Roads to koktebel

Roads to Koktebel is the story of a father and his son travelling from Moscow to Koktebel, Crimea. The characters develop in a way that made me think of The Return (Vozvrashcheniye) by Andrei Zvyagintsev. Not only are both films about father-son relationships, both directors lend their characters an air of mystery. They are enigmatic, but not boring. Drab landscapes play a major part in the film. The characters can be said to form another aspect of the drabness. They are obviously longing for something else, but it is unclear exactly why the father sees Koktebel as a magical resort. Dialogue was very sparse, and the focus of the pictures was also peculiar at times - with a stunning, meditative result.

Hints of sentimentality bothered me a little. Films that over-employ a particular metaphor - in this film it was flying - usually feel a little bit contrived. The use of too much metaphor gives me the impression that the director wants us to understand her film metaphorically, and, in my opinion, this tends to make the film less sensitive to particular human beings, particular mileaus, particular atmospheres. But this is only a side remark in this case. Encounters between the protagonists and other characters were usually subtly presented. Even the robustness of some of the characters was described interestingly, with a twist. The son escapes from his father who has settled down for the winter. He runs into a bear-like truck driver. The truck driver lifts the kid on his shoulders and hollers "MEAT!!" and then he kindly drives the boy to his destination. "Soooo keeewwt", as the youtube commentator would have it.

If you are interested in contemporary Russian film, The Russian ark by Aleksandr Sokurov is a must. Beautiful, dream-like and overwhelming. The film is famous for it's being filmed in one take, but I can assure you that this is not the only reason to watch it. While historical movies do not usually belong to my gebiet (dull costumes, stiff dialogue), this one is something different. Due to its dynamic camerawork, I experienced the entire movie as a dance. Regrettably, I haven't seen any other film of his.