Movie Review: Vozvrashcheniye
aka, The Return.
Vozvrashcheniye is to film what Doug Mientkiewicz is to first basemen. A very long name with challenging combinations of vowels and consonants. With defensive skills that will shock and awe you. So from here on out we'll refer to the film in question as The Return. Which is handy, because that's the title we saw while perusing the shelves in the video store, looking for the latest Sane Magazine reviewed film.
There it was, sitting in the foreign section, with a bleak cover and a load of stars across the cover.
A Russian film!
I read the back jacket. Yep, still a Russian film: two boys are taken on a fishing trip to a remote island by a man who appears to be their long lost father who hasn't been home in twelve years. Reminds me of Hemingway's Nick Adams story "Big Two-Hearted River" almost instantly. Only, of course, I'm basing this on the blurb on the back of the DVD, and my fading memory of Hemingway from college. Or perhaps high school. See? That's how faded we're talking.
I paused, thinking about this. What I did remember of "Big Two-Hearted River" was that it centered around fishing. Fishing in a burned-out landscape that was Nick's fragile psyche after the war (you're welcome, high school students hitting this via Google). I'm not the biggest fan of fishing. Unless I'm stranded on a remote Russian island and I don't have anything else to eat but fish, should I catch any. Which, hey! These guys are!
Something in the back of my head kept poking me, though, metaphorically, as I went up to the counter, paid for the night's rental, and took the film home. Niggled there the whole evening until I put the film into the DVD player and settled in to watch the film.
"Russian films, Russian films, where have I heard of those before?" the niggling went.
Rocky III was a Russian film, of course. That's probably it. Lots of snow. Cold, bleak scenery. Actually, a little bit of research turns up the fact that the Rocky with the Russian was Rocky IV. Jeez, there were a hell of a lot of Rockies. I can't, for the life of me, remember how each one is distinct from the other except for maybe the first one and Rocky IV, with all the Cold War stuff and one of the other ones with Mr. T. Mister T. That and the A-Team for Mr. T. And then that big white guy in what I think was the last Rocky film.
Anyway, Rocky IV. Well, that was Russian and that wasn't so bad, was it?
Ah, wait a minute, that's it. Rocky IV isn't really a Russian film. For one, if it was we sure as hell wouldn't have been able to see it back in the heady days of 1985. There was something else about Russian films... what was it?
Ohhh yeah, that's it. You will want to kill yourself after watching a Russian film. Man, I hope that's not a spoiler.
Now, as I can't remember any actual Russian film I might have ever seen, I am assuming this is some sort of deep racial memory that is ingrained in each and every one of us upon birth (if not sooner (sorry, 'buddy)), and is the reason why most Russians I have ever met have apologized right off the bat, before even an "I'm Ivan, nice to meet you."
It has long been rumored that the only color Russians are allowed to film in is a bluish-grey, with the occasional greyish-grey scene, for contrast. Well, in that respect, The Return is a ground-breaking Russian film. Or, alternatively Andrei Zvyagintsev cheekily let's the rest of the world in on the Russian's secret that they've kept hidden all these years: they have colors in Russia! Well, at least one other one than bluish-grey and greyish-grey, anyway. Red. It's only occasional, but you will catch glimpses of the red car the family drives in throughout the film, as well as various other red things, in certain lights.
Unlike "Big Two-Hearted River", this film is about a journey to go fishing. In a car. In "Big Two-Hearted River" Nick gets dropped off by a train, and you never see the slightest glimpse of a car. Or two little boys and their estranged dad. One of the kids wants approval, the other one is the internationally renowned Russian actor with a nearly virtuoso mastery of the pout. He's good. Some day, I'm going to have kids, and I hope to heaven above they don't pout like this kid, because I may just have to show them this film and then offer to take them on a fishing trip in a boat they will tar themselves to prevent it from sinking into the lake or ocean onto which we'll row. Rather, they'll row.
This film, in fact, is an excellent film to show your children when they're whining about not getting another cookie or something along those lines, because you can point at it, maybe even freeze it on a certain frame, and say, "Listen, listen. You keep it up and I'm going to take you fishing, only we won't fish much... no, hold on, that's not the punishment, but then I'm going to wait until it's pissing down... err, wait, don't repeat that, okay? I didn't mean that that way. It's pouring down with rain, and I'm going to leave you off at a bridge and make you fish while I drive off, and then I'll come back. I'll also go behind your back on some island I've taken you to, dig up some buried treasure, and not show you what's in the case." Ehm, if you're not into spoilers, that last example was hypothetical. Extrapolating from the film. And, umm, once you've watched the film it may have deeper resonance with you for whatever reasons. But it's not a spoiler. Because I would have clearly marked a spoiler, if there were one in there.
In my mind, at least, those kids would be pretty damn polite, after that. Of course, I'd probably let them have a cookie, as well, because that all might be a bit harrowing, and you need your strength to get through harrowing times.
If you want to see a film which has won prizes, and don't have any Russian friends who will correct your pronunciation, I highly recommend Vozvrashcheniye. And, again, for any troubles you're having with your children, particularly boys, this film will probably be quite effective.
Summary
disclaimer:
This week's issue, you may have noted, is not continued from last week's. We're working on that one, I promise. All right, maybe promise is a strong word for it. But we really do intend to give you the follow up on that one.
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So now that that's out of the way, we hope you enjoyed this week's film review. At least we didn't review Open Water, which would have run like... well, all right, we will review it: You will hope like hell the two main (and pretty much only) characters get eaten by the sharks by the mid-point of this film. If you're patient. I, personally, was rooting for the sharks three minutes in. There. Two reviews for the price of one, how about that?
Well, we hope you enjoyed both of them, at any rate, and the healthy dose of Rocky reminiscing, and we'll see you again next week. When we may or may not fulfill our promise to you.
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