The Student (2016)
★★★★☆
Bringing Christian fundamentalism to the playground, Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Student satirises the conservatism of Russian institutions.
Russia
BFI LFF 2016: The Student (2016)
★★★★☆
Bringing Christian fundamentalism to the playground, Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Student satirises the conservatism of Russian institutions.
Cannes Film Festival: The Student (2016)
★★★★☆
Bringing Christian fundamentalism to the playground, Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Student satirises the conservatism of Russian institutions.
Festival Review: Francofonia (2015)
★★★★☆
An impressionistic portrait of the Louvre Museum under Nazi occupation, Alexander Sokurov’s Francofonia reveals the chequered history of art.
Festival Review: Pioneer Heroes (2015)
★★★☆☆
The portrait of a lost generation, Natalya Kudryashova’s Pioneer Heroes unpicks the disappointment of not living up to those childhood Octoberist dreams.
Festival Review: Under Electric Clouds (2015)
★★★☆☆
A murky wander through Mother Russia past, present and future, Alexey German’s Under Electric Clouds is an ambitious feat of national navel-gazing.
Leviathan (2014)
★★★★☆
As the cold wind of corruption blows through the Siberian steppes, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan sees no hope of redemption. Or maybe just a little.
In The Fog / V Tumane (2012)
★★★★☆
Waiting for God, death and peacetime, Sergei Loznitsa’s In The Fog explores innocence, doubt and guilt transformed by war.
Elena (2011)
★★★☆☆
With its divided society of rich and poor, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Elena pushes its morals aside for a murderous take on modern Russia.
Silent Souls / Ovsyanki (2010)
★★★☆☆
A ritualised mourning for a lost civilisation, Aleksei Fedorchenko’s Silent Souls is a poetic stream of images and ideas.
Khodorkovsky (2011)
★★★☆☆
From oligarch to the Siberian gulag, Cyril Tuschi’s documentary Khodorkovsky shines a light on Russia’s murky politics and its most infamous dissident. Oh, those Russians.