Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov

Olga and I watched “Vozvrashcheniye” (also known as “The Return”) on the DVD. I know I said before that I was not going to watch any Russian movies in the near future. But this one was recommened by a few people who’s opinion I trust. Also it had a pretty hight rating of 8.1/10 on IMDB and it was available from the local DVD club (in Cyprus!). All of these pushed me into watching it.

The film was not a disappointment. Camera work and photography were really impressive and by far better than in any Russian movie that I have seen so far. Any. There was no usual depression, violence, and abuse of all forms of culture too, although the film was kind of dark and dessaturated. Very ARTistic.

The story was boring. I suspect it has something to do with Russian classic literature. Turgenev maybe, with his “Fathers and sons”. Acting was good. Especially on the part of the younger brother Ivan, delivered by Ivan Dobronravov. Somehow I find him to be very similar to Haley Joel Osment. Interesting bit of trivia - Vladimir Garin, who played the role of the older brother, drowned shortly after the end of shooting in the same lake where several of the picture’s scenes were filmed.

Anyway, this movie is worth watching, at least to make your opinion on Russian cinematography of recent years a little bit more complete and multicolored. 7 out of 10.