Ceasefire: Film review

A young man's semi-aimless walks are a captivating spiral of strangeness.

Svetlana Proskurina

Dmitriy Sobolev

Yuriy Istkov, Sergey Shnurov, Ivan Dobronravov, Nadezhda Tolubeyeva

ROTTERDAM - A striking bold journey through a world of joint hazardously gone, confirmed cease-fire 63-year-old Svetlana Proskurina as one of the true visionaries of russischen-- and indeed world-cinema. This seventh function which at some point employees of the better-known Alexander Sokurov International (his wrote you art-house hit Russian Ark 2002) won first prize at the Russian national film festival in Sochi last year and has since then steadily progress to more advanced film festivals.

But a work so characteristic deserves something further ahead, ideally as part of Proskurina plant shows (including remote access 2004 and 2007's the best of times). During DVD and TV exposure soon enough, the gritty magic of Oleg Lukichev'sfollow camera should be enjoyed on the big screen.

Cooperation with decades younger writer Dmitry Sobolev, created Proskurina a tale, the conventional synopsis as defies so little in the way of hard information on the Viewer is given. We follow a callow Lout in his early 20's, to travel Egor Matveev (Ivan Dobronravov), a truck driver to a place, which is quite literally in the middle of nowhere, but that may well be assigned to his own hometown.

On the way, Egor has a number of encounters, mishaps and misadventures, various friends, among them the bearish, boozy Genka (Sergey Shnurov) and drifting towards a passionate romantic entanglement with a young actress (Nadezhda Tolubeyeva).

Gradually learn we that this is under-populated, seemingly lawless area remarkably for a-running, senseless violent conflict between factory workers and miners long, however, that today, a Saturday, is as a kind of truce known (hence the title).

Egor continues on his never quite specified search, his path crosses, the belligerent military, police and Diebe--each of you as ruchlosen-- and is found to be repeatedly drawn up in situations of tension and brutality. He observed the most harrowing sequence in the film, torturing casually hapless suspect / witness of overthrow enjoying policeman his feet in boiling water.

Procedure presented by a nightmare, with the unstoppable pretzel logic cease-fire a nihilistic, very Slavic universe of grim, dog eat dog fatalism, sour dough, from inside the Transcendenceas a Egor of dilapidated urban misery in open landscapes of fields and water moves.

He is just a sympathetic protagonist, not, significant as he Gef??hllosigkeit--even Bösartigkeit--occasionally can, and certainly the magnetic charisma of his gruff PAL him Genka is missing. The pugnacious Shnurov, better known comes in Russia as 'Is Shnur', front man of a controversy courting ska-punk outfit, rather like Russell Crowe with a heavy vodka hangover. It offers also the film with his similarly moody score.

This type of wistful weirdness can, of course, easily in the hand, but Proskurina's confident handling of the material shall ensure that the unpredictable procedure Stimulatingrather as confusing. Cameraman Lukichev finds beauty in misery and craft elegant without frills compositions from both inside and outside, consistently, while editor Sergei Ivanov has a rain rhythm during the course of a film, the much incident in his 90-odd (Veryodd)-minutes-packs.
Production companies: International film festival Rotterdam (signals), Studio SLON; Mosfilm
Cast: Ivan Dobronravov, Yuriy Istkov, Sergey Shnurov, Nadezhda Tolubeyeva, Alexey Vertkov
Director: Svetlana Proskurina
Screenwriter: Dmitriy Sobolev
Producer: Sabina Eremeeva
Director of photography: Oleg Lukichev
Production designer: Dmitriy Onishchenko
Music: Sergey Shnurov
Publisher: Sergey Ivanov
Sell: Mosfilm, Moscow
No review, 95 minutes