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elizgg
IMDb member since July 2007
Reviews
Koktebel (2003)
Very fine film, visually and emotionally powerful
19 July 2007 - 2 out of 2 users found this review helpful.
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.
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