Loveless (B+ or 3/4 stars)
'Loveless' (directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, of Leviathan) is a cold, clinical, depressing but engrossing Russian blend of a domestic drama & police procedural crime drama. It gives us an insider look of Putin's modern-day Russia, but mostly goes to show the loss of love in today's frozen, hollow, self-absorbed society ... no matter where you are. Bored in his job, burly Moscow office worker, Boris (Aleksey Rozin), & his attractive but vain & embittered salon owner wife, Zhenya (Maryana Spivak), have a horrible marriage & are headed for divorce. Each of them has a lover; hers is an older divorced business partner (Andris Keishs), while Boris is involved with a mousy blonde he impregnated named Masha (Marina Vasilyeva).
In the big scene of the film, our failed couple argues bitterly about which of them will have to care for their 12 yr. old son, a burden neither wishes to take-on! As they bellow at each other, a door is pulled shut & the camera finds the child, Alyosha (Matvey Novikov), out-of-view of his parents, standing in the shadows, his face distorted in a silent scream of unloved torment. It's an alarming glimpse of despair & desolation that made me grimace. It may be sad, but it also speaks to the poetic power visual storytelling. Bereft at hearing how much his parents DON'T love him, Alyosha runs away & his uncaring parents don't even notice 'til 2 days later. They call the police & blame each other, while 'volunteers' do the searching for him. Perhaps he went to Zhenya's estranged mother {someone even more miserable than her daughter}, but no luck, there. One wonders if Alyosha will ever be found. And really, we kind of hope he's happier somewhere else.
What's interesting about 'Loveless' is that what happens to young Alyosha is treated like an afterthought. This film is far from pleasant, and yet, I sat in astonished wonder at the apathy on display by every single adult character in the story. Has Putin done this to the people of Russia? Or is this just how the generations are digressing? WHERE is the love? Why is everyone so pre-occupied with themselves? I admire the straightforward direction & stark cinematography; offering up a winter-set, bleak mood that never lets up. The grey color palette captures the country's sadness & symbolically shows how morally bankrupt society has become.
Now, while this Russian film has received great reviews, there still are some critics who question if the story hinges too much on miserabilist female characters. Not so, for me. For me, EVERYONE is pretty awful: the mom, the husband, the police, and on. More so than a commentary on Putin's Russia, this movie shows the growing apathy of the generations and, this could have been filmed ANYWHERE, not just Russia. We're in a "me first" society. People favor themselves. They live on their phones. Tragedies in the news don't affect them. They feign interest in things that are not all about them. And they get WILDLY emotional & regretful after the fact trying to compensate for their prior vile behavior {as evidenced in a morgue scene}.
I think people today do feel bad {on some level} about bad things that happen and, become instantaneously regretful, but they are mostly just angry at themselves. AND YET, they're not SO angry so as to change & become better people moving forward -- not really. This is evidenced in Boris uncaringly plopping his new baby boy in his playpen, or Zhenya methodically running on an outdoor treadmill to alleviate boredom. People today kind of slink back into their prior loathsome selves, but maybe with a little more reflection on just how awful they are, whereas before, they hadn't a clue. I don't know. I found that pretty illuminating & universal and not specific to a particular place ... that is the world today. I was hypnotized throughout; something you can't always say for a 2+ hour foreign language film with little dialogue & a fairly blank/depressing milieu to soak in. But I really was captivated.
In the big scene of the film, our failed couple argues bitterly about which of them will have to care for their 12 yr. old son, a burden neither wishes to take-on! As they bellow at each other, a door is pulled shut & the camera finds the child, Alyosha (Matvey Novikov), out-of-view of his parents, standing in the shadows, his face distorted in a silent scream of unloved torment. It's an alarming glimpse of despair & desolation that made me grimace. It may be sad, but it also speaks to the poetic power visual storytelling. Bereft at hearing how much his parents DON'T love him, Alyosha runs away & his uncaring parents don't even notice 'til 2 days later. They call the police & blame each other, while 'volunteers' do the searching for him. Perhaps he went to Zhenya's estranged mother {someone even more miserable than her daughter}, but no luck, there. One wonders if Alyosha will ever be found. And really, we kind of hope he's happier somewhere else.
What's interesting about 'Loveless' is that what happens to young Alyosha is treated like an afterthought. This film is far from pleasant, and yet, I sat in astonished wonder at the apathy on display by every single adult character in the story. Has Putin done this to the people of Russia? Or is this just how the generations are digressing? WHERE is the love? Why is everyone so pre-occupied with themselves? I admire the straightforward direction & stark cinematography; offering up a winter-set, bleak mood that never lets up. The grey color palette captures the country's sadness & symbolically shows how morally bankrupt society has become.
Now, while this Russian film has received great reviews, there still are some critics who question if the story hinges too much on miserabilist female characters. Not so, for me. For me, EVERYONE is pretty awful: the mom, the husband, the police, and on. More so than a commentary on Putin's Russia, this movie shows the growing apathy of the generations and, this could have been filmed ANYWHERE, not just Russia. We're in a "me first" society. People favor themselves. They live on their phones. Tragedies in the news don't affect them. They feign interest in things that are not all about them. And they get WILDLY emotional & regretful after the fact trying to compensate for their prior vile behavior {as evidenced in a morgue scene}.
I think people today do feel bad {on some level} about bad things that happen and, become instantaneously regretful, but they are mostly just angry at themselves. AND YET, they're not SO angry so as to change & become better people moving forward -- not really. This is evidenced in Boris uncaringly plopping his new baby boy in his playpen, or Zhenya methodically running on an outdoor treadmill to alleviate boredom. People today kind of slink back into their prior loathsome selves, but maybe with a little more reflection on just how awful they are, whereas before, they hadn't a clue. I don't know. I found that pretty illuminating & universal and not specific to a particular place ... that is the world today. I was hypnotized throughout; something you can't always say for a 2+ hour foreign language film with little dialogue & a fairly blank/depressing milieu to soak in. But I really was captivated.