Film with a deep spiritual message, layered and complex. A true author's cinema, with rich symbolism derived from Eastern Christianity. It keeps failing your expectations - failing the genre until the ultimate plot twist, in the end. Not quite sure why people keep mentioning Kafka because that atmosphere is there at the beginning, but the story leads you elsewhere, so Kafka is just a first, not the most important reference. (It seems like the most obvious reference for the less educated wiever.) It is slow and meditative, it is intellectually challenging and it is definitely a film for people in search of meaning. I am trying to understand why anyone would rate this film with one star, but then again, I know so many people who hate Tarkovsky or Bergman on the grounds of being "boring" or "slow". Well, not everything is made for your amusement, something is there for other purposes - like asking deeper questions about our existence. Just get over it and keep watching something less demanding. If you like Malick, Wenders, Tarkovsky, or Bergman, this is a film for you. A great piece of cinema, nicely done, and quite rare in today's cultural circumstances. But what really caught my attention was a clear reference to Tornatore's Una pura formalita. This film also has that 90ies author's cinema wibe.
