Loveless [Blu-ray]

Another brilliant portrayal by Zvyagintsev of life in modern Russia, not quite on the level of Leviathan with its mixture of corruption, politics, and religion, but stunning nevertheless. As in all his films, most of the characters are thoroughly unlikeable, and he has no time for the “happy ending”. Runaway children are an everyday occurrence in Russia, some are found, whether alive or dead, others disappear completely. Here we have the 12-year-old Alexei in 2012 (evident from the occasional references to current events), whose divorcing parents are continually fighting, and who discovers that he was never wanted in the first place. His mother, usually on her phone (as are most people we see), seems angry with the whole world, except for the older man she has taken up with. Alexei’s father, a more resigned character, works in a huge impersonal office. The second half of the film is largely documentary-like, as we see how the voluntary groups who search for missing children go about their work. Two or three moments in the film are devastating; the acting is brilliant throughout. As with all Zvyagintsev’s films, there are beautiful shots of the natural world, at the start and finish in particular. Don’t expect a laugh a minute, or even an hour, but if you want filmmaking at its finest, go to anything by this director. A “making of” feature demonstrates the extreme meticulousness of Zvyagintsev’s methods, and that scenes are shot in a completely different order from how they appear in the film.

A Russian film with English subtitles, set in Moscow.Two, shallow, selfish parents fight about nothing while their unwanted, 12 year old son (Alexey or Alyosha, depending on whether you believe the DVD box or the subtitles) is neglected and suffers emotional abuse.Eventually he disappears and the police are called, but they don’t have the time to look for runaways – presumably they’re too busy gay-bashing and breaking up demonstrations – and put the parents in touch with ‘volunteers’ who seemingly have unlimited resources, time and manpower, but surprisingly aren’t called the NKVD.That’s the plot which is hinged around the fighting parents, and sex scenes involving the respective parents and their new and equally shallow prospective partners. Mostly boring.There is a weak scene in a mortuary where you have to delve into the extras to see what the mother was shouting and screaming about (again).The Bruegelesque snow scenes particularly at the end are very nice.I contend that it would have been a much better film if it had been constructed from the boy’s angle, but therein lies the mystery. The other mystery is why this little sweetheart wasn’t loved by Mother Russia, but you’ll have to ask Vlad himself about that?

Strangely, I consider Zvyagintsev to be a genius but cannot grow to like his style. It's so dry and one-dimensional, I always feel like he is filling his movies with types of people, not real people, to me they they lack individuality.He is very talented in portraying Russia, he feels this country very deeply. I thought that he brilliantly showed adults addiction to phones and dying world of interactions, relationships. Somehow he did it in such subtle way, althought the scenes are so "usual".I have watched a lot of interviews with Zvyagintsev in Russian and it stroked me when he said that often there are two scenarios - that we either love our children and don't raise them or raise them strictly but don't love them enough. To me, the biggest shock in the movie is the scene with a "new" baby of one of the protagonists, which is being "killed" the same way as the missing boy! The scene where he is put into this brutal cot broke my heart.Apparently, many Russians after viewing this movie run home to hug their children, Zvyagintsev mentioned it in few interviews. To me the moral is: put down your phones people and go spend time with you children, your spouses, break the loveless reality! Specially - don't raise a new human being in it!

You are not quite sure where the story is going at first, but as the distressing tale proceeds, it becomes all too clear. Everyday life in Russia, as in the director's previous film, is beautifully portrayed without recourse to great activity or excitable narrative. The horror of the story is in its banality and the telling of the almost trivial mutual destruction of people's lives. Superb.