Definitely one of my faves of the IFFR 2014.
(review written in 2014)
The story begins with a group of friends boozing and bounces around the different characters before settling on Sveta, the main protagonist.
It's set in Norilsk, a heavily polluted north Russian city which is inside the Arctic Circle and cut off from the rest of the country by impenetrable terrain.
The movie drifts along, tracking people's various attempts to leave the city and the messes that they create in consequence.
The ending is perfect, ambiguous but with a hit of hope in a movie which is pretty bleak. I wish things work out for Sveta but the options don't look too good. I think I dig endings where the sound and visuals tie together well, just like Half Nelson and Blue Valentine.
The Q&A was interesting, giving a bit more context on the place and the director's ideas. She denied making a feminist movie, which is fair enough, lots of directors aren't keen to label or box their productions, but for me this is a feminist movie in at least some aspects, using a strong young female protagonist to show what a patriarchal place Norilsk is and how little options for escape there are for anyone but particularly women. I'd like to get more into that but can't really do so without spoilers.
The director stated there were no metaphors in the film and that it was a specific story set in a specific place, but that argument is full of holes. The title is itself metaphorical, being detourned from an actual factory.
The film was finished just before the IFFR and unfortunately it didn't win a Tiger. I'm pretty sure it won't get distribution in Western Europe, especially the UK. Would love to be proved wrong though! The film will probably also cause controversy in Russia since it's made by a Moscow-based troupe who were lambasted in the local press for showing Norilsk in a bad light. I'm not sure how authentic it is, but it doesn't misrepresent I think. It must be a pretty crappy place to live in terms of the pollution and prospects. Then again, people make do wherever they are.
(review written in 2014)
The story begins with a group of friends boozing and bounces around the different characters before settling on Sveta, the main protagonist.
It's set in Norilsk, a heavily polluted north Russian city which is inside the Arctic Circle and cut off from the rest of the country by impenetrable terrain.
The movie drifts along, tracking people's various attempts to leave the city and the messes that they create in consequence.
The ending is perfect, ambiguous but with a hit of hope in a movie which is pretty bleak. I wish things work out for Sveta but the options don't look too good. I think I dig endings where the sound and visuals tie together well, just like Half Nelson and Blue Valentine.
The Q&A was interesting, giving a bit more context on the place and the director's ideas. She denied making a feminist movie, which is fair enough, lots of directors aren't keen to label or box their productions, but for me this is a feminist movie in at least some aspects, using a strong young female protagonist to show what a patriarchal place Norilsk is and how little options for escape there are for anyone but particularly women. I'd like to get more into that but can't really do so without spoilers.
The director stated there were no metaphors in the film and that it was a specific story set in a specific place, but that argument is full of holes. The title is itself metaphorical, being detourned from an actual factory.
The film was finished just before the IFFR and unfortunately it didn't win a Tiger. I'm pretty sure it won't get distribution in Western Europe, especially the UK. Would love to be proved wrong though! The film will probably also cause controversy in Russia since it's made by a Moscow-based troupe who were lambasted in the local press for showing Norilsk in a bad light. I'm not sure how authentic it is, but it doesn't misrepresent I think. It must be a pretty crappy place to live in terms of the pollution and prospects. Then again, people make do wherever they are.
