Ya ne vernus

The Eastern European movie Ya ne vernus (2014) was shown in the U.S. with the title "I Won't Come Back." It was directed by Ilmar Raag. I said the movie was "Eastern European" because the language is Russian, the director is Estonian, and the film includes scenes set in St. Petersburg, and--at least in the script--in Kazakhstan. (I wouldn't recognize any of the geographic locations anyway. Sometimes one of the protagonists--Anya--doesn't know exactly where she is either.)

Watching this film is a unique experience. It never telegraphs where it's going next, and, usually, it goes in a direction that you don't expect.

This movie is really hard to review without giving the plot away. We learn right in the beginning that Anya (played by Polina Pushkaruk) was raised in a orphanage. (We're never told about the conditions in the orphanage.) We first meet Anya when she's receiving a gold medal at graduation.

In the next scene, Anya is a graduate student, giving a lecture. Her supervisor arrives after class, and we learn that she and he are lovers, although he's married, and has a child. Still within the first 15 minutes of the movie, Anya is on the run, pretending to be much younger than she is so that she can stay at a shelter for homeless youth. It's there that she meets young Kristina--played superbly by Vika Lobachova--and that's where the story really begins.

It would have been relatively easy to swing into a traditional road/buddy movie style at this point, and that might have turned into an interesting film. That's not what happens in this movie.

Try to see this movie so that you can learn where director Raag goes with it. It's not an easy ride, but it's an interesting one. We saw this film in the wonderful Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. If you're lucky, you'll find the movie at a similarly excellent venue. If not, it will work almost as well on the small screen.

This film is so heartbreaking and convincing, that tears came running about the end of this film.

I saw this in the Cannes market two weeks ago and it has lingered in my mind as one of the better offerings at the festival as a whole. It appears at first to be a gritty piece of social realism in the manner of Ken Loach but gradually evolves, adding touches of humour and wistful fantasy as the protagonists break out of their urban environment and settle into a road-movie routine. A late plot development introduces a blast of harsh reality and paves the way to a bitter-sweet conclusion. Polina Pushkaruk is excellent as Anya, the young woman determined to put her past behind her, and Vika Lobacheva utterly charming as the 13-year-old who plays on her heart-strings. This is accomplished filmmaking, and Ilmar Raag is clearly not a newcomer on the scene. He does not appear to have established himself as a name in the West, but hopefully I Won't Come Back is a first step towards changing that.

This movie is one of the best I've seen. It's sad, uplifting, beautiful, well acted, has beautiful scenery and it's basically vibrating with humanity.

The other CINEFEST 2014 film I wish to discuss here is called "I won't come back" (original Russian title "Я Не Вернюсь") a fantastic little masterpiece in the form of a road movie, but that's not what it's really about. What this fantastic film from Estonian helmer Ilmar Raag (46) is actually about is How Deadly it is in this cruel World to have Nobody who Loves you ~~ Lack of love can kill! -- and when it's too Late to repent ... It's just too damn late!

The first thing about this film is that although co-produced by Estonia Finland Kazakhstan and Byeloruss, and directed by an Estonian, there is nothing particularly Estonian about it except perhaps the overall sensitivity. The language is Russian and the setting is a large city, unidentified, possibly Minsk, and later the roads to Kazakhstan. The central drama is the relationship between two young female runaways, Anja, a university grad student (Polina Pushkaruk, 23, beautiful and perfect in the role) and feisty 13 year old orphan, Kristina, played by pudgy Vika Lubacheva in an amazing, unforgettable, juvenile performance so real it doesn't look like acting at all. The direction and the acting of the two girls -- their nasty conflicts and growing affection -- is exquisitely realized in an exciting road movie that turns into a tear jerker in the best sense of that term -- in other words a tragedy of classic Grecian proportions with a cathartic conclusion that left me stunned in my seat for ten minutes after the projection was over wiping away a flood of unexpected tears. The title of the film comes from Anja's final realization that the married professor she was having sex with and is so hung up on only sees her as a plaything -- partly at least because of the real love emanating from desperately unloved orphan Kristina -- and sends him a text message with the words "Ya Ne Vernus".(Awkward transliteration of the original Russian title)

This is a great film which I hope will be Seen everywhere. It came to Miskolc from Tribeca in New York and should be an entry in the next Oscar foreign Language category if they can figure out what country it should be entered under. (Byeloruss, Russian, Kazakhstan??) -- My feeling is that If it makes it to the Oscars "Ya Ne Vernus" will be a surprise winner. It is already atop my own Best Ten List for 2014. The question now is, will the Cinefest jury here also give it the recognition it deserves, or pass it up in favor of some highly questionable entry as was the case last when a total Turkey from Germany was declared Best film. (It lost out to another excellent film, "Class Enemy", but class is class, and both films were equally classy and equally deserving)