i watch the actors, lyudmila as vera in particular, and i wish they could make more films that i could access. meryl streep, whom i like very much, hasn't got a thing on lyudmila; this is one vibrant and vivid actress with a face the camera loves to love.
the movie seemed very french to me; my wife thought Italian. at any rate it is not an American film. the sensibility is far more oblique and understated. i recall a stephen rea film about the ussr where he is a detective tracking down a serial killer; i think that movie really tries to portray what life must be like in Russia, but finally it is really just a cliché when compared to this film. this movie breathes 'other' and we must switch gears to attempt to see who these folk are and what they are about. a very fine bit of film making that satisfies all the way thru.
the movie seemed very french to me; my wife thought Italian. at any rate it is not an American film. the sensibility is far more oblique and understated. i recall a stephen rea film about the ussr where he is a detective tracking down a serial killer; i think that movie really tries to portray what life must be like in Russia, but finally it is really just a cliché when compared to this film. this movie breathes 'other' and we must switch gears to attempt to see who these folk are and what they are about. a very fine bit of film making that satisfies all the way thru.