Ubiytsy

Pure genius, though a short, it sends out images of poetry and passion. Seeing an early stage of formation of majestic artistry will astonish all who sees this film. Rich and powerful, it is an element that sends emotions through all who experience this inspired film.

What the hell is that "Carnival of Colors" on Douban, the director of the 1935 film was Tarkovsky, born in 1932.

Tarkovsky's real nominal debutante is a far cry from the other master's earlier film, The Killer, which seems to have set a different style from the start. But this Tarkovsky without his later that the style of the scene shaping, on the contrary, quite a kind of Hollywood in that era of student work. But the audio-visual does have some aura, especially the fat man on the bed part especially has the style of Tarkovsky's kind of subtle mature dialogues.

The ending and some of the shaping is subtle, but not in Tarkovsky's style. Very strange lag, feels like 16 fps.

This film is interesting for being what it is--a Soviet cinema school's student project depicting a Hemingway short story--one of the student performers being Andrei Tarkovsky. As a film on its own right, its acting and direction are uneven. That said, I thought some of the acting was fine. The mood is a bit too subdued and less menacing than the story as I remember it. Then again, the cast were all close to 20--so that's probably is to be expected. According to most accounts, this was the first project from the Soviet film school portraying a non Russian story--and this choice, which was freshly published at the time was chosen by the young Tarkovsky himself, 4.5 stars out of 10

This is the best student film I have ever seen. Not only in directing but style also. It's black and white as every good film noir is. If you can call this short film noir or not though is up for discussion. This is a very faithful adaption of Ernest Hemingway's short story The Killers. And the way it's shot, cut and acted is truly remarkable. Especially in one scene when a man walks into the diner while the killers have Nick Adams and the cook tied up in the back. The whole scene plays out without any dialogue but with the customer whistling a happy tune while George makes him his sandwich. A very good scene.

The short has no soundtrack and doesn't need one either. With the situation and the dialogue it all speaks for itself. A very good short and worth the money I payed for it.

This short film was a student project for a Soviet state film school, and I don't know how much exposure it would have had at the time it was made. It survives for viewing because one of the three students directors was a young Andrei Tarkovsky, and though his resources were constrained, the strength of the work is made evident through how much is done with a very basic production.

The door out of the restaurant seems to lead to a blank wall, but we nonetheless get the lonely atmosphere of a small-town American diner; the filmmakers really seem to have drank in the feel of the Hemingway they read for this adaptation. It's really a twenty-minute atmosphere piece, and it does that very well - the two murderers create a complete and stark sense of threat and menace.

In a constrained setting they made a claustrophobic and memorable film, with a real film-noir feel where we weren't necessarily expecting to find it. High marks!