ever.

At first, it feels like some kind of light comedy, as in the kind that makes you laugh out loud at times. But we soon realise that there is something much better and deeper going on: a terrific analysis of love, betrayal, guilt, human weaknesses and strengths, loneliness, etc.

The acting is superlative by all 5 main actors, but especially by Evgeni Evstigneev in what was to be his last big role.

All in all, a very recommendable film. The film is good as whole, but the last 15 or 20 minutes are absolutely fabulous.

Through the Black Glass (2019)

Contrasting worlds

[8/10 · 12 May 2020]

Russian oligarch leads a life of wealth and excess, shady business, private aeroplane and all. Although he thinks he has seen everything, his romantic vein has the best of him when he happens to see an "angel" singing in a remote church choir. The singing angel is an attractive very religious young lady who happens to be totally blind since birth. No problem for the Russian oligarch, who proposes a deal: the blind young lady will be sent to Germany for an eye operation. If successful, she will marry and obey him, she will play by his rules.

Can money buy everything? Can it buy love and loyalty? Can you own somebody if you pay for the very expensive treatment that will allow them to see for the first time?

What happens when two different worlds meet? That of excess, of experience, with that of inexperienced youth, of reclusion, of religiousness, of temperance?

Konstantin Lopushansky's films are considered good by many of us, but cheerful they are not. Slow, full of symbols, probably not for everyone.

I take his last film "Through a dark glass" as a parable on the chances of survival of something/someone honest and pure when confronted with absolute power. As usual, Lopushansky dwells on profound concepts: jealousy, greed, repentance, faith and religion, manhood and womanhood, the clash between the spiritual and the earthly power, the meaning of life.

Extremely good acting by the main actors, V. Denisova and M. Sukhanov.

Dead Man's Letters (1986)

A warning to humanity through nightmare on a screen

[8/10 · 12 May 2020]

One needs to be in a resilient mood to watch Lopushansky's films, particularly this one. It surely is one of the gloomiest, saddest films out there, bare, raw and hyperealistic. It could not be otherwise, since its purpose is to show the aftermath of a massive nuclear attack on a large city somewhere, without heroes, without Hollywoodian last-minute miracles and hopes. The end of civilisation, the end of humankind.

The nuclear catastrophe, we are told, happened by accident. Most of the few remaining survivors are physically or mentally sick, going about zombie-like, and slowly dying off in a few dimly lit underground shelters. The situation above ground is even worse, with high-radiation, wreckage, rubble, strong winds and little light (some kind of "nuclear winter"), rotting corpses everywhere.

The main character is an old scientist who tries to preserve some sense of purpose, inter alia by continuing his work and by writing letters to his missing and most likely dead son, letters that are not sent because there is no address to send them to. The acting by R. Bykov who plays the scientist, is impeccable, and the same goes for the rest of the cast, although it seems out of place to think and comment on these matters in a film dominated by sheer horror.

The limited colour gamma used (mostly dirty ochres, greys and blacks) effectively reinforce the feeling of oppression and hopelessness this film so effectively conveys from beginning to end.

Very hard and painful to watch, but perhaps necessary to get an idea of what our world could look like, were we to use the horrific weapons we have created. Did in fact look like, for some, when these weapons were used at the end of WWII.

Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes (2020)

Opening her eyes to a wider world

[7/10 · 11 May 2020]

The series is based on Guzel Yakhina´s excellent novel of the same title (recommended reading). The action begins in 1930, with Soviet soldiers coming to a tartar village as part of the campaign to repress and deport relatively prosperous peasants who opposed collectivisation.

Zuleikha is a young tartar peasant who lives with her husband and her very demanding and recriminating mother in law. She puts up with quite some rough treatment from both without ever complaining. She gets up first, goes to bed last, she believes in ghosts, and her four daughters have died in infancy. One day her life is completely changed when her husband opposes Soviet soldiers and is killed. She is then deported by train to Siberia on a journey that takes several months during which many of her fellow deportees die of hunger or disease.

Much of the series goes into showing the struggle for survival of 30 deportees of all walks of life who are abandoned in the middle of nowhere in the taiga. Zuleikha´s capacity to endure proves invaluable in her new life, in a new place, in a new culture. It allows her to open her eyes and grow in a world full of hardship, despite the hardship.

The series is beautifully filmed, with a lot of care, the views are breath-taking. The acting is very good from all the main characters (Evgeni Morozov, Yuliya Peresild, Roman Madyanov, etc.) and from most secondary characters. Chulpan Khamatova, who plays Zuleikha, shows again what a great actress she is, particularly in the second half of the series.

Very few films or series stand comparison to the novels that inspired them, and this is no exception. I wish more attention had been given to Zuleikha´s life before deportation, which is one of the most remarkable parts of the novel. In the series it is very much compressed, dealt with quite summarily, in just one of the eight episodes.

This series has given rise to a lot of passion and criticism among many in Russia when shown in early 2020. To an outsider with some knowledge of Russian culture and history, such a reaction is difficult to understand, because cultural, political and military developments are shown with a considerable degree of neutrality and restraint.

With the caveat that I would have given Zuleikha´s pre-deportation world more room in the series (an extra episode?), I find this to be a good adaptation of the novel, definitely worth watching.

Fairy (2020)

Sweet fairy meets callous businessman

[5/10 · 11 May 2020]

A young activist (denouncing meat eating, political prisoners, etc.) meets by chance and falls in love with Russia´s top producer of computer games and virtual reality, Evgeny Voigin (played by K. Khabensky). Amid plenty of naïve smiles she reveals to him that they are Andrey Rublev and Danil Cherny reincarnated.

This revelation, together with the young activist's love, seem to leave cynical Evgeny rather indifferent. Nor is it clear where his genius for computer games lies, other than by his credo that any publicity, even bad publicity, is good for his company.

Throw into this mix a few other odd elements, such as Evgeny´s daughter who stubbornly refuses to speak throughout the whole film and a band of neo-Nazi youngsters who go around the streets murdering anybody they fancy (particularly migrants), and you end up with an incoherent story that just does not work. Its purpose is hard to fathom.

Some of the scenes are decent, well filmed, good music, well acted. But the whole just does not work. Even a fabulous actor like Khabensky (and there are other very good actors in this film, such as Ingeborga Dapkunaite) cannot save a flawed story.

Maybe it is not worth touching Rublev unless you have something meaningful to add.

Mahler (1974)

A failed experiment, from the improbable to the impossible.

[2/10 · 29 October 2016]

If you like Mahler's music and have read something about his life, then this film is unlikely to meet your expectations.

I found it to be an awkward collection of badly stitched together, largely badly acted parodies, improbable events and dialogues. The actor playing Mahler does make a brave effort, even though the script would have him looking extremely young and healthy even when dying, and behaving rudely much of the time. But for the rest... Alma Mahler looks wanton and superficial, and physically not at all like Alma Mahler. Mahler's father looks just embarrassing, with many other characters being a collection of freaks. Give this a good coating of 1970s dubious experimental ideas and listen to the shrill recording on the DVD, and you are done.

Grekh (2007 TV Movie)

Envy of love

[8/10 · 25 July 2016]

A simple story. Viktor and Sergei become friends while doing the military service. An accident happens and Sergei dies. At the end of service, Viktor does not feel like returning to his village (for reasons that become known later in the film) but goes instead to visit his dead friend's mother, Vera, who lives alone in a hamlet. Despite the age difference, Viktor falls in love with Vera. As Vera warns Viktor, villagers are quite nosy, and do not like strangers. Thus, the relationship between Viktor and Vera quickly meets with condemnation and brutal hostility.

A very honest and touching film, depicting the obstacles intergenerational love faces, and the cruelty envy of love can lead to.

Very good acting portraying feelings and emotions with few words and silence by the main characters Lidya Velezheva, Stanislav Bondarenko and Vitalii Khaev.

Another excellent Russian film that could potentially be appreciated worldwide, were it not for the usual language and commercial barriers.

About Love (2015)

What is love?

[8/10 · 13 June 2016]

According to a lecture on love and the biology of love in central Moscow, love is just a dopamine-induced temporary suspension of rational thinking that lasts for maximum 30 months if you are lucky. This lecture on love is the hub where 5 rather unusual short love stories crisscross, each suggesting a different answer to the love quest.

A very refreshing, light-humoured dynamic film. Formats and ideas keep changing, some kind of filming experiment that, in my view, worked out quite well. Apparent lightness behind which there is clear craft in filming.

Modern ideas about love in an upbeat modern Moscow. Love and illusion sometimes clashing with tough reality.

Good music throughout the film. Excellent acting by several characters.

I'll Be Around (2012)

A lesson in life

[9/10 · 21 June 2015]

Young single mother Inna has a very good relationship with her 5-year old son Mitya, full of love and laughter. Things take a turn for the worse when she starts experimenting odd medical symptoms and soon afterward learns that she has little time left to live. Rather than becoming sulky and depressed because of the debilitating disease and growing pain that quickly isolate her from the world around her, Inna goes in search of foster parents for her son, while continuing laughing whenever she has a chance.

A truly moving story of generosity, love and courage.

Do not be put off by the sad subject. The film director, the script, and the wonderful acting by everyone, from the main to the secondary characters, get everything right. Nothing overwhelming, nothing fake or overly dramatic, just light touches that convey what the experience is like in a truthful and caring manner.

A massive achievement with a difficult subject. Big bow and thanks to all involved.

The Banishment (2007)

On love and loss

[9/10 · 1 February 2015]

A family with two pre-teen children go to spend some days in the isolated country house where the father was born and raised. The first hours are spent bringing the house back to a minimum of working order, with the children spending much of their time outside in the garden, as children do. And then, in the evening, after dinner, when the children have gone to bed and the adults sit on the terrace on their own, the wife tells her husband something very short and simple that will overhaul his life and set the mood for the rest of the film.

Those looking for easy entertainment, better look elsewhere. The first simple and bleak images and the music already let you know that this is not going to be a relaxing experience. There is tension from the beginning, and it is there to stay until the end.

This is beautiful, artful cinema making, of the kind that requires spectators to approach it with their emotions and an open mind.

Perhaps demanding cinema. Though not overly intellectual (the story is, in some ways, quite a simple one), it contains powerful undercurrents that are not obvious until the very end. Like most good films, you will get more out of this watching it more than once.

Astounding acting by the three main actors. The range of feelings displayed by actors Konstantin Lavronenko and Maria Bonnevie as the married couple and by Aleksandr Baluev (Konstantin's brother in the film and perhaps alter ego) is breathtaking. Bonnevie looks totally natural, even if dubbed, chapeau to her. Lavronenko deservedly got Canne's Best Actor prize in 2007 for his role in this film.

Zvyagintsev's craft, as shown by his other films, is felt from beginning to end, with exquisite attention paid to detail, light, colour, shadows, filming locations.

As with good art, everyone will get something different out of this film. Leaving aside some possible religious or spiritual connotations, I take it that this film contains a reflection on love and the absence of it, about sharing and its limits, that can speak to very wide audiences, irrespective of time and location.

Liniya Marty (2014– )

St. Petersburg, its recent past and its present.

[6/10 · 8 August 2014]

Following a recent divorce, and still with a broken heart and nerves on edge, Olga and her hypersensitive teenager daughter Natasha move into an old flat in central St. Petersburg. While renovating the flat they find a message on a wall from a boy to a girl he loved, Marta, from 1942, from the time of the siege of Leningrad. Olga and Natasha set out to find Marta together and in this adventure they are accompanied by Maksim, a successful entrepreneur who is soon taken by Olga while having doubts about his own marriage. The search starts by trying to locate all the surviving women in St. Petersburg called Marta. The search for Marta turns into a journey of personal discovery for all those involved.

A patriotic, largely feel-good series. A brave attempt to revisit in 2014 the siege or blockade of Leningrad, seen with modern eyes, including those of a child who at first, and understandably, is not interested in it. In this, the series clearly succeeds.

However, I find a few weaknesses in this series. The flashbacks to 1942 mostly do not work, they seem too staged. Some of the dialogues are quite good, while others seem contrived, and some of the playing lacking in spontaneity. This results in a somewhat disjointed, often predictable narrative, with varying artistic value.

I was most impressed by the acting of the secondary characters, for the most part very well- known actors. Some of their acting is quite moving, and rings more true than other parts of the film, perhaps because their stories, which sit quite naturally in the film, are partly autobiographical, i.e. people who lived through WWII and went through similar experiences as the ones they retell.

Well worth watching.

Ottsy i deti (2008)

Excellent, emotional adaptation of Turgenev

[8/10 · 23 February 2014]

An impeccable and very touching adaptation of one of Turgenev's great novels, with powerful insights into human psychology. This film follows the novel quite closely, and successfully manages to capture its mood and main ideas.

The film shows the contradiction in intergenerational love between parents and children and the "nihilistic" rejection of the principles and values of the elders by the more energetic and somewhat arrogant youths. It also portrays the tensions between conforming to tradition and protesting, trying to find one's unique path in life. Traditional courtship and marriage is shown side by side with more complex relationship between the sexes.

Beautifully filmed, great attention to detail, great musical score.

The actors play outstandingly, including the secondary characters. I was very moved by Sergei Yurskii, as Bazarov's father. What he manages to convey with and without words is truly extraordinary.

The film director has shown that it is possible to make nowadays a thoroughly convincing and beautiful adaptation of a novel written almost 150 years ago. Bravo to her and to all the team.

Pomni imya svoye (1974)

Remember your name; let's not forget the war.

[9/10 · 10 March 2013]

Beginning of WWII. Zinaida, a Russian woman, is taken prisoner by the Germans and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp together with several other women. She is imprisoned with her baby son, Gena, who is learning to walk and takes his first steps in the snow, in the concentration camp. They spend a few years together in the camp until they are separated, first within Auschwitz itself, then, for good, when the Germans are losing the war and decide to evacuate.

A relatively simple story, but full of substance. Sober treatment of facts. A film that shows, through a personal story, how tragic and devastating the war was, with the loss of loved ones. A film to watch and to remember, if only to see what other people had to go through and (some) managed to survive.

Astounding acting by the main characters, Lyudmila Kasatkina as Zinaida, Slava Astakhov as Gena, and Tadeusz Borowsky. Very moving, powerful acting.

Difficult to watch this film without shedding tears, it really touches one's heart. Similar effect to Polansky's The Pianist, if you have seen that.

Solo (1980)

Dignity during WWII in blockaded Leningrad

[7/10 · 2 March 2013]

Lopushansky's second film focuses on a few hours in the life of a soloist musician during the siege of Leningrad, in WWII. The Leningrad philharmonic is going to play Chaikovsky's 5th Symphony, which is to be broadcast to England. The soloist, like his fellow musicians, is weak and half-starved, and doubts whether he will be able to perform well enough.

Several of Lopushansky's later aesthetic choices already show in this early film: dark interiors, ominous music, profound respect for his characters.

Main character easily carried through by N. Grinko.

Definitely well worth watching.

The Ugly Swans (2006)

About the evolution of thought and the agony of non-existence

[8/10 · 1 March 2013]

A clash between the old and the new world. Can children be educated in a better way when removed from their parents, and taught to be more logical, cleverer, more reasonable, not to repeat mistakes that go back thousands of years? Can perfection be attained given the right conditions?

Fairly loose but good adaptation of "Ugly Swans", a novel by the Strugatsky brothers. No surprise if you are reminded of Tarkovsky's Stalker, because Stalker is also based on a story by the same Strugatsky brothers (Picnic by the Roadside).

What follows is a fairly detailed description of the film. Though I am not telling how the film ends, you may not want to read all of this.

Victor Banev, a fashionable writer, is part of a small UN mission going to Tashlinsk, a closed, quarantined city controlled by the military where mokretsy ("the wet ones", usually translated into English either as "Aquatters" or "Slimies") live together with normal humans, and have a say on who is allowed into the city. An important reason for his going there is see his teenage daughter Irma, who is being educated by the Mokretsy in an isolated boarding school for gifted children, with little or no contact with their parents. Children are there out of their choice, simply because what the mokretsy offer them is more interesting than what their parents and tradition has to offer. And this is mostly education, new values, breaking with bad old habits and with half-wasted lives.

The Mokretsy are surrounded by mystery, unpleasant to look at. They are some sort of mutants, or people with some degenerative or genetic disease. But they have some supernatural powers and are more intelligent than normal people.

Although they have lived together for many years, some humans feel threatened by the mokretsy, who have done nothing blatantly wrong. In fact, some humans believe that mokretsy are humans that have contracted a disease, like lepers. Because of this fear, most humans want to wipe the mokretsy out, even if human children under their custody have to go as well. Action to destroy the mokretsy develops quickly after the arrival of Victor Banev in the forbidden city.

One of the key scenes in the film (as in the novel) is when Victor Banev is invited to the boarding school, where his daughter is being educated by the mokretsy. Banev is accustomed to speaking in public, but the gifted children do not make it easy for him. They are not interested in what he wants to tell them (mostly about his literary work, which they dismiss), but ask simple yet difficult to answer philosophical questions, about the future, how to deal with people who do wrong things, etc. Banev regains some ground and accuses them of wanting to dismiss and leave behind the old world, and of being cruel, like previous generations. So, he tells the children something like "You are very bright, but if you are going to be cruel, like in the past, who needs you?"

In this way, Banev is an anti-hero (more so in the novel than in the film) and the story may be regarded as an anti-utopia.

Another key moment in the film is Irma's recorded message to her father, about the way children see their elders' world.

Banev hesitates whether to support normal people who want to do away with the mokretsy, or to support the mutants. He soon has to make a choice because the city is being evacuated and the mokretsy are going to be exterminated by chemical attack using military planes.

In my opinion, Lopushanky manages to convey the book's atmosphere quite well. And this is a particular, fairly oppressive atmosphere: it rains from beginning to end, because the mokretsy control the weather, change the light (a permanent red light) and so on. Ending the film on a much more pessimistic note than the novel is the director's own right (perhaps more in keeping with the times?).

A thoroughly recommendable film.

Belaya gvardiya (2012)

The White Guard: the latest adaptation of Bulgakov's novel

[6/10 · 5 February 2013]

Based on the novel "The White Guard" by Mikhail Bulgakov. Set in Ukraine in late 1918, amid civil war and frequent changes in power, this partly autobiographical story centers around the Turbin family who live in Kiev and their circle of friends, who are all caught in the turmoil while trying to make sense of it and preserve their traditional lifestyle.

Having read the novel and watched other older films linked to it, in my view, this TV series has some strengths and many weaknesses. For instance, I found the main characters, the Turbin family itself, difficult to sympathise with at times. Khabensky is a good actor, and yet, most of the film I was thinking "there is Khabensky, looking too old for Dr. Turbin; now Khabensky is dressed as a military officer" and so on. Ksenya Rappoport is sometimes convincing as his sister Elena, sometimes "too modern". Nikolka is plain naive and miraculously recovers, unscathed, from a cannon blast. Some of the secondary characters play their roles extremely well. Aleksey Serebryakov is splendid and moving playing Nay-Turs. But Janina Studilina is thoroughly unconvincing as Anyuta... Some scenes are very moving, because of the contents and because of the way they are played. Other scenes showed the acting a bit too much, like most of the crying scenes, which look plain bad.

Lots of attention paid to detail, interior decoration, light and so forth, very well done.

I do not have a right to discuss the overall political messages in this film, who is treated fairly and who unfairly, antisemitism and so on. I do not want to enter into a debate or start one. I have witnessed nationalism, repression of nationalism, discrimination, etc. in several countries, including in Ukraine itself. Whatever Bulgakov meant to say is there, in the novel he wrote, for all to read and interpret as best we can.

So, I prefer to comment on the sheer genius of Bulgakov, who is able to depict, in a convincing way and in a way that still resonates almost a century later, what these people went through in Kiev following WWI, the attempts to build an independent Ukraine, civil war, the Russian Revolution, etc. Bulgakov's work is a brilliant depiction of how historical events shaped and sometimes destroyed people's lives, how wars swept away values, whole families, personal efforts and achievements.

Since much of this is well reflected in the film, I conclude that it is a film worth watching, despite its many flaws.

Soulless (2012)

Soul cleansing in a rubbish dump

[7/10 · 27 January 2013]

Dazzling Moscow. Max, 30, living fast, a handsome, witty, wealthy and successful businessman, expected to become the director of the Moscow branch of an international bank. "I made it in life" he says at the beginning of the film. What does he do with all that? Earn lots, spend lots: trendy clubs, womanising, sports cars, drugs, alcohol, burning the candle at both ends. Nothing is going to stop him, or is it? Enter Julya, met by chance: young, attractive, full of dreams, member of a gang of crazy revolutionary idealists who think money stinks and to lead such an empty life as Max does stinks even more.

A moralising, somewhat predictable film: chaos and a dissipated life versus an orderly one, the corrupting power of money, egoism, the pointlessness of it all.

Splendid acting by many of the main characters, particularly by Danila Kozlovsky, who plays Max, very convincing as a modern anti-hero. A portrait of the brightest and best snared by Russia's money and fast life, but with a good heart hidden away somewhere, which may be recovered provided they are ready to go all the way through purgatory.

Pastukh svoikh korov (2002)

A celebration of Russian soul and nature

[7/10 · 4 November 2012]

Kolka, a young man in his prime, decides to abandon the city life and the university degree he is about to get and goes back to his roots. He settles down with his parents in a remote village in northern Russia, becoming one of the local sovkhoz shepherds. He does get used to village life, but fate does not treat him well, and his dreams fail one after another: his girlfriend soon leaves him and goes back to Moscow; his attempts to find another woman are unsuccessful because he is said to stink of the cows he keeps; his father dies and Kolka spends a whole day walking in the snow pulling the coffin to bury him; his sister drinks herself to death. Kolka takes everything as it comes, accepting the harshness of it. He gradually transforms into a solitary, dark, silent peasant, who mostly murmurs to himself and frightens the villagers.

There is an undercurrent of religious references that may speak to some, with several quotes from the Bible that refer to man's place in the world.

Apart from the tragic story of Kolka, the film is a celebration of nature. More is said with images and silence than with words. The four classical elements, water, earth, air and fire, are overpresent in the film. Beautifully filmed water, rain, thunder, trees, grass. Fantastic takes of nature from the air (mostly from balloons). It is a vibrant nature, full of sounds from beginning to end. The soundtrack is very rich, a real treat for birdwatchers.

Brothel Lights (2011)

A brothel full of light

[7/10 · 28 October 2012]

A film about the life and tribulations of "Mama" Lyuba, who keeps a small brothel in sunny Odessa in the late 1950s. Her relationship with men is difficult, as is to be expected. A young man who is eager to get rid of his virginity has a crash on her, and although she treats him well, she can't take him seriously. She often goes to relax and sunbathe by the seaside, where she befriends Adam, a madman traumatised by WWII, a holy wise fool, a prophet, in the Russian tradition. Adam's horizons are much broader than Lyuba's, and she grows fond and protective towards him, to the point where she starts dreaming of a life with him. As for Adam, he seems to enjoy Lyuba's company, the bottle of wine they share and the little money she gives him every now and then.

In her search for a change for the better in her life, Lyuba sometimes visits her mother's house in her native village, and even tries to settle down there. However, she is rejected both by her mother, whose greeting is "The prostitute has arrived" and particularly by the villagers, who fail to defend her when she is beaten up by a young man whose rough assault she had stopped. In her village she is more lonely and defenseless than in the brothel.

The two main roles, Lyuba and Adam, are very well carried through. Their relationship is a bit more hard to believe. Oksana Fandera, who plays Lyuba, is stunning throughout the film; perhaps too stunning, given her profession. The village scenes come close to being stereotypes.

Beautiful colours and beautiful light in the film. When storms come along, the rain is also exquisitely filmed. Much attention paid to detail. Ultimately, a nostalgic film full of light with a dramatic background.

Elena (2011)

On morality, money and class

[6/10 · 24 October 2012]

Middle-aged Elena, a former nurse, leads a comfortable and orderly life after marrying an elderly and wealthy retired businessman she looked after. He has the money. Both Elena and her husband have children from former marriages, and neither agrees with the way their partner's children have been brought up. Elena's son, Seryozha, is unemployed and has a growing family, including a son who is trying to get to university to avoid the army. Elena repeatedly asks her husband for money to help her grandson, but her husband is reluctant to help them, stating that such lazy people should look after themselves. Elena's husband suffers a heart attack and becomes weaker. She is thus given power and the possibility to make a choice between her husband, whom she loves in a way, and her son's family, who rely on her.

A film about class difference in Moscow, the tensions between the haves and the have nots. About the power of money and the power of blood ties. About deceit, and how fragile human morals can be. Are there any circumstances under which you should sacrifice yourself or somebody else for the benefit of a larger number of people?

Elegantly filmed and well acted. Beautiful music by Philip Glass.