A visually breathtaking film by Alexei Popogrebsky that absolutely will blow your mind with many extraordinary sights of real Artic Circle landscapes as film was really shot on a real meteorological station in the Arctic which besides the visual poetry gives so much realism to the very-slow paced story that becomes sort of a thriller between the two technicians that work at the remote station.
Absolutely not a movie for everyone as for two hours you will watch awesome landscape after landscape, with very little dialogue, absence of sounds, only two characters not really getting along, and tension built more from not really knowing why the younger character is doing what he’s doing. You actually will not really know so will be up to you to deduce motivations when you reach the open ended story finale.
For one third of time film tells about the routine of the two meteorologists, one third about the younger one not telling the older the important news and the last third about what happens after the younger man tells the important news. That’s it very simple yet complex story.
Film was in competition at the 2010 Berlinale were won the Outstanding Artistic Achievement in the Category Camera and both actors, Grigory Dobrygin and Sergei Puskepalis shared the Best Actor Award.
I liked the film and was marveled by the beauty of the Artic circle, but at moments lost interest in the narrative as wasn’t sure what to think about the younger man motives and got not many clues to like or dislike what he was doing. Perhaps a little more info will have allowed me to ‘forget’ about the story and concentrate on watching so many outstanding sights. A must be seen film only to those that appreciate art cinema.
Enjoy!!
Watch trailer @MOC
