Klondike

New generation of people, born and raised during the occupation is one of the greatest tragedies that modern Ukraine has faced and going to face in the future.

This movie is telling the story of the origin of this trauma, without answering the question of how to cure it, and doing it in quite a brutal way.

The cinematography is beautiful. It consists of mostly static frames of soulless people and machines, whom are really busy with butchering both nature and themselves, without questioning the moral of their deeds even once, and a single human soul, terribly afraid of unknown and a savage new reality. She hides the disbelief in silence while waiting the moment of birth.

In general, it's a worthy contender for being the one of the best war movie of the modern Ukrainian cinema, it is getting really close to Atlantis, which I consider the pinnacle of this genre.

I watched this at the SIE Center in Denver. I'm not a movie buff and was invited by a friend. The nuances that the film maker is able to capture are amazing: the strong desire by the main character to simply just live, how they're stuck between two opposing sides, but don't want to be in the war...and have no choice, the lack of resources, the lack of control, etc.

I'm not usually a long take person, but I felt the confusion and lack of information that each of them had so palpable as a result. It made me realize what war would be like for me personally if it were ever to come to Denver, to my block, to my house. I love my house and leaving it would be incredibly tough. The subtleties were all captured.

The acting was amazing and I was impressed by the final scene. Without giving it away, it looked so realistic.

.... so intensely in this film of the situation in 2014 in Donbas region. This family does not want to be part of the war but is forced to deal with the situation of factions in their small town, on their farm. The leads are all marvelous in their roles; the screenwriting, direction, cinematography, all outstanding. I saw it just today at the Alameda International Film Festival and someone said -- "can all of our political leaders be made to watch this?" The dedication was to the women of Ukraine and I definitely feel as if this was a women's war film-- contrasting with another film made also in 2022 where there were almost no women to be found.

Saw this back at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

When I first heard about this at Sundance, I didn't know what to think about it as I have never seen a movie from Ukraine before and this was a weird synopsis. However, after viewing it, it's very clear that Maryna Er Gorbach has a great future of making possible masterpieces of Ukraine cinema. Gorbach offers such an brutal look of the political situation between Ukraine and Russia through the lens of a couple struggling to go on with their days. Throughout the movie, there are many incredible long but realistic takes of characters walking around and speaking which really helped to add the realism and brutal nature of what the characters were facing. All performances were amazing and the characters felt so real as if you are really witnessing them going through this troubles.

The execution is perfectly made as it shows that Gorbach really cares about her craft. Beautiful sound designs and there were some moments that made me feel really uneasy but in a good way. The feeling of uneasy because it was quite brutal and hard to stomach at times. Pacing did drag a little but it wasn't something that ruined my entire experience with this movie.

Rating: A-

You know what's going to happen here yet you watch it for the strong character that leads Klondike with her family who are suddenly finding it difficult to exist. There's levity in the proceedings that make you really wonder what is all this for. With excellent performances and haunting visuals, Klondike kept me hooked and made me morose at the same time. The visuals are so stunning you almost believe you are at the Ukraine-Russia border. The worse part is that you dear for your life too. Interestingly, at the IFFK this year all I have seen so far are tragedies.

(Watched at the 2022 International Film Festival of Kerala in Trivandrum.)