Review of The Return

I was drawn to this film because of an article about the director's latest film. It was said the Andrei, the director, has made a film that is critical of Russian society and the Putin regime. I am eagerly anticipating the film called Leviathan. It's playing at Cinemapolis near where I live in upstate New York. So, with this in mind I looked up the director's other works and found one film on fandor.com. I watched the film called the Return. It was excellent. It was tight. The cinematography was great. Most of all, perhaps because I'm a screenwriter myself, the story was very well composed. It built up slowly, the tension rising and rising. Throughout the film I kept asking myself if something bad was going to happen. Would a giant shark eat the boys? Was the father going to murder them? I was glued to my computer waiting to find out what would happen.

I won't give the ending away. I'm not going to spoil it for someone who wants to see the film. The film is under two hours and won a bevy of awards back in 2003 which seems like ages ago. The director also made another film Elena which I'd really like to see but couldn't find on the internet.

I liked the performances. The father was such a stern authoritarian. When he returned and took the boys camping I thought something bad would happen. I also kept asking why did the mother let the boys go with a father who had abandonded them 12 years ago? I really felt for the youngest boy, Ivan. He really said what I would have wanted to say if I had been in that position. His character brought intensity and drama to the film.

Several of the shots in the film are very beautiful. Really long, wide angle shots of the Russian coastline. It must taken a lot of effort to take those shots. I was wondering how they got a camera up to the top of the lookout structures or made it feel like they were on the lookout. It was mesmerizing. Like painting with a camera.

Great film. Looking forward to Leviathan.