Gadkie lebedi

the zone is a reeducation camp which uncages the human spirit, letting it roam free from common mediocrity. this really does appear to me to be a critique of a modern secular society consumed by consumerism and other such unbearable banalities, and also a plea that we escape this existential horror and at least get the chance to experience a divine religious ecstasy that is rendered impossible by our current social existence. still, it is very interesting and some of the visuals are mesmerising.

A great buildup and atmosphere all goes to waste as the mystery is revealed to be something very boring and overdone.

STALKER-ish design with a more conventional but still allusive narrative, repeating elements such as a strange "zone" and a rather disaffected writer, this is SF as a counter-factual investigation of intergenerational relations in a world that systematically fails to provide a life or culture worthy of being adopted, or to cultivate in children the capacity to reinvent them. The film is eerie and disquieting but suffers, perhaps, from a disjunction between artistic and commercial imperatives.

Great cinematography, interesting story, but a bit too slow.

Really atmospheric, gorgeously shot, but obviously trying to emulate a bit of Tarkovsky (choosing a Strugatsky brothers book to adapt is clue #1). The story was super promising up to a point and the final bit kinda disappointed me. It also left some promising threads dangling. But like, it was super gorgeous.

It certainly feels like a sequel/prequel to Stalker and though Lopushansky wears the Tarkovsky influence on his sleeve, his visual style is closer to the lugubrious darkness of Blade Runner. And despite the congeries of hyperintellectual dialogue, this film is by far more accessible than most of Tarkovsky's work. Its thematic focus is somewhere between Brazil and Pink Floyd's The Wall--not at all like the often esoteric proliferation of meaning in Stalker.

What does it mean to be alien?

Stuck it out in hopes it would get better. It did but not by much. Some nice visuals and atmosphere but, overall, boring.

To the credit of the Strugatsky brothers, it seems that the unique tone of their writings has been successfully recreated numerous times on film, which is impossible to say of most writers receiving multiple adaptations. This is a very good film which never over-emphasises aesthetics while retaining and sustaining a sensual depth. One criticism is that the more overtly intellectual pretensions are a muddle of interesting nuggets and nonsense.