By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Juho Kuosmanen
Starring: Dinara Drukarova | Polina Aug | Seidi Haarla | Valeriy Nikolaev | Yuliya Aug | Yuriy Borisov
Original language title: Hytti nro 6
Country: estonia, finland, germany, russia
Year: 2022
Running time: 107
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10262648/reference
Brett says: “‘I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . .
[. . . ] And on the pedestal, these words appear:
[. . .]Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’
“What are we doing? What are we accomplishing? Though not a desert in the traditional sense of the word, this modified road movie takes us on a trek across the snowy, often bleak and barren landscapes of Russia to a region resting inside the Arctic Circle. The destination: ancient petroglyphs in the hinterland near the northern town of Murmansk. Though the premise might sound like a historic travelogue, inside the package of this rather blandly wrapped blurb of the situation at hand is an escapist narrative that surprises in somewhat of a jack-in-the-box fashion. As one might already guess from the earlier tease, it is quite a meditation about our brief time we each individually inhabit this earth and what personal truths we sometimes miss out on if we’re not careful.
“Laura (Seidi Haarla) is attached to fellow intellectual Irina, romantically—yes—but also with a hint of something else we cannot quite put our finger on at first. It is enigmatic, to say the least. The setting begins in Moscow, where Laura struggles with the social climate in which her partner Irina excels: mingling and pontificating with esteemed university professors, artists, critics, and cultural philosophers. Part of this struggle seems to reside in the fact that Laura is Finnish, not Russian, but it’s also more than that. These meetings of the minds point to a cultural and personality divide between Laura and the scholarly socialites. Despite this incongruence in their relationship, Laura—herself a prospective scholar in archeology—seems to be settled and somewhat agreeable. This new home away from home sense of surrogate contentment is complicated, however, when Laura’s planned romantic travel getaway with Irina is upended by the obligations Irina has at the university. Laura’s idea of an academic good time in choosing the destination of observing petroglyphs 10,000 years old turns into a solo venture, and one that comes with a sense of regret or longing for Irina’s validation and comfort.
“The majority of the film thereafter is the experience in getting from station to station aboard a train along the way. Though this is not the first film to carry out a narrative on a train, this one does what a lot of others don’t do and moves away from action-oriented or less subtle plot-driven train rides. Instead, it is much more introspective and understated. Despite sounding like such a scenario might drag, it is a very compelling character study that rewards viewers for punching their respective tickets along with Laura the way Irina should have made time for. On paper—and even when meta-critiquing what one is witnessing scene to scene aboard the train—it is a film that absolutely shouldn’t work . . . but it certainly does.
“Several components of the film-making here all congeal to reel me in. There is a sense of naturalism in what is unfolding. Not a cross-country train expert myself, one of many noteworthy effects of the film is conveying how downright uncomfortable and horrific the experience is at times, especially under the circumstances Laura is in: a foreign traveler encouraged (and practically shoved away actually) to complete this trip on her own by the one person Laura feels she could be complete with. Ironically, her replacement bunkmate in her unfulfilled journey could not be any more opposite. Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov) is a male passenger, as crude and unrefined as anyone would want to encounter just short of screaming. Accompanying the equal parts horrendous and comedic encounters aboard the train, the character study within begins to grow. (It should be noted here how unforced the occasional ‘comedy’ element is, another part of the natural/realistic feel of this film.) Furthermore, in this shared space on the journey, a very interesting dynamic between the two begins to form in a way that unfolds differently than any other ‘strangers on a train’ movie.
“As a result of the award-worthy lead performance of Haarla and equally crafted performance of supporting actor Borisov, the thematic payoff resonates well after the film credits roll. Laura is displaced not only geographically, but the petroglyphs of a people long gone remind us of how fleeting time is and how easy and clumsy it is for some to lead a rather forgettable life. “It’s easier to understand the present if you study the past,” says the film in an otherwise innocuous pair of scenes early in the film. The jack-in-the-box effect comes in the meaning one assigns to those words once the trip reaches its destination. The treasured petroglyphs Laura is seeking as a window to the past reveal a bit more than what we might have expected from the trajectory laid before us earlier in the film. The marrying of this destination with the experience of Laura is spot on and so expertly crafted that it is difficult to reflect and trace how exactly director Juho Kuosmanen coerced us to come to this realization along with Laura. Well after the film is complete, there is still an emotional ball of yarn to unravel. 4 cats out of 5
“Recommended for fans of understated dramas, yet not as sparse on dialogue as other understated dramas”
“Recommended for loneliness gluttons”
“Not recommended for claustrophobics (but gee, those tight camera takes sure are great)”
Chris says: “*Spoilers Ahead*