Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

juan_palmero2010 A family with two pre-teen children go to spend some days in the isolated country house where the father was born and raised. The first hours are spent bringing the house back to a minimum of working order, with the children spending much of their time outside in the garden, as children do. And then, in the evening, after dinner, when the children have gone to bed and the adults sit on the terrace on their own, the wife tells her husband something very short and simple that will overhaul his life and set the mood for the rest of the film. Those looking for easy entertainment, better look elsewhere. The first simple and bleak images and the music already let you know that this is not going to be a relaxing experience. There is tension from the beginning, and it is there to stay until the end. This is beautiful, artful cinema making, of the kind that requires spectators to approach it with their emotions and an open mind. Perhaps demanding cinema. Though not overly intellectual (the story is, in some ways, quite a simple one), it contains powerful undercurrents that are not obvious until the very end. Like most good films, you will get more out of this watching it more than once. Astounding acting by the three main actors. The range of feelings displayed by actors Konstantin Lavronenko and Maria Bonnevie as the married couple and by Aleksandr Baluev (Konstantin's brother in the film and perhaps alter ego) is breathtaking. Bonnevie looks totally natural, even if dubbed, chapeau to her. Lavronenko deservedly got Canne's Best Actor prize in 2007 for his role in this film. Zvyagintsev's craft, as shown by his other films, is felt from beginning to end, with exquisite attention paid to detail, light, colour, shadows, filming locations. As with good art, everyone will get something different out of this film. Leaving aside some possible religious or spiritual connotations, I take it that this film contains a reflection on love and the absence of it, about sharing and its limits, that can speak to very wide audiences, irrespective of time and location.

robert-642 I watched this film on the basis of having enjoyed The Return. How wrong can one be. It would be generous to say that it makes the films of Bruno Dumont seem like action films! You can tell when a film is a deceit by the opening shots. Long takes of roads and trees are nothing but a waste of film and the viewers time. A walnut tree does not a film make. Creating atmosphere is one thing but suffocating the viewer is another. And so the rest of the film goes on in the same way: ennui seems more debilitating than euthanasia and that is what this film engenders.Tell me: how many children have you seen who, going to a new home, albeit dilapidated, show no excitement? Are we saying that Russian children don't run around exploring every nook and cranny with yelps of delight? And so having flicked through chapter after chapter to see if their was any movement - a rabbit skipping across the grass would have been fine - I decided to call it a day and put on a DVD of Tom & Jerry.Good films I enjoy. Pretension I detest.Zero

Raymond First off I'm gonna say there are a few reviews without a tag which do spoil a bit. The movie has a couple of scenes which make the plot, and it's far better viewing if you don't know about them. I'm not gonna go into details, but I'm still putting the spoiler tag on.This movie had pretty much everything for me to like it. It's a Russian film, I catch one every time I can. It was nominated in Cannes, it's slow paced, it's got great cinematography and it's a movie that requires you're brain to be turned on, rather than off. Even if slow, you really need to be awake for the whole duration.Still it didn't turn out quite as good as I hoped. I had no problem with the duration, it never felt too slow or dragging. Very little actually happens plot wise. The tension and atmosphere are hand felt. Acting top notch, lot's of symbolic references. Scenery and images are amazing. There are a couple of scenes where the camera work really goes into Tarkovsky territory.The story is intriguing and gripping, but never really hits it. It's a mystery and a lot of stuff remain unsaid on screen and off screen. May require repeated viewing, but I felt the story left a bit too much in the shadows. I have nothing against clues and symbolism, but here the story is just too enigmatic. You also start to question the characters actions after a while. If in a horror movie you say "why is she going there alone", in this movie you say "why don't they just talk".Might also be cultural differences, but I had a bit of trouble connecting to anyone in this movie and if you have to question every characters actions, the viewing experience becomes a bit heavy after a while. You're never really sure why they do what they are doing.Speaking of cultural differences, I try to catch a Russian movie every time I can, because it's amazingly difficult to find a subtitled Russian movie in Finland. I was a bit disappointed how universal this movie was. It could've happened anywhere and reading from IMDb, the shooting locations were not in Russia. Without the dialogs I would've never guessed it's a Russian movie, in my book that's not a good thing for a movie.Still definitely worth viewing, I'm gonna try and catch the directors earlier movie and will keep an eye on him in the future.

Paul Martin I have only just learnt that Zvyagintev's The Return was his feature film debut. It really impressed me with it's sparse and elusive narrative, filled with mystery and ambiguity. It is visually spectacular, with a strong Eastern European aesthetic that one can't look away from. The Banishment is no less a film.This is a much more ambitious effort than Zvyagintev's debut. Again he has crafted a story that is highly enigmatic. It stars Konstantin Lavronenko, who played the role of the absent father returned in The Return. Alex is a man with a shady past and his brother Mark (Aleksandr Baluyev) is of the same ilk. When Alex's wife, Vera (Maria Bonnevie), reveals she is pregnant and that he is not the father, a sequence of events unfolds that will have you on the edge of your seat. "If you want to kill, kill. If you want to forgive, forgive", says Mark.The tension is palpable, magnified by the sparse dialogue. In one sense, words are not needed as the body language says it all. Yet in another, the inability of the protagonists to bring out into the open what needs to be said leads to unforeseen consequences. This is both thematically similar to Nuri Bilge Ceylan's similarly excellent Three Monkeys and stylistically they also share much in common. As in Ceylan's films, Zvyagintev shows great confidence in telling a story, taking his time to create a palpable ambiance. At 157 minutes, the film is quite long, but always engaging.The cinematography is stunning throughout, with excellent use of the widescreen. There is one tracking shot in particular that left me breathless as the camera seemingly floated through space. I can recall only twice where the camera movement impressed me so: the caravan sequence in Noise and the various tracking shots in Soy Cuba. The use of darkness, light and shade are used to great effect. The music is haunting, reminding me of the Gothic sounds of the music of Enigma. It renders the film with a sense of tragedy of biblical proportions.Zvyagintev is a magnificent talent that just can't be ignored. If you see only one Russian film this year, make it The Banishment.