This film is slow, but slow like Herzog: each scene is visually fascinating and punctuated by a sense of dread that leads to real narrative suspense. I could not keep my eyes off the screen. The sense of reality in the rural Russian small towns is matched by a fresh magic realism that seems plausible while at the same time, as it should be, magical. Figures appear as if from fairy tales: a good witch, an ogre who turns out to be a benevolent troll. The film also captures the perspective of a child who insists on promises kept regardless of their impossibility and who takes refuge in self-created ritual. I will watch this many times.
