Monday, November 26, 2012
TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN
Not a great place to be. But it looks good.
Today's movie is the NYTimes Critics' Pick film by Andrei Zvyagintsev
It is the law of the jungle. Rich, poor. Well to ne'er do well.
A slow motion thriller. Hitchcockian in a way although there is no doubt who is doing it.
The wife of a plutocrat, of lower class, discovers that the husband is going to change his will giving most of his money to his dissolute but amusing daughter.
The wife has priorities of her own. A dissolute and not so amusing son who needs money to get his son out of compulsory military duty and into college. To say nothing of finding another way to be a sponger.
None of this is on the surface.
Modern Russia looks a lot like a western city. But below the surface it is Mother Russia to the core.
This is a beautiful film, belying the ugliness underneath.
Nadezhda Markina in the title role is a force of nature. There is a lot of nature in the film. Mostly serene and carefully filmed. Slow and methodical. Until it isn't.
This is a quiet thriller.
I liked it a lot. I would not mind seeing it again. That makes it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
