How I Ended This Summer

A mesmerizing, thought-provoking study of human behavior
This festival hit (Best Actor Award at Berlin Film Festival and Best Film at London Film Festival) from Alexei Popogrebsky, one of the most talented directors in contemporary Russian cinema, follows two men working at the distant and isolated meteorological station in the midst of chillingly beautiful Arctic Circle.

Sergei (Sergei Puskepalis, star of Popogrebsky's earlier film "Simple Things") is an experienced professional, grim as the Arctic mountains around him, but thoroughly dedicated to his work. Younger meteorologist Pavel (Grigory Dobrygin) joins him at the station for a few months, equipped with video games, MP3 player and IT skills. Sergei is domineering and tough, treating Pavel more like a military in training, than a colleague.

One day in Sergei's absence Pavel receives dreadful news from the base station that would change the course of their lives and put to the test the very essence of humanity.

A truthful, clever deconstruction of...
Ah, life on the tundra!
(special thanks to Film Movement for providing me with a screener!)

Ah, Russia. Land of vodka, cold weather, dour poets, cold weather, beautiful women who turn into withered peasants seemingly overnight an very freaking cold weather. You ever wonder why they sold Alaska to us? Because who needed even more cold land?
This latest release from Film Movement takes place on a remote island in the far North Eastern part of Russia. The island is home to a small weather monitoring station maned long-term by Sergei and short-term by Pasha. Sergei is a man in his fifties who seems to be made of rock and Pasha looks like your basic graduate student living on the tundra to accumulate life experience. That they are not a great match is something of a given.

One day Sergei receives word his wife and young son are flying to a nearby area to meet him. He's cheerful after this news and decides to go out fishing for a day. While he's gone, Pasha receives unhappy news that...
Psychological thriller.... Russian style
Let me start off by saying that I have become a huge fan of the Film Movement library of foreign and indie movie releases, which Film Movement issues monthly. I have rarely been disappointment by their selection, and wasn't by this one.

"How I Ended This Summer" (130 min.; originally released in 2010) is an excellent psychological drama, Russian style. The story's premise seems simple enought. Two men, Sergei in a senior and Pavel in a junior position, work at an isolated meteorological station on an Arctic island. While Sergei is on an unauthorized fishing trip, Pavel is informed that Sergei's family has been in an accident. Pavel is supposed to tell this to Sergei, but he does not. Things evolve from there, and I'm not going say much more about the story, but hang on to your seat for the last hour or so of the movie, just fantastic. Aside of the story line, major kudos for the photography of this film, which is just outstanding, bringing the isolation of the Artic...
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