Your Account   Help   |   Your Basket Empty   Checkout

 

Coming Soon      Bestsellers      Recommended      Special Offers      MovieMail Latest

MovieMailMovieMail HomeBreathless
Home > World Cinema > Russian Film > Koktebel

Recommended Koktebel

Boris Khlebnikov, Alexei Popogrebsky, 2003

Star Review

What is immediately striking about Khlebnikov and Popogrebsky’s debut film about a phlegmatic father and his 11 year-old son travelling across land from Moscow to the Crimea is its complete assurance. You know immediately you’re in good hands. An early scene is telling. We see the boy sitting in a cattle truck on a train, staring out of the open door at the passing scene. The camera slowly concentrates its gaze on his head to the exclusion of everything else while the iron sound of wheels on rails becomes dominant until we are as mesmerised by the internalised rhythm of travel as he is.

The film is also good at portraying the temporary liaisons that travel brings – with a unexpectedly hospitable railway worker, an alcoholic recluse, a village doctor. An understated tone of initial threat in the encounters comes from being exposed and homeless. More often than not hospitality and jokes follow. This is never overplayed though, with the tone similair to the quiet humour of Iosseliani’s Monday Morning. The directors are well aware too that the memories that linger longest are the quiet ones: the son pretending to smoke a cigarette with an older girl while sitting on a tree stump, looking at a pond and the edge of a birch wood and listening to the birds.

Landscape is in fact integral to the conception of the story - it is a film of tracks, forests and wide open spaces. Brilliantly though (and taking its cue from Tarkovsky), the directors realise that any film that is so grounded must also embrace the dream of flight. Conversations feature albatrosses and gliders; the boy can see himself from the air. Even the puddles reflect the sky.

Both Koktebel and The Return are from young directors who are part of the so-called ‘New Wave’ of Russian Cinema. If there are more films like this in store, then we’re in for a real treat.

Graeme Hobbs on 25th February 2005
View all 235 of Graeme Hobbs's reviews

Film Description

Aka Roads to Koktebel. A brilliantly photographed, observed and acted film in which a father and son journey across Russia to the Crimea with their encounters detailed along the way. Somewhere between contemporary Russian fairytale and coming-of-age allegory, the film's real beauty is in how well landscape is used to accentuate or characterise the journey itself. A fine debut feature from the two directors.

Reviews

Share your thoughts - write a review

Film Stills from Koktebel

Koktebel

View all 1 film stills in full size

Related Genres

DVD Publisher

£16.99

RRP: £19.99
Save £3 (15%)
Free Delivery on UK Orders!

Availability
This product should be despatched within 3-4 working days. Despatched from the UK. Delivery times

Ratings for this DVD

Average Rating

4/5

Log in to place your vote!

DVD Extras
  • Interview with Khlebnikov & Popogrebsky
  • Theatrical trailer.
Film Details

Director

Boris Khlebnikov, Alexei Popogrebsky

Year

2003

Countries & Regions

European Film, Russian Film

Cast

Gleb Puskepalis, Igor Chernevich

Technical Details

Certificate

12

Length

102 mins

Publisher

Artificial Eye

Format

DVD Colour

Region

2

Aspect

1.66:1 Anamorphic widescreen

Cat No

ART290DVD

Main Language

RUSSIAN

Subtitles

English

Customers who liked this also liked...

Come and See

1985, Elem Klimov, DVD

 

£15.99

RRP: £19.99
Save £4

Recommended Come and See

Hailed as one of the greatest war films ever made, this is a hallucinatory cinematic experience that does for...

More Details

 

See Alsos -
Handpicked recommendations of related films

MovieMail Latest

 

 

 

MovieMail Publications

June 2009 Film Catalogue Film Catalogue
The Digital Edition of our July issue is out now!

 

 

 

The MovieMail Filmcast
Latest edition: Ken Loach's Kes - A few thoughts on Billy Casper

 

 

 

Email Newsletter
The best new releases, special offers and more! Sign up now -

 
 

 

 

Share this page
with others

Bookmark and Share

 

 

Browse our Film catalogue: DVDs by Genre | DVDs by Country | DVDs by Director | DVDs by Actor

 RSS Feeds | Sitemap | Film Glossary | New Releases | Bestsellers | Recommended | Special Offers | MovieMail Latest

 

MovieMail use a Thawte certificate to ensure secure transmission of your information. Click here for for information HACKER SAFE certified sites prevent over 99.9% of hacker crime.

 

 

For questions or assistance email us at info@moviemail-online.co.uk
or call us on 0844 776 0900 (UK residents) / +44 208 099 7084 (International)

© 1996-2009 MovieMail Ltd., All Rights Reserved. Find out more about MovieMail