WeGetIt

I just saw this film and I loved it. From the first few minutes I could tell that this was an especially higher budget, stylishly shot Gerasimov film. It's about a man who fought in WW2, was captured by the Nazis and put into different concentration camps, witnessed much cruelty, after his liberation fate took him to Argentina, to work for a German landowner and his Russian wife, then he goes to live in Germany, working as a chauffeur for a rich family, after becoming disillusioned there he returns home to Russia after about 17 years of being away. The film begins with a mother and daughter meeting him on their drive to visit relatives. Before any of the above happened, the man saved the mother's life during the Leningrad Blockade, he picked her up frozen and unconscious from the snow, took her home and fed her so she wouldn't die. After the blockade ended it took her 5 years to find her daughter. The rest of the film is the trios trip across 1960's beautiful Russia, and the flashbacks of the man's long incredible story. Insanely beautifully shot, filled with emotion. One of Gerasimov's best and most important films. Tells of the importance of saving your humanity. If you liked "Ballad of a Soldier" this film is very similar in it's beauty of human spirit, it's kindness and sadness, it hits all the same emotions. Recommend to absolutely everyone, especially Russian people because it's about a Russian person away from his homeland who holds close to his heart all the values of his birthplace. 10/10

I was blown away by this film! The title means "Without Witnesses" The action takes place all in one night, within a few hours. Almost perfectly shot, entirely inside an apartment with just two actors. I wasn't a big Mihalkov fan, my favorite film of his was "Anna: From Six Till Eighteen ", which is a documentary. His other films I always thought were either too unrealistic, goofy or historical pieces. This however, is a story that takes place in then-present day. The look of the film is absolutely beautiful, the colors and art design is gorgeous. The script is perfect. A woman sits alone watching a concert on TV when her ex-husband sneaks quietly in and scares her half to death by blowing a whistle on his keys. They then spend some hours of that night together. At first we don't think anything is up, but a deep complex story unrolls before us little by little, one that the characters are already fully aware of, but not us, we must take every single of their words as clues to what they have been through. This movie is at that level of pure genius that is completely the director's own brilliant vision. This film could not be made in the US now, it is completely unorthodox, but here it is alive, beautiful, perfect. The perfect form has been found for it. It is a funny film but then it is every sad film too. This is now one of my fave films and I now appreciate Nikita Mihalkov waaay more than I did before, I now call myself a fan. I am about to watch "Rodnya" by him, which looks similar, another modern-day story. Another film I like of his because of these same traits is "Five Evenings". The acting is perfect. The woman, Irina Kupchenko I found so beautiful and so sad; there is an American actress that looks exactly like her, but I don't know her name or what movies she was in. Ulyanov is brilliant as always, this and "Tema" by Gleb Panfilov are my favorite of his performances, the characters are so original and brilliantly portrayed.

I saw this film twice, not recently though. The title translates literally to "To Love a Person", not "The Love of Mankind". It's about two architects, a man, Tarkovsky's favorite actor Solonitsyn, and a woman. They meet at a party of their old teachers. They slowly start to like each other, strangely enough the man asks the woman to marry him on their first night. Soon they do get married, even though they still don't really know each other. They move into a house that the man designed and built himself in a far away winterly landscape where he is working on new construction projects. I can't wait to see this film again, I remember feeling good while watching it, even thought it has sad moments like when the woman becomes sick for a while. It's in color and the images are wonderful, I'm reminded of "U Ozera/By the Lake", my favorite Gerasimov film (in B&W), but this films tone is lighter, and it's about a couple and their relationship which was a refreshing theme from Gerasimov. The acting is superb, it has long scenes that are simply realistic and fascinating to watch. Gerasimov is the master of long talking scenes that are interesting and wonderfully shot and actually have incredible, realistic conversation. I can't wait to see this film again, I'm sure I'll like it even more the next time. Lyubov Virolainen is so beautiful and acted perfectly, shy, lovely, generous, uncertain. And Solonitsyn - why just to see him act is a gift, but in this role he is wonderful; if you like him in Tarkovsky's films like Stalker and Solaris, check this film out, he's equally great. In short, it's a beautiful film, we get to watch these two strangers meet, fall in love, get married and go through problems, and in the end become closer than before. Serge Gerasimov was a genius director, one of Russia's brightest minds.10/10