https://i.imgur.com/iAOg5nD.jpg

Always see this on best of the 2010's lists, had no clue what it was about, expected depressing and that's what i got of course. This isn't a new favourite but it is good and i totally get why some love it. My only issue is i could see a lot of it coming a mile away. For example i knew Lilya and Dima were going to have an affair right from their first private conversation when Kolya left the room for a second and they got into small talk which lead to her asking Dima to talk to her husband. It was following the classic affair set up of preoccupied and difficult to talk to but loving husband being cheated on with close friend who is easier to talk to, even had him leaving them alone for a second and her mentioning he wasn't easy to talk to. Having it so he didn't actually do anything wrong but it was also easy to see how this could happen, an attempt at keeping everyone likeable. Feel from there i could see where a lot of it was heading and it reduced my interest somewhat. It's an interesting social commentary but it's never going to get past respect, if it doesn't suck me into the means it chooses to tell that social commentary.

Enjoyed the setting as it felt different. I'm used to either large cities or remote snowy locations in Siberia in Soviet/Russian films, this felt more like the middle ground between the two. Felt more like Scandinavia or something to me, of course i realize Russia is the largest Country in the world it encompasses a tonne of different landscapes. Felt the movie was very cozy and quiet making it easy to watch even during its harsher moments and i think the location played a big part in this.

Weird thing is i didn't realize this was from the Loveless director somehow. I knew he directed The Return but i thought this was someone else. It was definitely similar to Loveless, dude revels in bleakness and trauma i'd be shocked if any of his movies have happy endings or even a strong sense of hope, guess some could be read that way though. I preferred Loveless by quite a margin but that was mostly due to relating to it more since it was partly about a long destroyed relationship, i'd say they're similar in quality overall. All i'd personally say is i don't think some humour would kill him, even just irony that's not laugh out loud funny. Dunno, that's definitely a selective criticism with me, i don't apply it to everyone and sometimes i heavily praise directors for their unrelenting bleakness. Sometimes i also feel lightening up a bit could only improve things and that's personally what i felt here. May be a visual thing too, Stalker for instance blows my mind when we first get to The Zone, it's like the most beautiful thing i've ever seen but truthfully it's mundane it's because outside The Zone is so harsh and nightmarish. This is well shot and has pretty lake shots and stuff but it just feels like neverending grey to me. Don't think Loveless had the same problems for me, first thing that comes to mind there is the nighttime scene where Zhenya is walking around naked, not we are literally living inside a big bubble of depression here. Who knows, it works for the film but everything put together keeps this from becoming a favourite. One last complaint is i don't think it had to be as long as it is. The film wasn't so long that it was hard to get through or anything, i'm more saying i don't think it used its time as well as it could have. There's quite a few talking and hanging out scenes which i didn't feel developed the characters or the plot much, following the affair being revealed for instance there was so much moping about and scenes with no talking and i just felt okay i get the point this isn't doing much for me tbh let's move on.

One thing i did like a lot was Kolya himself. So often in these criticisms of society films the person suffering from it is a really good, impossible to dislike person. It's sort of manipulative that way because it makes those just doing their jobs easy to hate as stand ins for society, like a shortcut, it also asks nothing of you as a viewer to root for him coz how could you not? You don't even need to engage with what the film is saying it's as simple as wanting a good person to be treated well. Kolya feels a lot more real than those types of characters, he's can be a bit of an a-hole, he doesn't do anything horrible for the majority of the film but you get the feeling if you knew him in real life it'd be much more likely you wouldn't get on than you would. It isn't the opposite either he's no villain, he's just a run of the mill dude who the film isn't trying to make you think of as a friend or someone to look up to, it just doesn't present him as the last person this should ever happen to because it often isn't and it shouldn't need to be to make you care. I love that he barely smiles even before the bad news and that he always looks unkempt. There's honestly very little attempt to make you feel sorry for him outside the circumstances, it doesn't even go for the he's a great father despite his flaws cliche, he seems fine as a father but there's nothing notable about his relationship with his son. He'd never be the poster boy for a cause basically. Most importantly though he looked like Sid Justice/Vicious and that's always a plus.

Wasn't a fan of the Mayor character, felt too cartoonish to me. The moment he said "tear down that bastards place" i could no longer take him seriously. This sorta felt to me like a condensed version of The Wire. Showing you how the people in power use it and how it effects members of society, difference is there'd be more to him than bland crook. He was shown as some drunken foulmouthed slob, the sort of dude you know has killed at least four hookers. Yeah okay, i'm sure they are sometimes exactly like the caricature i have in my head but i'd have cared more about his scenes if there was a little more to his character. Like the scene he showed up drunk did absolutely nothing for me, felt like an unfunny comedy scene because it was so ridiculously overdone. His relation to the church and how he was clearly beholden to it despite his power was interesting, but it didn't save him from those initial scenes and i think that scene he's talking to the Bishop was another thing which was too dead on as i guessed then it was a church he was building. There was no need to have him say "we are working on this together".

Kinda struggled with Lilya too. She just looked mopey and barely said anything for large parts of it, understandable, i don't even know what i'm asking of her but i wasn't that into her scenes for quite a while. Think it could be unintentionally expecting certain things after seeing Loveless, as i found the main female character in that captivating. They were very different though the one in Loveless is a lot more brash and confident so it's unfair of me to complain about something that wasn't even intended. Was just flat out weird how the affair happened too, not that i have a problem with the way it was done it actually felt unique. No buildup, no passion between them, she was dealing with the exact same stuff as her husband so no extra pressure, not even any alcohol. It just happened. Actually, everything about it was utter insanity. Why on earth would they have sex on that trip with their kids? I find it amazing that's how they chose to have them get caught, guess it was to add in the embarassment of others being there but man, nuts. Kinda loved it because it was so weird.

Sorry, this is way longer than i intended it to be and most of what i said isn't interesting, just ended up all over the place. Good nom Neiba. From all this moaning you'll probably assume i hated it but i honestly didn't. I think it acheived most of what it set out to do and i often defended it in the middle of some of my criticisms because i know it's only a personal reaction i had to some of it (could have even been just the mood i was in) rather than the film failing. Zvyagintsev is a good director but i feel Loveless may end up my favourite of his largely because i saw it first, the more i dwell in these kinds of worlds the less it does for me.

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...chmentid=46755

Leviathan / Левиафан (2014)
Directed By: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Starring: Aleksei Serebryakov, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Elena Lyadova

https://i.imgur.com/EZOSEsq.jpg

Have to admit i was a bit disheartened when this was the only Tarkovsky, purely because i've already seen it though. I would bump this up quite a bit on rewatch but not quite into all-time favourite territory, just outside (no pun). Thing is it does bore me at times and i think that's the case for even some who love it, i've heard it referred to as the "best boring film" before, similar to 2001. It's not constant or i'd hate the film, there's just some parts i struggle to care during. I honestly think it could be sort of intentional, it's a long arduous journey making the viewer struggle along makes sense. Anyway, just like the first time i was glad i saw it by the end, it's extremely well done.

My favourite scene is easily when they first enter The Zone, it feels like a magic trick. How for a bit it's one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen (even on rewatch when i was expecting it) before my eyes/mind adjusts and i realize it's not that special, it's just that i'm seeing bright colours and wildlife for the first time, i feel like a blind man regaining his sight before the initial wonder is over and i realize "oh yeah, the world is sht" :laugh: The most impressive thing about it is how he created such a hellish dystopian world outside the zone far beyond what i normally imagine when reading dystopian literature that anything would be like paradise in comparison, feel like that world is what my mind wants to imagine but i'm just not depressed enough to conjure up those types of images. The reactions to and characteristics of the two are deliberately wrong and jarring too which is so unsettling. Outside the zone is intensely ugly/grim in appearance and exiting it is the one time they are definitely in danger of dying (not including The Professor, i more mean by things/people outside the group), while they obviously aren't calm this is the easy part of the journey. The Zone is mostly normal looking (in comparison and on the outside of course) and the danger is only possibly there yet it's where they start truly cracking. Even if you don't consider what it's about those contradictions are distressing. Maybe others don't feel the same. Was thinking about it for ages the first time i thought about it, what it reminds me of was when i was very young and first got introduced to the concept of stranger danger. Like, being told if i'm lost or something to not just go with any adult and trust them completely as they could be bad people. That shook me to my core at that age, up to that point adults were automatically good, wise people who were concerned for my safety obviously because the only adults i knew were family, family friends and teachers. Sorta think it's a similar feeling i get with the zone where it initially looks like a much more desirable location then suddenly it isn't at all. And it's not just a stylistic thing it of course goes with the story/themes, and it works especially well with the Wizard of Oz comparisons i've heard before. Just like Dorothy after the initial wonder of the Colourful world of Oz fades all she wants is to return to B&W Kansas, these dudes never go all the way and actually enter The Room instead returning to Morbidsville where they belong. The end, various conversation scenes and the whole action scene dash to get into The Zone at the beginning are awesome too, but i think this works much more as a whole, the thoughts and weird feelings it leaves me with are absolutely its strength.

Anyway, not going to go into anything i think about the film, if some discussion starts and i'll happily join in. I do think this film is complex (simple if you think about it, but a lot of ways to read it) and i weirdly think that's a detriment, because it is sorta overdiscussed. Doubt much we talk about here will be new to me, not the films fault it's just an interesting film to talk about so it gets talked about a lot.

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...chmentid=46774

Planeta Bur / Планета Бурь (1962)
Directed By: Pavel Klushantsev
Starring: Vladimir Yemelyanov, Gennadi Vernov, Georgi Teich