Popular reviews

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  Review by Jim Cummings ★★★★★ 3

  A real masterpiece of nostalgia for childhood, even though it’s someone else’s.
  The sound design and music and cinematography bring me back.
  Love this movie.

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  Review by Jonathan White ★★★★½ 14

  This was probably one of my most anticipated watches. In a very short span of time, director Andrey Zvyagintsev has gone from being unknown to me, to becoming one of my favourite directors; an auteur rubbing shoulders with the likes of Kubrick and Malick. This is pretty amazing considering I’ve only seen two of his films. I’m happy to say that The Return, a favourite of many of my LB friends, only further cements that position.

  What I appreciate about Zvyagintsev the most is his deft skill at subtly weaving context into his very straight forward, and narratively economical, stories. Rarely is the symbolism worn on its sleeve, but rather quietly hinted it; so quietly in some cases that you’re…

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  Review by Dirk Diggler ★★★★★

  Acting, cinematography, score, script, direction, it's all so superb and makes for a minimalistic and subtle, but emotionally intense, painful, profound and visually stunning film experience. This film really broke me. Not the best father-son happy holiday camping trip ever. How the hell is this even a debut...

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  Review by Edgar Cochran ✝️ ★★★★★ 5

  "Vozvrashchenie" is like real life. We assume the perspective of the sons and, treating us like such, the movie does not supply any meaningful answers to the events depicted. The events are meant to happen just like that, without any prior warning. Such things were meant to remain unknown. What we are offered is a breathtaking journey deep into the Russian wilderness, filmed as masterfully as few auteurs accomplish today, displaying poetry on screen like if it was the easiest thing to do.

  96/100

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  Review by Catus ★★★★½

  My dad finally came back after 12 years and threatened to kill me with an axe. I love him.

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  Review by Marcissus ★★★ 3

  babe wake up it’s time to spend your day off watching miserable eastern european cinema and feeling like shit

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  Review by Jerry ★★★★

  Boy, our father has no name
  He has no place inside your heart;
  A bleating spirit has he to you
  No shelter in your soul.

  Damned to die betwixt the tides
  Exigent eyes: one thousand lives
  Tired sighs beneath cumulus skies
  Where he’s been, we’ll never know.

  Against the years, a blight on you
  His presence lost on me.

  To spare all sons the solitude
  Of waves long lost at sea.

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★½

  65

  As much as I enjoyed Leviathan, this 2003 work by Andrey Zvyagintsev is beautifully enigmatic. It's less novelistic, more of a myth in which the act of 'manhood' is constantly in question, and how generational anguish manifests itself in different ways. The ambiguity of this narrative takes the tension of an absent father and imbues each frame with a quiet, unsettled stillness. Great care was taken in both tone and plotting to emphasize the expressive nature of the performances. This film spoke to me as a formal exercise, yes, but it's also deeply emotional and unafraid to expose its underbelly of lost innocence and coming-of-age awareness. I found it too closed-off initially, but a re-watch will most likely smooth over any bumps in the road. A fine debut by Zvyagintsev.

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  Review by Enzo

  “O retorno” Dirigido por Andrey Zvyagintsev. Foi selecionado como representante da Rússia à edição do Oscar 2004, organizada pela AMPAS (Academia de Artes e Ciências Cinematográficas), tendo ganhado diversos prêmios importantes desde sua estreia. O filme se passa na Rússia contemporânea, onde são abordados diversos estigmas sociais, através das lentes de Andrey, ele transcreve toda a narrativa dos personagens como um diário, durante os três dias de viagem.

  No início do filme, somos apresentados a cinco crianças, dentre as quais estão os irmãos Andrei e Vanya (Ivan). Eles estão se divertindo pulando em um rio de um local extremamente alto, porém, na vez de Ivan, que possui medo de altura, decide não pular. Ele é chamado de 'covarde' pelos outros,…

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  Review by Two Cineasts ★★★★★

  Film reviews in 22 sentences (or less)
  Today: The Return

  „If you weren’t so evil, I could love you like a father.“
  (Ivan Dobronravov as Ivan)

  Hi everybody, it is already a daily routine that we open Netflix and Amazon to see if there are new interesting originals and immediately close them again after a few moments, bored, so that we then take a look on YouTube for some insider tips or smaller films that are not so easy to get. Since we are big fans of Andrei Tarkovsky, most recently Aleksandr Sokurov and other artists of this guild, we came across this director here, with a little luck we found a few of his films on YouTube and we…

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  Review by Robert Beksinski ★★★★ 2

  The Return has been quoted by many as a haunting film and more intelligently deemed Kafkaesque by Roger Ebert but no where have I seen any stab at interpreting this mammoth beast. It's quite possible that director Andrey Zvyagintsev had no intended hidden meaning behind the mystery presented and it was the experience of the film that matters. I can certainly agree with that but the entire time watching I strongly felt that this ominous and prodigal father figure had to represent something larger than himself as his two sons equally embody the victims of this oppressive force. Perhaps if I had a more of a back knowledge in Russian history or even on the director's thoughts and ideas of…

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  Review by Hutch ★★★★★ 11

  Andrey Zvyagintsev’s The Return is a remarkable debut, emerging as if from nowhere, already fully formed. His direction exercises mature control over pacing and mood, intelligently conducting a thematic inquiry into masculinity within what superficially appears to be an intimate, slow-burning, mystery thriller. His visual style honours both Antonioni and Tarkovsky, yet somehow feels new. In addition, he uses his background as an actor to great effect, extracting terrific performances from the three principals, two of whom are children. His film boasts a poetic eye for astonishing images. Visually, it’s a study in cold blues, which transfers into a study of emotional coolness. It is precisely soundscaped utilising an immaculately crafted ambient score of mellow beats and atmospherics. The film…