Movie Review: How I Ended This Summer

A scene from 'How I Ended This Summer'. Photo / Supplied

The internal lives of a film's characters have seldom been as precisely and enthrallingly reflected in the landscape as in this engrossing Russian feature.

It's set and shot quite literally on the edge of the Earth, 70 deg N at Valkarkai Polar Research Station in the country's extreme northeast. This is the bit of Siberia that Siberians call remote.

Here, two meteorologists operate a weather station, gathering detailed hourly readings for transmission across a crackly radio which is their only link to the outside world.

Sergei (Puskepalis), is the gruff senior partner of the duo whose attitude to his young assistant Pavel (Dobrygin) mixes the old bull's contempt with the protectiveness of a mentor.

The hidebound old man and his smart young companion doubtless serve allegorical functions in a country moving away from unquestioning obedience of authority: the presence of an abandoned, but still radioactive, nuclear generator likewise seems to symbolise the ruins of Soviet might.

But the film, written by director Popogrebsky, a psychologist by training, is just as interested in the battle of wills which begins almost imperceptibly (when Pavel receives a radio message meant for the older man) and escalates to a thrilling climax.

The superbly paced and finely calibrated drama unfolds against a landscape that the film brings to life with a thrilling exactness: Popogrebsky and his cinematographer are not afraid of long shots of endless vistas in which we become aware only slowly of the tiny figures moving across the frame, but the low-lit interiors are equally compelling.

The sound design, too, is marvellous; in such a silent place, everyday noises as the men go about their duties seem deafening, and unexpected sounds take on a menacing significance.

"Men have gone mad out here," Sergei tells Pavel and shows him the holes in the wall of their grimy house to prove it. It's questionable perhaps whether the film's climax delivers us a moment of madness or transcendence, but the preceding two hours are utterly absorbing.

Stars: 4/5
Cast: Grigory Dobrygin and Sergei Puskepalis
Director: Alexei Popogrebsky
Running time: 130 mins
Rating: M (offensive language) In Russian with English subtitles
Verdict: Intense

- TimeOut