"Ayka" is a co-production between no less than 6 countries that premiered back in 2018 already, but took until now to make it to cinemas here in Germany, which is a bit surprising because Germany is one of these countries. Not the defining one though because this is almost completely in the Russian language. Director os these 100 minutes is Sergei Dvortsevoy, a bit of a late bloomer as he is not too far from the age of 60 anymore and this is only his second full feature film after a bunch of short movies. He is also the co-writer and he received a great deal of awards recognition for his effort here. Same can be said about lead actress Samal Yeslyamova, who also appeared in Dvortsevoy's previous work a decade ago and these two films are actually her only acting credits. Anyway for this one here, she won a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, one of the most prestigious acting awards of the year without a doubt and this award also made me curious about her portrayal. And while I think she gave a good performance and she basically is the movie, I am not sure I would agree with this win. It is an incredibly baity character honestly, who has to go through so much pain and siffering from beginning to end that it is utter awards material honestly, also during these scenes when we see she is a fighter, not one who only reacts to circumstances, but one who also acts for example when she communicates with the woman who took her job (according to her). So yes the title is pretty simple here: the name of the protagonist that is and it is also a really simple premise in this movie, maybe you could say a simple movie, even if the solution to Ayka's problems is everything but simple, rather impossible. This is the story of a woman who tries to survive and we see her in every scene of the movie. Just like we do with Leonardo Di Caprio in The Revenant or with the protagonist in "Son of Saul". These films take place centuries/decades back in the past, but I could see some parallels, even if Ayka's struggles are different in detail compared to these two men. And with her being a woman. I guess her woman-related struggles (no need to go any further into detail here, you know what I mean even without watching the movie) probably made it even more baity for awards bodies as there is always a question of dignity involved with that. Or like I said earlier sometimes you see what a tough broad she is and one example would be when she rejects a man who is interested to her. Near the end we find out she got pregnant because of a rape incident. If that is true or if she is lying to her hunters, we will never know.
I think as a whole, this was a good film. Many parallels and metaphors included in here, some felt good and appropriate, others a bit clumsy. For example the parallel between the mother dog and her many children and Ayka and her own child that she is taking care of these dogs getting milk, but abandoned her own kid is one I found fairly interesting. There's many more no need to mention them in detail. There is a crime aspect in here as Ayka borrowed some money from dangerous criminals that you really don't want to mess with, but it is never a crime movie. It is a story of desperation and survival and a truly depressing movie that shows us how imminent danger is not necessary, not even in our modern world for people to fight for survival each and every single day. The scenes when we see how hungry she is were especially sad. Or how she is willing to work, early on with these chicken, but gets tricked (along with other workers) by her employer. I also want to say a few words about the ending. With all the terrible that has been going on, it was kinda remarkable that this was the first time we saw Ayka cry. It is safe to say the presence of her child got her all emotional there and how she was scared of losing it (to death or these crooks). Of course there would not be a happy ending, not a solution, this would be highly unrealistic. Maybe they kill her and take the child. Maybe she actually finds a way to get away. It would have been nice for her to get lucky for once, especially after that daring movie to escape with her baby. We will never know. But we don't need to, we can imagine on our own what happens next. Also there was a brief moment of harmony as we see her united with her baby and the latter is drinking the milk, good for the baby, good for Ayka too to avoid the illness mentioned earlier. But no surprise after all that happened before, Dvortsevoy won't let us get out of this film on a high note as the worries and aforementioned crying are oh so dominant again. This is not a film that will put a smile on your lips whatsoever, heavy stuff at times, rarely mediocre, sometimes very good, but most of the time a decent movie. It is absolutely not a film for everyone, but if you manage to get dragged in (maybe with the depiction of weather a better and more atmospheric watch in winder), then you are in for something well done. After seeing how good this was, I really hope Dvortsevoy and Yeslamova will be a mit more prolific in the future in terms of their upcoming movie projects. We will see. Until then, go check this one out, but not really if you are already in a depressed state beforehand. Oh well, even then the film could show you that other people are off way worse than you, so I don't know. I thought it was good, so yeah don't miss out, no matter if inside your local theater or on a small television/laptop screen.
I think as a whole, this was a good film. Many parallels and metaphors included in here, some felt good and appropriate, others a bit clumsy. For example the parallel between the mother dog and her many children and Ayka and her own child that she is taking care of these dogs getting milk, but abandoned her own kid is one I found fairly interesting. There's many more no need to mention them in detail. There is a crime aspect in here as Ayka borrowed some money from dangerous criminals that you really don't want to mess with, but it is never a crime movie. It is a story of desperation and survival and a truly depressing movie that shows us how imminent danger is not necessary, not even in our modern world for people to fight for survival each and every single day. The scenes when we see how hungry she is were especially sad. Or how she is willing to work, early on with these chicken, but gets tricked (along with other workers) by her employer. I also want to say a few words about the ending. With all the terrible that has been going on, it was kinda remarkable that this was the first time we saw Ayka cry. It is safe to say the presence of her child got her all emotional there and how she was scared of losing it (to death or these crooks). Of course there would not be a happy ending, not a solution, this would be highly unrealistic. Maybe they kill her and take the child. Maybe she actually finds a way to get away. It would have been nice for her to get lucky for once, especially after that daring movie to escape with her baby. We will never know. But we don't need to, we can imagine on our own what happens next. Also there was a brief moment of harmony as we see her united with her baby and the latter is drinking the milk, good for the baby, good for Ayka too to avoid the illness mentioned earlier. But no surprise after all that happened before, Dvortsevoy won't let us get out of this film on a high note as the worries and aforementioned crying are oh so dominant again. This is not a film that will put a smile on your lips whatsoever, heavy stuff at times, rarely mediocre, sometimes very good, but most of the time a decent movie. It is absolutely not a film for everyone, but if you manage to get dragged in (maybe with the depiction of weather a better and more atmospheric watch in winder), then you are in for something well done. After seeing how good this was, I really hope Dvortsevoy and Yeslamova will be a mit more prolific in the future in terms of their upcoming movie projects. We will see. Until then, go check this one out, but not really if you are already in a depressed state beforehand. Oh well, even then the film could show you that other people are off way worse than you, so I don't know. I thought it was good, so yeah don't miss out, no matter if inside your local theater or on a small television/laptop screen.