DoPs Gromov and Chamidchodjaev's bleak, ravishing images will probably sweep you away into existential la-la land, that is, if you manage to keep your eyes open long enough, because Dmitry Mamulia's rambling 135 minute "The Criminal Man" is truly a visual tour de force. Unfortunately that's all it is. It has none of the dynamism of "The Deer Hunter" or the haunting suspense of "Stalker". I happen to love long, meditative films but, crikey, in our party of three, two of us fell asleep! It would appear that some filmmakers are such consummate craftsmen, so carried away by the technique of constructing and shooting scenes (even pointless ones), of evoking a dreamy atmosphere (merely for its own sake), they forget that they're also supposed to be telling a story. As Tarkovsky said, any director worthy of the name, has to have an authentic, personal vision and if he or she does, this will allow them to get away with practically anything. But vision is something that can't be crafted or counterfeited and if viewers cotton on that a director is simply trying to manipulate them, i.e., to generate feelings he himself doesn't happen to feel, the end effect is just irritation, or even worse - boredom.
