★★☆☆☆ Rita’s Last Fairy Tale (Poslednyaya Skazka Rity, 2011) is a playful Russian fantasy which imbues its harrowing tale of life and death with an enchanting collage of imagery. A surreal and at times beguiling journey, Renata Litvinova’s disjointed and […]
★★★☆☆ Dunya Smirnova’s Kokoko (2012) plays out very much like a buoyant Mike Leigh film about social class and feminism – albeit with a deeply Russian sensibility – an exploration of cultural clashes within a delightfully comic framework. Big city […]
★★★☆☆ From Pavel Lungin, the acclaimed director of Tsar (2009) and The Island (2007), comes The Conductor (Dirizhyor, 2012), a beautifully rendered orchestra of existential themes brought together to depict a sombre portrait of life. A famous Russian conductor, Vyacheslav […]
★★★★☆ Pavel Ruminov’s I’ll Be Around (Ya Budu Ryadom, 2012) makes its way to the 6th London Russian Film Festival after winning the Grand Prix Award at this year’s Kinotavr Film Festival – the largest film festival currently held in […]
★★★★☆ Notorious is a word frequently overused when describing controversial horror films. However, the term somehow feels completely justifiable in relation to The Evil Dead (1981) – director Sam Raimi’s cult slice of schlocky hokum – starring Bruce Campbell, Ellen […]
