Robert Vaab
In 2000 Russians celebrated the advent of a new century and dreamed of a new life. But their painful experiences could not be left behind — in fact, the era hadn’t gone yet, it catches up with the heroes of the film with heavy injuries — war or death turn their lives into a social drama. The Chechen war is followed by the Chechen syndrome, then radical nationalism and escaping from real life. Is there any place for God in this new world? How high is the value of a human life in it? Heroes answer those questions not in words, but in actions dictated by their post-Soviet worldview and values. When Jehovah's Witnesses commit an accidental murder in a search for new religious followers or when the hero rides a motorcycle in memory of his brother, who died in Chechnya — an absurdity connects with reality. Despite the painful social themes, the movie becomes a cruel satire on the insanity of war and violence — grotesque, shock and comic become firmly grounded in the new world.
A modern take on the classic novel by Alexander Pushkin. Vladimir is a successful banker and a regular at trendy night clubs. Masha is a diligent graduate of a British college and a loving daughter. It looks like they have bright future ahead. However, an unexpected quarrel between two eccentric fathers forces their offspring to live through the conflict of Pushkin's novel.
In the second feature film by Russian director Vasily Sigarev, fate brings ordeals to characters that find themselves immersed in deep crisis; they must seek the strength to cope with adversity. In a remote and cold region of Russia, Galya, a middle-aged woman with a drinking problem, has been separated from her twin daughters and she wants them back. On the other hand, Grishka and Anton are a young couple who decide to get married, but right after the wedding their relationship is put to the test in a brutal way. While Artyom longs to see his missing father, but his mother objects. There is only one element that brings all of these characters together: misfortune.
'1210' is a shrilly story of a 'small person' seeking justice from the state. All his attempts are bound to fail. He's a superfluous nasty old spot, rejected even by his own family. Going mad is probably the only way out for a totally forgotten war veteran, burgled and miserable. It still remains a question, however, whether the 'crazy' man is really so in our 'normal' world, or it's the world itself which turned crazy from its own indifference. Knocked down by despair, the man resorts to committing a horrible deed. A deed unlikely to be pardoned...
Former criminal Sergei meets Vera - an elderly unhappy woman who lives in a dormitory. After Sergei commits another crime, they run together and along the way they accidentally get into a zone contaminated by radiation. Sergei decides to stay there, but Vera does not leave him. At that moment three looters come to the territory.
Inspired by Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, Sokurov’s Save and Protect recalls the most crucial events of Emma’s decline and fall: affairs with the aristocratic Rodolphe and the student Leon, the humiliation that follows her husband’s botching of the operation on the stable boy’s clubfoot. The universality of the theme of eternal struggle between the soul and the flesh is conveyed through the absence of specific reference to time or place: although the film seems to begin in 1840, its surreal mode effortlessly accommodates an automobile and the strains of “When the Saints Go Marching In” on an off-screen radio. Focusing on passion from a woman’s perspective and downplaying plot, Sokurov explores his subject in exquisite detail, capturing not only the heat of passion but also the quiet moments before and after and the innocent sensuousness of the body.
