Elena

A few fascinating moments, swallowed up by a lot of meaningless and ineffective creative decisions.

Lower-class ennui is sharply examined by Zvyagintsev, his indifference however towards their greed filled hearts and favorable outlook felt like witnessing a crime going unpunished. Somewhere in between those two poles, the movie lost me; Then again, he never really does it for me. To give you an idea, the film opens with a 60 second shot of a bird atop a tree branch. That's right, 1440 frames are wasted on a fucking branch.

08 Ekim 2011, filmekimi & Elena hakkinda sayfalarca yazabilirim. Kapital duzen hakknda oldukca saglam bir hikaye.Ustune dusunulup, tartisilmayi hakediyor. Film, bir gun isiklarin kesilecegi, gecmisteki curumuslugumuzun vicdanimza dokunacagi ve kaskati kalacagimz gunlerin habercisi. Elena'daki en masum sayilabilecek karakter, bir cumlesiyle butun durumu ozetliyordu:'insanin para icin yapamayacagi sey yoktur.'

Aile kurumunun saçmalığına getirdiği mükemmel eleştirileri, teatral seviyede kusursuza yakın diyalogları ezip geçen kötü bir anlama daha sahip malesef. O da Sosyal Darwinizm'e yakınlığı. Filmde kötü gösterilmeyen tek karakter burjuva adam, şeytanlaştırılan ise kadının fakir oğlu. Yoksulluğu temsil eden oğul (sebep tembellik), devletten sosyal yardım bekliyor... Belki bilmeden yapıldı ama üzgünüm.

Zvyagintsev is a consistently remarkable director, who never fails to deliver good bleak dramas, but Elena is his best film to date thanks to its particularly controlled exposition (which keeps the viewer involved in the plot and entices her to dwell on the psychologies), its unsettling moral complexity, and a deceptively charismatic performance by Nadezhda Markina.

I am not entierly sure of where I have this movie. I loved everything until she decided to murder her husband; then it turned into something different. at first I gorged on every scene, sucked it all in and thoroughly enjoyed the spot on acting, the great use of soundtrack and the modern but not overdone camera work. second part was more of a get-through-experience, though.

Exquisite visual style imbues this thriller with frustration, dread, and a set of questions that linger long after its conclusion. Zvyagintsev seems to have a knack for composition, tracking shots, and editing to a certain rhythm, as the film quietly and formally gains momentum during its run time. Also, the director is once again drawn to material dealing with family strife, though this time the family shares the space with a hard and incisive look at social class in the new Russia.

It's very interesting and all, and it's something that's stuck in my head for a number of days. But it does feel like a film-as-essay, making something of a pointed message. Although it only hints at approaching the more predictable areas, it feels like some of the picturesque long shots of furniture would've better spent on expanding on this skeletal interactions between characters (particularly the awesomely cynical daughter). A very pretty, yet engineered production, like Leviathan.

A fine acting, directing and storytelling. A story about the sacrifices a mum/woman can do. Tells also a good picture of modern Russian lifestyle. How divided it is in today's Russia. Opens easier for people who knows more about it.

it is a russian story. it is the first political film of zvyagintsev. i like it. minimal, non-provocative but intense

Great acting throughout but I felt that the story, while based on a strong premise, didn't manage to go anywhere satisfying enough. It felt like the film could have been longer to tie up some loose ends.

[Partial}

Fairly good exploration of inequality and carelessness. Filmed in a kind of classy version of orange-and-teal. Not sure that Philip Glass really works outside Reggio and Morris.

Insincere, forced. Andrey Zvyagintsev reminds me very much of Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

A lovely film, opens slowly and with a deliberate measure that doesn't let up for the whole film. Phillip Glass' sparse use of sound compliments the mood. There aren't any rushed moments to force issues or the omnipotent moralising that becomes the scourge of many Hollywood efforts. This is just life. A sublime story gradually unfolding.

tight-lipped, defiantly sticky dissection of a country at a crossroads.

Who needs a convoluted plot when the characters are so believable and the direction is so sharp?

Sehir hayatinda muhit ve gorgu farkinin, erdemlilik, tanri inanci, durustluk gibi mefhumlarla birlikte kurgulandigi film. Bireyin ahlaki tutumunun (erdem, vefa, adalet v.s.) dindarliktan öte daha oncul ve sahici olmasi gerektigi, bu farkindaligin egitimli ve egitimsiz insan modellemesiyle beraber sehrin semtlere gore tabakalastirilmasi (kavgalasan - futbol oynayan gencler, camdan dısari tukuren baba-ogul, sakin muhit - fabrikalarin kenarindaki muhit) anlitimina sahip guzel film.

No Zviaginstsev in this.

I really liked it. One good aspect is that, playing the role of the smart, problematical, cynical child is given to a girl, not to a boy as usually done. It is also evident that it does not resort to conventional plot tricks that it hints and it avoids easy moral lessons. The message, or meaning let's say, is more explicit or clearer than former films and I think that is another plus side.

Snyggt foto, intressanta miljöer och goda skådespelarinsatser. Men ett tunt manuskript med drag av cynism. Den väldigt rätlinjiga och långsamma historien är högst förutsägbar och ger mig inga nya insikter eller någonting att tänka på. Jag hade vissa bekymmer att hålla mig vaken i biosalongen.

Basically the same sort of overly polished, clinical Euro arthouse miserablism as Zvyagintsev's other films, but it might be my favorite of his by a slight margin, if mostly just because it doesn't have quite so much self-important, heavy-handed symbolism, and also because of how odd and oddly inscrutable, perhaps even slightly troubling i found the film and Zvyagintsev's hard-to-read take on his characters (it struck me as possibly a deeply conservative film but i can't be too sure).

Wonderful cameraworks for such a bleak portrayal of Russian society. There are extremely interesting topics in it: family, wealth inequality, unpaid domestic labor vs paid labor. But Zvyagintsev is too pessimistic for me.