ELENA

“Elena” is the third and most recent film from Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev who absolutely blew me away with his debut film “The Return”.  His latest has just seen a cinema release in Australia and I rushed to see it hoping to be as thrilled by it as I was “The Return”.  Similar to “The Return” I guess you could classify “Elena” as a domestic thriller where Zvyagintsev uses the genre to look within family dynamics in present day Russia, as well as the significant gap between the haves and the have not’s.   

  

Elena is a middle aged woman who is married to a wealthy older man, Vladimir.  It is the second try at marriage for both these people and they seem to be doing a fair job of it, being married for almost ten years already.  The two met when Vladimir had to go to hospital back then and the nurse looking after him was none other than Elena, the rest, they say, is history.  While from the outside the marriage certainly looks happy, it is soon apparent that all is not what it seems, as Elena looks more like one of the hired help where her daily routine is filled with domestic chores rather than a woman this man loves and adores.  The two even sleep in separate rooms, although sexual relations between the two does exist from time to time, thanks to the help of Viagra.  While there doesn’t appear to be a huge amount of love between the two, there certainly is respect and the two of them get along very well together, but they seem more like friends than lovers.  The only bone of contention between the two is the fact that Vladimir hates being expected to look after Elena’s family just because he is wealthy.  Elena has a deadbeat son named Sergey who in turn has a deadbeat son of his own named Sasha who is more content with sitting on the couch playing video games than looking for a job to provide for himself.  His grades are so poor that unless certain college officials are bribed, Sasha will be heading straight towards a forced stint with the military.  Sergey himself cannot afford the bribes and as such he leans on his mother to ask Vladimir to pay.  Vladimir is disgusted with this and exclaims that a military upbringing is exactly what the hapless Sasha needs to learn some discipline and responsibility.  Although Elena does not disagree completely with this, it frustrates her that Vladimir will not help Sasha but will do anything for his own daughter, who is very much like Sasha herself, has no responsibility and does anything if it means a good time whatever the cost.  One day during his regular visit to the gym, Vladimir has a heart attack.  He survives the attack but after it he realizes that he needs to draft a will to ensure his daughter’s wellbeing if something were to happen to him in the future.  When Vladimir explains to Elena that he is leaving the majority of his fortune to his daughter, their relationship becomes immediately frosty as Elena understands that her own family will be left to fend for themselves.  Blinded by anger and the love for her own family, Elena will set into motion a series of events that will change everyone’s lives in the very near future.

Very similar to “The Return”, Zvyagintsev’s “Elena” is an immaculate piece of cinema, it is so well put together.  Just from these two films it is obvious that Zvyagintsev knows how to build suspense and to keep the suspense throughout the film.  In my review of “The Return” I mentioned how I thought Zvyagintsev had been influenced by Alfred Hitchcock, and again in “Elena” I felt the presence of the master once more.  Not only in the building of suspense but a whole scene felt like it had been lifted from Hitchcock’s masterpiece “Pyscho”.  In regards to the suspense, Hitchcock knew that the suspense leading up to a moment was more important than the moment itself, and Zvyagintsev seems to have learnt this too.  Throughout the whole film he creates this level of suspense that actually had me mesmerized while viewing it, I was just in there, going along with the film watching in disbelief.

On a genre level, “Elena” works as a nice little thriller, but at the same time Zvyagintsev appears to be making a number of statements about Russia today and in that regard he comes across as a little angry.  First and foremost is the obvious and enormous gap between the haves and have-not’s in today’s Russia.  At the beginning of the film, the camera slowly goes through Vladimir’s house, with its large rooms that appear to be fairly empty filled with a minimum of designer furniture.  Later when we visit Elena’s son’s apartment it is a shock to see just how small it is with the whole place no bigger than one of the rooms in Vladimir’s house.  What is interesting to note is how comfortable Elena appears to be at her son’s house, seeing as she has come from this area, while she still appears quite foreign in her own home.  What appears to be certain is that Zvyagintsev has a large amount of disdain for the younger generation of today’s Russia, as they are all represented as lazy and lacking in responsibility.  They all expect others to look after them and get them out of their own troubles, with no one willing to actually work to improve their own situation, everyone is looking for a handout.  Other subjects Zvyagintsev tackles are the conditions that the poorer members of the community have to face such as ridiculously high education costs, regular power outages in an attempt to save power, and an increase in gang warfare.  The latter of these is tackled near the end of the film during a black out, where Sasha goes downstairs with his friends and basically attacks another gang.  Personally I felt this moment to be out of place with the rest of the film and just didn’t work for me, it almost appeared to come from an altogether different film.  Even visually this scene is different from the rest of “Elena” as the normal controlled camera work suddenly becomes handheld and shaky as it follows the men as they initiate the fight.

Speaking of the visuals, once again “Elena” looks sensational.  Zvyagintsev has his regular cinematographer Mikhail Krichman perform the duties again and his work here is gorgeous.  During his review for “Elena”, David Stratton mentioned the symmetry of the shots and how impressed he was by it, and he is so right, the shots have been put together with so much thought in regards to the symmetry and it looks amazing.  Both Zvyagintsev and Krichman have a brilliant eye in regards to colour too and I especially loved the light greens and blues in Vladimir’s house.  I must admit that I am shocked by the fact that Mikhail Krichman is not more well known because his work is just stellar, and I hope that he lenses more films outside of the ones that Zvyagintsev makes, although I hope they continue to stay together as they make a great team.  Another thing I loved about “Elena” was Philip Glass’s amazing score.  I know very little about music, but to me the score seemed very simple with it being just one reoccurring theme, but the way Zvyagintsev uses the music and the times he uses it just adds to the building suspense.  It really is a beautiful piece of music because it starts quietly and then gets louder only to become quieter again and once again louder.  I know that doesn’t explain it too well but you will understand what I mean when you hear it, and if you watch the trailer for “Elena” Philip Glass’s music is featured prominently throughout.

Something Andrei Zvyagintsev appears to be a master of is eliciting brilliant performances from his cast, and he does it again here with “Elena”, with everyone giving amazingly nuanced performances.  Both Nadezhda Markina and Andrey Smirnov, who play Elena and Vladimir respectively, have been receiving the majority of the acting plaudits and they are much deserved because both are thoroughly spectacular in their roles but I want to highlight the performance of Elena Lyadova who has the brief role of Vladimir’s daughter Katerina.  Again, like in “The Return”, I have been blown away by a minor female performance.  Lyadova is only in a couple of scenes but she steals every one.  The scene when she visits her father is just outstanding as she starts the scene so angry and dismissive of her dad, but by the end of the scene she has warmed up as the two reconcilliate.  Watching her go from dark to light is just a joy.  In fact, Andrei Zvyagintsev was so impressed by the performance of Elena Lyadova himself that he has mentioned he regrets the fact that her role was so small.  Hopefully this means that the two of them will work together again in the future.

Overall, while I was not blown away by “Elena” like I was “The Return”, I still think that it is a very good film.  Visually the film is something to behold, and none of the actors put a foot wrong in their roles, it is just I didn’t feel the ending was as powerful as I was hoping it to be. The suspense is palpable throughout, and I found myself mesmerized during parts of it, but I just found the pay off was a little lacking. While I like that Zvyagintsev is tackling issues that are important in today’s Russia, I also felt that these were forced into the story and weren’t integrated organically, and thus didn’t work as well as they should have.  After just viewing two films from him, it is obvious to me that Andrei Zvyagintsev is a major talent in the world of cinema and he has quickly become one of my favourites, and as such I recommend “Elena” even though it didn’t reach the lofty heights of his debut feature “The Return”.

3.5 Stars. 

 

THE RETURN

“The Return” (Vozvrashchenie), Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev’s emotion packed coming of age tale, may go down as one of the greatest directorial debuts ever.  It is rare to see a first time director have such an incredible handle on his craft, but Zvyagintsev has created an almost perfect film here, it is such an achievement.  The brilliance is in its simplicity.  

Two young brothers come home one day to find that their father, who had been previously absent from their lives for the past twelve years, has returned.  You can immediately feel the tension in the house, and soon enough the father announces that he is taking the two boys on a two day fishing trip.  During the trip the boys, Andrey and Ivan, are victim to their father’s aggressive style of parenting.  Being used to the caring and protective nature of their mother, this physical and emotional abuse aimed at them, comes as a huge shock to them both.  While the way he treats his sons may appear rough, which it certainly is, the father does it with the best of intentions.  He is trying to strengthen the boys and get them prepared for their future.  Sadly his absence has seemed to keep him out of touch with how to bring up a child, and he seems to be stuck using an outdated technique.  The journey ultimately takes the family to a deserted island where an incident occurs that will change them all for the rest of their lives.

This is such a brilliant film and it is hard to find many faults with it at all.  The whole thing has been impeccably acted by everyone involved.  The two boys particularly give fantastic and nuanced performances that are so different from the other due to the way each boy reacts to their father’s return.  Andrey, played by Vladimir Garin, is the eldest of the two brothers and he seems to have a real need in his life for a father figure and as such is always looking up to his father even when the things he is doing are not very nice.  You can tell he just wants to be loved by this man, and as such will do anything he says.  Meanwhile Ivan, played by Ivan Dobronravov, resists his father and his returning into their lives.  He is always angry, probably due to not understanding why his father left in the first place, and regularly refuses to do anything his father asks.  This results in him suffering the brunt of the abuse as his father tries to teach him the hard lessons in life.  What is interesting about the relationship between the brothers is that once the father re-enters the scene it basically flips.  The opening scene of the film has the two boys standing on top of a tower overlooking the ocean.  Ivan is terrified of heights and doesn’t think he can make the jump into the water below while his older brother has no problem explaining that if he doesn’t follow, he will be taunted a “chicken”, which is what ultimately happens.  From here we can tell that Andrey is the stronger and more dominant of the two, yet when it comes to their father the opposite is true, it is Ivan who makes a stand against him, while Andrey remains passive and continues to take the abuse.

Konstantin Lavronenko is amazing as the tough as nails father.  You can see through his performance just how much he wants to connect with and teach his boys but he just does not know how to do it, and thus goes about it the wrong way.  For much of the film he is a character that is very shut off from the rest of the world, nothing gets in, but there is a beautiful moment near the end of the film when he drops his defences and attempts to show how much his kids mean to him when he realizes he may have pushed Ivan too far.  Suddenly a man that you felt no warmth for and from, out of nowhere comes an incredible compassion which makes the following scenes all the more heartbreaking.  What I love about “The Return” is that it is so ambiguous with a lot of its details, with the majority of these regarding the father.  Nothing is over-explained, but hints are given for the viewer to make up their own mind or to fill in their own back story.  For example, it is never explained where the father has been for the past twelve years, yet there is enough in the film for you to come up with your own theories.  During the film he mentions he doesn’t want to eat fish because he has eaten so much of it in the past.  That could indicate he was away with a Navy division, which would also explain the way he treats his children too, more as soldiers than kids.  There are other theories that could see the father as a criminal who has spent the absent time in jail, whatever is the real reason it is important to note that it doesn’t matter where he was previous, all that matters is how the people react to him now that he is back, and how his return changes their lives.  Another example is the chest that the father digs up on the island, yet we are never privy to what is inside.  The director has stated that the box is a symbol of the father’s love and his past, and again it doesn’t really matter what exactly is in the box.  Something interesting to note is the fact that the father is never given a name in the film, which is symbolic to the fact that the boys do not know him at all, to them he could be a stranger.  Anyway in regards to Lavronenko’s performance, it is very brave because he plays a man who comes across as very unlikable and almost receives no pathos at all.  However he is so incredibly charismatic on the screen that you just cannot take your eyes off of him, he holds so much power and yet there is this sadness behind his eyes.

The other performance I really want to mention is that of Natalya Vdovina who plays the boy’s mother.  She has such a minor part, being in three or four scenes, but her presence resonates throughout the whole film.  By one scene you understand the kind of loving and nurturing parent that she is.  It is the scene at the tower in the beginning when Ivan has been left by his friends and his brother, crying and petrified, unable to move until his mother finds him and is able to coax him down.  She embraces the boy and just protects him, you can tell she is a great mother.  Other than this scene, I believe she has almost no dialogue but just from her body language and facial gestures and the look behind her eyes, she emotes so much.  It is easy to see that she is not happy with her husband’s arrival and all is not well between the two, but you can also see that he dominates her and now that he is back it will always be his way.  Like I said Vdovina is sensational and is able to make a real character out of the mother in just a few short scenes.

Where “The Return” impressed me the most was in its direction and its visual style.  This did not look like the work of a first time director at all.  You can tell that Zvyagintsev just gets it, he understands cinema and what makes it work.  The composition of his shots are something to behold, and his choices are masterful.  Although their works bear little resemblance, I couldn’t  help but think that Zvyagintsev had to be a fan of Alfred Hitchcock.  Hitchcock was a master at knowing exactly where to place the camera to get the best out of the story and I believe the same to be true for Zvyagintsev.  I was particularly reminded of “Vertigo” throughout the story and probably most obviously during the tower scenes in the film.  One shot that really stood out for me was an overhead shot in the opening scene with Ivan on the tower, just showing the audience what exactly he had to be afraid of.  I do not think that this shot would’ve been the easiest to pull off, but it adds so much to the film by its inclusion.  It is obvious that Zvyagintsev and his cinematographer, Mikhail Krichman, are on the same page because there is an appearance of effortlessness to the way the film looks, yet it would have been a hard film to shot.   Another thing you feel that Zvyagintsev is confident with is time.  “The Return” has a very controlled pace, some would say slow, but Zvyagintsev never rushes a moment, he lets it play out to its fullest to achieve the most out of it.  Some viewers may be put off by this style of filmmaking, but I love it, and it is one of those strange things where I find slow paced films seem to move quicker for me.  I know that sounds contradictory but what I mean is that I get so mesmerized and caught up in the film that I never feel its running time and before I know it, it is over.

Overall, “The Return” is a stunning achievement, and one of the greatest directorial debuts I have ever seen.  I said before that it was almost perfect and I stand by that with the only fault I could find being the fact that Ivan sometimes was a bit too bratty for me, there were times I just wanted him to shut the hell up.  This is a coming of age tale like no other, there are times where it works as a psychological drama, and due to the events of the final thirty minutes resonates long after the film has past, as it suddenly comes more into focus just what the whole film is about.  Sadly there is a tragedy associated with “The Return” as the young actor who played Andrey, Vladimir Garin, tragically died soon after shooting, drowning almost in the same spot where the first scene of the film takes place.  Garin died well before the film’s release so he was never able to see the masterpiece he had been a huge part in making.  “The Return” is such a brilliant film and it is easy to recommend, but know going in that the pace will be slow and you will not be treated to answers to all the questions posed in the film, if you are fine with this I am sure you will get out of it what I have.

4.5 Stars.

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

The second of dueling “Snow White” adaptations that have hit the cinema screens this year, “Snow White and the Huntsman” has been getting quite negative reviews.  When the two films were originally announced, I was immediately more interested in Tarsem’s version “Mirror Mirror”, but by the time both films had trailers released it appeared that “Mirror Mirror” was destined to be an absolute train wreck, while “Snow White and the Huntsman” looked the more interesting of the two.  One thing was certain, the two films looked decidedly different, with “Mirror Mirror” taking a comedic approach with the material, while “Snow White and the Huntsman” appeared to be more action orientated.  History shows that “Mirror Mirror” didn’t turn out to be the disaster it looked to be, so how did “Snow White and the Huntsman” fare?

I think most people know the story of “Snow White” pretty well by now, but here is a brief rundown of this version.  Daughter of the former King, Snow White was orphaned at an early age and left in the care of her wicked step mother (and now Queen) Ravenna, who keeps her locked in a room at the top of a tower located in the castle, a prisoner in the place she once called home.  Ravenna rules the land with an iron fist, wasting all the natural resources around her and destroying anything of beauty, as she takes pride in knowing that she is the most beautiful and fairest of them all.  Anything that may challenge this she destroys, as the Queen is all powerful and forever young.  She achieves this feat by draining the lifeforce of her younger victims and stealing their youth.  One day whilst in conversation with her magic mirror, Ravenna is made aware to the fact that a certain person has come of age that could not only challenge her title of beauty but may also be able to destroy her forever, the person in question is none other than her imprisoned step daughter Snow White.  The mirror continues explaining that if she was able to kill Snow White and devour her heart, she will become immortal.  Upon hearing this news, the Queen immediately summons her brother, Finn, to fetch Snow White.  Realizing something is amiss, Snow White uses this opportunity to escape the castle, running straight into the dangers of the dark forest for protection.  Knowing her powers do not extend into the forest, the Queen sets about hiring a local drunkard to hunt the young girl down and to bring back her heart.  She ends up convincing a young widower to take up the job by promising him to return his deceased wife to life once he succeeds in his task.  After finding out the true identity of Snow White, The Huntsman decides to go against the Queen’s wishes and instead sets about protecting her.  Witnessing first hand the purity and kindness Snow White possesses, both The Huntsman and the dwarves (with whom the duo met up and befriended on their journey) understand that this young girl has the ability to unite the broken kingdom and to raise its armies in an attempt to fight and defeat the Queen, and to reclaim the land that once flourished and was full of happiness back when her father was in power.

As I mentioned earlier, “Snow White and the Huntsman” has been getting rather poor reviews and in this case I believe they are unwarranted as I found this film to be a very entertaining romp.  I am not sure if it is to do with the casting of Kristen Stewart and her association with the “Twilight” franchise that so many critics felt the need to knock this film, but whatever the reasons I do not feel they are justified here.  Sure the film is not perfect and it actually has a number of flaws, but for the most part it is actually pretty great.  In fact Kristen Stewart is a large part of why this film works so well, she is a fantastic Snow White.  I mentioned in my “Mirror Mirror” review how much I adored Lily Collins as Snow White, I thought she was perfect in that film, but the two characters while the same are completely different.  It is no secret that I am not a fan of the “Twilight” series and I think that Stewart’s performances as Bella in these films are incredibly bland and extremely boring.  She never smiles in them and just comes across very flat.  Her portrayal of Snow White is the complete opposite of Bella, she is so charismatic and she comes across as an utterly charming creature.  She appears so innocent and Stewart looks like she is enjoying herself here.  Even at the end when she is charging into battle on horseback made up in chainmail looking like Joan Of Arc, she is utterly delightful.  I must admit that I loved the slow motion shots of her riding on the horse.  The only off note in her performance was during her big speech that inspires the soldiers into battle, I just did not believe this moment at all as I felt she did not carry the right amount of weight in this scene.  The only thing I would have liked from a visual standpoint was to make Snow White’s skin paler, her hair blacker and to really make her lips a blood red.  I suppose this is a cliché, and may not have fit with the seriousness of this adaptation but I missed these elements. 

Chris Hemsworth also impresses greatly in the role of the Huntsman.  He delivers his lines in a thick Scottish accent that to my ear sounded perfect, never once did I hear him drop into his Australian accent.  Like Stewart, Hemsworth also displays an incredible amount of charisma here.  Although his character is a bit of a loser, it is easy to care for him and feel his pain.  In fact Hemsworth does a great job of depicting a man finding himself and learning to live again.  At the beginning of the film, as I mentioned he is a drunk and after the loss of his wife cannot see the good in life anymore, but by meeting Snow White and seeing her innocence and love of the world, it sparks something in him, and he starts to head down a path where he is more of a participant in the world again.  There is something in Snow that also reminds him of his wife’s beauty and by the end of the film we can see that the Huntsman is a changed man.  Throughout the film, Hemsworth does a great job at displaying these subtle emotional changes in his character.  As “Thor” showed us, Hemsworth is quite adept in the action department and he also stands out in these scenes here, this time brandishing an axe as opposed to a hammer.  I also think that the creators of “Snow White and the Huntsman” deserve some credit in not forcing a romance between the Huntsman and Snow White.  It would seem like an obvious thing to do but it just would not have been the right thing for the film, instead their relationship built on friendship and respect seems perfect.  There is another male character whom appears destined for a romance between Snow White in the film, but that romance also fizzles. William is one of Snow’s childhood friends who agonizingly had to leave her behind when Ravenna was massacring the kingdom’s army from within.  Assuming Snow had died on that night, he is forever haunted by that memory, however when he finds out that Snow has lived he does anything to get her back.  Unfortunately, I felt the character of William was one character too many in a film that has a lot.  We didn’t ever really get to know much about him and as such I feel this is one of the film’s weak points.

Every fairytale needs a great villain, and “Snow White” has one in the evil Queen Ravenna.  Charlize Theron plays the role of the Queen and visually she is perfect in the role, but sadly her performance is the biggest flaw in “Snow White and the Huntsman”.  She is absolutely terrible, in fact it is one of the worst performances I have ever seen by an Oscar winner.  She is so over the top and lacks any subtlety at all, shouting the majority of her lines.  As I mentioned, visually she is amazing and all of the film’s best images revolve around her, but whenever she was on screen she sucked the life out of the movie.  Seriously, she made me cringe.  The other villainous role, Ravenna’s brother Finn (who is played by Sam Spruell), also suffers due to a ridiculous hairstyle that made me struggle to take him seriously in any scene at all.

You may notice that the dwarves are not a part of the film’s title and frankly that is because their participation to the plot is actually pretty minor.  Director Rupert Sanders made a brave choice by not actually hiring real dwarves in the roles, but rather using an ensemble of great British talent such as Ray Winstone, Nick Frost and Ian McShane (to name a few) and resized them via CGI in post.  Personally I think it works, and they all give fun and amusing performances and there is actually one really great scene when Snow White dances with one of them.  Incidentally there are actually eight dwarves in this version.

Much has been made about how visual the movie is, and while I agree it is very beautiful, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t just shallow shiny images that I was expecting.  The film is quite dirty and grimy in parts which I liked.  Prior to seeing the film I was not aware of the fact that the Australia cinematographer Greig Fraser performed the duties here, but as usual his work was stellar.  There were some amazing shots in this film, like Theron rising from the bath of milk(?), the Queen turning into a flock of ravens, to the shadow army being decimated by the soldiers at the beginning of the film, but the shots I really loved were the simple ones of Kristen Stewart which looked similar to something you would see in a Terrence Malick film, simple but beautiful.

While the film’s marketing has made it look like an all out action film, I was again pleasantly surprised by the large amount of fairytale elements throughout.  I thought the film was going to ditch these elements but thankfully they did not and the scenes set in both the dark and good forests are an absolute highlight.  The moments with the troll and the magical deer were also amazing (although I felt the CGI on the deer needed more work).  In regards to the action scenes while they are well done (with the exception of one ridiculous shot that looked like something out of a video game), I actually felt that they were not the strongest element of the film.

Overall, “Snow White and the Huntsman” was a huge surprise for me due to the fact of how much I enjoyed it.  While the performance of Charlize Theron was terrible, the great performances from both Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth made up for it.  I loved that the film was much more of a fairytale than the “Lord Of The Rings” type adventure I was expecting, and visually the film is an absolute delight.  In the battle of the “Snow White” films, this version comes out on top and it was so entertaining that I recommend it to everyone.

3.5 Stars.