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Whether or not it is designed as an allegory of modern Russia, no film in recent memory has examined the growing emptiness of human relationships with such expressive force as Andrei Zvyagintsev's ("Leviathan") Loveless, a heart wrenching drama about a couple on the brink of divorce whose emotional neglect of their son leads to devastating consequences. Though the film has been characterized as "bleak," the feeling tone is more like sadness and regret that many today have lost the capacity for compassion and empathy. Accompanied by Evgeny Galperin's rich cascading piano score, the film opens as cinematographer Mikhail Krichman surrounds us with the quiet beauty of a Russian winter.

Almost immediately, we are staring at an cold-looking stone building that could easily be a prison in Siberia. There is no sound or movement. Suddenly a door opens and children, released from school, swarm through its exits. Though some are laughing, it is not a happy scene. 12-year-old Aloysha (Matvey Novikov) makes his way home through a barren forest but there are no warm greetings awaiting him. The marriage between his mother, beauty-salon owner Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) and his father Boris (Alexey Rozin, "Leviathan"), a desk-ridden management functionary, is over. Seeking status, money, and freedom, both are immersed in new relationships. Boris is with the pregnant Masha (Marina Vasilyeva, "Name Me") and Zhenya with the well-to-do business executive Anton (Andris Keishs, "What Nobody Can See").

Though their apartment has been advertised for sale and their divorce is in its final stages, custody of Alyosha has not yet been agreed upon. It is clear that he is an unwanted child, the result of an unexpected pregnancy and a marriage of convenience. Like emotionless machines, the warring couple continue their repetitive spiral of mutual recrimination as Alyosha crouches behind the bathroom door. Fearful and alone he absorbs every last ounce of malice, his face becoming contorted into a mass of silent tears that well up from deep within his being. It is a shocking scene that mirrors every despair the world has ever known.

Since the film takes place in the year 2012, talk radio focuses on the Mayan calendar and its apocalyptic date in December. News reports tell us about the bloody war in the Ukraine. Amidst the barely-controlled paranoia in the air, Boris tells a co-worker that he is afraid to lose his job if his boss, a fundamentalist Christian, finds out about his impending divorce. Fear of losing his job becomes secondary, however, when Zhenya tells him that Alyosha has not shown up for school for two days and is now missing. Far from coming together to patch up their differences, however, the estranged couple only double-down on their mutual acrimony.

The inefficient police offer little expectation that they can find the boy and try to reassure the parents that, in most cases, a missing child is with a friend or relative or out on an adventure and will soon return home. Not satisfied with officialdom's inertia, they turn to a volunteer group who put up posters, talk to teachers and neighbors. An interview with Alyosha's only friend points them to an abandoned apartment in the middle of a forest. In a scene of eerie darkness where there is a palpable feeling of hopelessness and loss, the rescuers, wearing bright orange jackets, comb every space in the decrepit building but Alyosha is not found.

A boy matching Alyosha's description is found at a nearby hospital but it is not him, and a subsequent visit to the morgue only offers more tears. Taking a risk, the two visit Alyosha's mother but the visit only succeeds in bringing hatred up to a level of ecstasy. With no explanation in sight, Zvyagintsev teases us with the sight of an unknown man walking alone into the forest, a man hidden from the camera in a fancy restaurant asking a call girl for her phone number which she provides while looking directly into the camera, a man pausing at a bus stop to read the flier about the missing boy, then turning and walking away, and a teacher cleaning her blackboard after students have left.

These tantalizing scenes, however, do not bring us any closer to a solution to the mystery of Alyosha's disappearance. Loveless is a deeply disturbing film that explores the dark places of human behavior, upending our most cherished beliefs about the bond between parents and children. Making it clear about what can happen when an unwanted child is brought into the world, Anton tells Zhenya that no one can survive a life without love. If Loveless serves as any kind of warning, it may be to help us discover that the world cannot survive either unless we begin to re-envision it as sacred.

Severe and un-melodramatic portrayal of a couple who's at each other's throats and are desperately finalizing their divorce, where both are reluctant in looking out for the best interest of their 12-year-old kid, whom they consider more of a hindrance to their own separate paths to happiness.

It's the feeling of awfulness and marvel in seeing the beauty and the nastiness of humanity that occur in such a cold, stark environment which leaves a lasting impression to the viewer. With shot compositions that never for once looks contrived, effortless in photographing the quotidian scenery, it overwhelms, suffocates and unnerves the viewer by reminding that the onset of the winter season also reflects the bitterness the kid will have to face with the disintegration of his only known family.

The film focuses on Maryana Spivak (Zhenya) and Aleksey Rozin (Boris), who both did a stupendous job in capturing the varying degrees of steely disposition that overflows on such narcissists, way too consumed of the image that they would project to the people that surround them yet lacks the basic empathy to their own flesh and bone, Alyosha (Matvey Novikov in a heart-wrenching performance). But such uncaring demeanor as parents contrasts with that of the upright response shown by a few of their friends and complete strangers in manifesting the spirit of volunteerism. Decent performances from the supporting actors, apart from Natalya Potapova playing Zhenya's mother who almost steals the film with just a single scene in displaying such dreadfulness that rivals that of the irreconcilable couple, each and every one of them gives subdued and understated performances that's much like the way the strategically used minimalist musical score penetrates the background, and the way those inconspicuous brooding scenes transitions to yet another inconspicuous brooding scene.

Zvyagintsev's decision to end the film in an ambiguous note, just utter perfection, not wanting to petrify or shatter the viewer's feelings after witnessing a tragic story. It's the speculation of what the ending signifies that leaves a much more menacing outcome, and it should, (At least, that's how it worked for me), for people to have a more determined resolve in withstanding hardships that life has to offer because, the thing is, the end will never be nigh.

--A-plus--

Andrey Zvyagintsev is one of the best directors nowadays and i truly regard Loveless his greatest film so far. It is a complex, deep portrait of a society in decay since it is composed of superficial people, extremely selfish and harsh. What really matters is their little world and their perfect image which is filtered through the social media. People totally empty whose attitude will have tragic consequences. Loveless is a socking experience because of its unbearable truth. This society that is described could be anywhere. Not only in Russia. So, besides the perfect screenplay, Loveless carries an absolutely powerful direction and a hauntingly beautiful cinematography. Moreover editing, music and acting are all top class. Loveless is an unforgettable experience, a film that is recommended to everyone. It will make you think and think for good. 10/10

Nominated for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Oscars, Loveless is a tragedy film concerning a dysfunctional family that comes pierced with elements of mystery & political undercurrents. Encapsulated with a bleak tone & cold aura, it's a silent meditation on resentment, regret, loss & toxic relationships.

Set in Moscow, the story of Loveless follows a couple that's already broken up and is in final stages of a bitter divorce. Having already found new partners, their only unresolved matter is the custody of their 12-year old child whom neither of them want. But when the kid goes missing one day, the circumstances bring the parents together.

Co-written & directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev (best known for Leviathan), the film brims with a charged atmosphere whenever the parents are in the same room and its toll on their only son who already feels unloved is heartbreaking to watch. The parents' individual lives are firmly established before the main plot kicks in, which makes their scenes together later even more riveting.

Cinematography operates the camera in a silent but smooth fashion and employs exquisite use of its cold colour palette which, in addition to its wintry ambience, only amplifies its gloomy tone. Its 128 minutes runtime is glacially paced, giving the narrative a slow burn vibe. Performances from its leads are strong & vicious while the kid playing their son leaves a solid impression in his limited screen time.

On an overall scale, Loveless is finely directed, well written & brilliantly acted but it requires a bit of patience at first and cuts real deep by the time it's over. Silently brooding & intense, it's a stark depiction of modern life in Russia. Definitely not a film for all, its slow pace & lack of proper resolution may bother few while others will be mesmerised by its unnervingly quiet tone, arresting photography, subtle political shades & social dynamics.

My wife and I frequently find ourselves wondering why so many people we know decided to even have children in the first place, so little priority do they give them in their lives. They act like children are a roadblock to all of these exciting things they would otherwise be doing, instead of recognizing them as exciting things in their own right and probably more likely to enrich their lives in ways that matter than any of the other endeavors these people seem so fixated on. But they don't recognize this, and as a result the kids suffer for it.

"Loveless" is a bleak and scathing indictment of this kind of modern-day parenting, a world of selfish adults pursuing their petty little enjoyments while ignoring the children they voluntarily brought into the world. It's a tough film to watch, though not as tough as I thought it would be. The little boy at the center of the story isn't in the film very long before he goes missing, so we're spared scenes of the misery he feels at home with a super bitch of a mom and a checked out dad. The couple of scenes we get are enough. Then, the film turns into a "L'Aventurra" like odyssey as the parents and authorities go looking for him. What makes the film tough to watch more than anything are the horrid characters that populate it. These people may have once been happy, and maybe have the potential to be happy again, but if so we see no signs of it. These are wretched souls who take their misery out on each other, and walking out of the movie theater after this film was over was like walking into the fresh air after being trapped in a dank crawl space. The film is claustrophobic in its nihilism.

But, and this is a big "but," despite the above paragraph that makes this film sound like a chore to sit through, it's actually a wonderful movie and fascinating in a morbid kind of way. It's bleak to be sure, but people who are exhilarated by good film making can leave even a bleak movie on a high if it's done well, and this is one of those films.

Nominated for a 2017 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film from Russia.

Grade: A

After watching this film last night on STARZ, I must say that this is a very good film about a divorced couple coming to grips with their missing son. But what amazes me or should I say not surprised is the relationship with their boys parents on how they put each other down, constantly arguing. But we forget, or they forget about a 12 year old boy that's been missing for the past several days. All through the Film, since the boy's disappearance, You can feel for the two and you want the boy to be found and that's all I will say. NO SPOILERS, here. The acting and the cinematography is excellent. What makes this film exceptionally great was there's no violence. All scenes were remarkable. A soft, deplorable and absorbing drama. Rating: 7.8.

Moscow, 2012: Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) and Boris (Aleksey Rozin) are a miserably married couple preparing for a divorce as they try to sell their apartment. Each has a new lover as they prepare for their new lives but both are negligent of their tormented twelve-year old son, Alyosha (Matvey Novikov) - thus causing a major twist in the story.

Director/co-writer Andrey Zvyagintsev created a sensation with the very powerful "Leviathan" released in 2014. The earlier film was very critical of the authorities in Russian society (which irked actual Russian authorities) while "Loveless" is critical of the degradation of Russian individuals and society in general. Some characters are more attached to their smartphones than to the people around them. Boris is attached to the endless news cycle. (In one such scene, it is fascinating to hear the biased Russian media's take on the troubles in Ukraine a few years back).

Boris's worst characteristic is his extreme indifference to others while Zhenya is a verbally abusive monster. It is easy to despise her for the way she treats her husband and son but her story is brought to the forefront when the viewer witnesses her with her equally monstrous mother (Natalya Potapova). At this point the viewer sees Zhenya as someone at both ends of the tragic "unwanted child" syndrome - a trait that is sadly hereditary.

Among Zvyagintsev's gifts is the way he handles sex scenes. Rather than the quasi-pornography that is rampant in modern films, the sex scenes in this film are actually erotic and intimate. And despite the film's title, they do represent rare moments when people are loving toward each other.

He is also adept at maintaining a bleak mood throughout the film - one that reflects most of the characters and the society around them. There is an extended scene that involves an abandoned building. One can't help but observe that the building looks functional and even pleasant in some rooms. Like some of the human characters, it was unnecessarily neglected and left to rot.

The epilogue of "Loveless" takes place a few years after the main story. Without giving anything away, its conclusion is sad yet not altogether surprising considering the scenes that preceded it. It's the right conclusion for a very good film with very powerful performances. And its subtle jab against the degradation of people via modern technology is not just a Russian problem; it's truly universal. - dbamateurcritic

Maryana Spivack and Aleksey Rozin are getting divorced,. They've moved on to new lovers and have to sell their old apartment and deal with the fact that his boss is a Fundamentalist Christian who will fire him if he finds out he has gotten a divorce, which will compromise child support for their 12-year-old son. They're two smart, attractive-looking, terrible human beings, and when their son turns up missing, the audience gets to watch them fight and wrangle and be terrible human beings for two hours and seven minutes. There are brief respites when we watch the guy in charge of the volunteers who help find kidnapped children -- because the authorities are terrible -- who is efficient at his job, and it's always a pleasure to watch someone do a job well. There's also one funny scene in which the two leads go visit her terrible mother to see if the son is there. She's old and paranoid and as hateful as her daughter, and so forth.

All the shots are deliberately slow so the awfulness of the situation can penetrate to anyone who isn't aware that this is a bad thing; and there are plenty of recapitulated shots to serve as chapter headings, so people will know that, well, doctor, here we are again. The performances are great, but perhaps a general nuclear strike would be the best ending to this movie.

First of all I like to state that I'm a huge Andrey Zvyagintsev fan. Since his debut with Vozvrashchenie in 2003, on which he rightfully won the Golden Lion on the Venice Film Festival and with it's his followup movies The Banishment (2007), Elena (2011) and Leviathan (2014) nothing seems to be able to harm Zvyagintsev's brilliance in movie-making. Until now. Loveless is truly an overrated movie which is way to long, the story itself could have easily been told in 90 minutes instead of more then two hours. Sometimes long movies contribute with characters to develop, but in this movie the characters remains shallow, the boy that disappears has no depth in his character role what so ever so it's very hard to feel the "pain" of his disappearance. And also because the main two actors, husband and wives, show lack of depth in character it's pretty hard to get some kind of connection with the actors. But then you also have this tedious and most terrible aspect of this movie: quality of acting, or rather, a lack of acting quality. The only thing you see from the this wife character is anger, frustrations, as well when looking at her husband. You only see anger and frustration and fear, fear of how colloquies would react on work when he would state that he has been divorced. Literally everything in this scenario points out towards the same direction: the parents are all egocentric, self-indulgent angry people who have only interest in themselves or in the maybe consequences when divorce is imminent.

The victim is without a doubt the child.

It's so one sided and lacks so much nuances that the characters are becoming, for me at least, a characterization of the evil self destructing ego. A stereotype you might state of the egocentric side of humans. But life itself is anything but one dimensional and because of the one dimensional characters in this movie makes this movie hard to watch, let alone a movie to take seriously. A pity, because I'm a real fan of Andrey Zvyagintsev, I've got all of his movies but I'm not eager to add this one to my movie collection.

Loveless is a depressingly profound experience.

It paints the world as it is, not shying away from showing the bitter emptiness, disconnect and sorrow (which we usually choose to ignore) that surrounds our society. The desperate search for happiness, the unbelievable selfishness, lack of compassion and love, as the title suggests, that seperates generations of people in our modern times of self-absorbed("anti")social media. The film manages to achive these incredible feats (without being preachy) in its fantastically written and acted multi-layered and complex characters, whom as the story goes on beautifully unravel from just simple despicable people to characters that you understand and by the end sort of empathize with and pity (though not all of them: the character of the father is kind of an exception, he's a bit underdeveloped). Though our main characters represent what is wrong with our society, Loveless manages to keep a hopeful balance showing the good side as well with its selfless side-characters, the search party.

Andrey Zvyagintsev's direction is immaculate, from the beautiful cinematography, with its lingering shots of the dreary Russian winterlands and cityscapes filling you with a sense of melancholy and loneliness, to the authentic writing and the tragic story itself.

Loveless is a tough watch that challenges the warped values of the 21st century, holding a mirror towards our modern society, still unable to escape the same endless cycle it's always been trapped in. A dour but realistic meditation on humanity's need for love.

/as schmaltzy or cheesy as this review sounds I assure you the film is the furthest thing from being those things./

...but as unfailingly engrossing as any film i've ever seen.

This is as dark as any theme comes but portrayed with such incredible realism that it will make you wince. Wounded, damaged, soulless parents that take your breath away. And although we meet the son only a short time, I personally felt such ache & pain for him, it was palpable. The scene with him in the bathroom one of the most devastating ever filmed. And yes, all the allegories & metaphors execute beautifully...about Russian, our society, technology & narcissism. Far more if you care to dig deeper. you will NOT easily get this film out of your head & that's testament to all involved.

The case when the movie causes physical pain. If to characterize the film, I can say this: "You're asking if there will be an end of the world? But it has already come!".

On the one hand, the film shows a rather trivial situation, when the family is in trouble, there is no peace. Boredom and dullness. On the other hand, Evil is clearly shown as a form of total dislove. No one loves anybody: neither the mother the son, nor the husband wife, nor the man of man... Poor, lonely people are everywhere and forever.

In many ways this film is so Russian that unless you are Russian or have spent a considerable time in Russia you may miss many of the subtler parts of this film - recurring motifs - but this does not detract from an absolutely intelligent and realistic film.

Heavy on symbolism I remained enthralled throughout, a deeply original and emotive work that will resonate in the mind long after viewing. A Masterpiece.

It deserves no less than the maximum 10/10.

"I think I've made a terrible mistake." Zehyna (Maryana Spivak)

She may have had more than one mistake, but the one that propels the grief of Loveless is being a mother. Hence the title. Writer Director Andrey Zvyagintsev creates a dramatic story of such pathos and regret that it's no surprise when Maryana and Boris's 12 year old son disappears probably due to their egregious neglect and arguing about getting a divorce within his earshot.

Like the son, we'd leave that depressing situation except that the story leads us wanting to see if they find the son and if the search brings the couple back together. All this happens while the cinematography features the beautifully bleak Russian landscape and decaying buildings. The metaphor for their failed marriage has equal partnership with the chillingly lovely winter scape.

I don't know for sure, but Loveless not only captures a couple so detached from love of their partners and their child, it also comments on the separation of the Ukraine and the notoriously chilling Russian life divorced from the high-profile comfort of Vladimir Putin's oligarchy, where the commoners search for love that does not comfortably occupy their hearths.

Yet in the end this is not a story just about Russia; it is about all the fragmented, tortured relationships in the world that spawn children who have managed to get in the way of the solipsistic lifestyle contemporary millennials seem to desire. This film does not torture you with the lonely life of contemporary bourgeoisie; it rather suggests a fragmented future of self-centered couples, and I forgot to mention the motif of spouses on 24/7 with their smart phones. That is depressing.

Although it doesn't look good for us in the future, Loveless's nomination for Oscar's best foreign language film has an enviable artistic future. If you think of Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage, Antonioni's L'Avventura, or Haneke's Hidden, you're right in Loveless territory. Not a bad convention, I think.

You will frown at the heavy political message regarding Ukraine, Poroshenko, Donetsk at the end of the film.

Interwoven into the storyline like an incidental news item.

I watched this movie with subtitles in my mother tongue.

Subtile quote: "Kiev has a government that includes foreigners and people for whom the West matters more than the needs of Ukraine."

Poroshenko reigned the troubled grain country from 2014 to 2019 and was succeeded by Zelensky.

At the very end of the film there is an expanded scene in which the main character walks on the treadmill with the inscription 'RUSSIA' on her sweater.

You start to wonder whether the film is about the story or the propaganda.

There is some emotion and passion in the film, but in general you can say that it is about people who indeed treat each other 'loveless', hard, cold.

In the meantime, you wonder what the position on abortion actually is in the film. For or Against?

And why don't those two gobbling colleagues in the company restaurant eat with fork And knife?

Enough stuff for a discussion with your loved one under the blanket on the couch ;-)

Despite the unwelcome propaganda, I still give it a seven.

The year is 2012. Forewarnings, predicted by the Mayan calendar, of an impending apocalypse plague the radio stations of Russia. Listeners commuting to and from work subliminally digesting words of societal annihilation from harbingers. The inevitable collapse of civilisation. Russia's bureaucratic bodies preoccupied with the administrative tasks that the Putin regime prioritise for them. The bigger picture. The federation. Consequently, menial crimes and cases are neglected by policing forces, who are immersed in concealing anarchy. A pivotal hurdle for two separated parents in the midst of a bitter divorce, brought back together temporarily to find their missing son.

Policing entities are unconcerned. A perspective that Zvyagintsev provides skeptically for viewers to make judgement on, enabling him to shine an angelic light upon the search-and-rescue volunteer group. Nonprofit entities bypassing an oppressive state for the betterment of families, offering a stark contrast against the ineffectual police. Therefore, at its core, a familial drama. A narrative structure that Zvyagintsev's direction is most comfortable in portraying.

Loveless may conceive political undertones, less expressive than that in 'Leviathan', yet predominantly provided insight into the theme of lovelessness. Anti-love. The state in which one simply cannot live. Zhenya and Boris resent each other. Loathe the very space they share together. Two humanised individuals with the emotional capacity of vacuous narcissistic monsters. Representations of societal souls tainted by self-absorption and media corruption. Alyosha, their young teenage son, remains trapped in the middle of two parents who neglect him. Unwanted. Zhenya, enamoured by social media, yearns for his "father" to nurture him. Likewise Boris would rather opt for his "mother" to tend to his needs.

Through argumentative domestic confrontations, the central theme of parental neglect seeps through the cracks. Alyosha silently crying, coming to terms that he is unacknowledged. Abandoned by life, he disappears. Zvyagintsev painfully paints his masterpiece with bleak shades of darkened white snow. Again, the characters are directed from a neutral standpoint. Whilst the fatal flaws of both parents are more forthcoming than his previous features, judgement is exhumed from the viewer. Criminally neglectful? Or just distracted by the world around them?

The situational plot forces these characters to coexist and confront the relational life they once lived. Together. As a family. Zhenya visiting her mother only to reveal a hereditary source of bitterness. Boris coldly challenging the new family he has created in an attempt to reignite love. The search for Alyosha deepening an abyss of vacuity between them. Familial nihilism. Zvyagintsev bravely portrayed these characters as unlikeable, naturally forming our attachment to the absent son, and it worked beautifully. The purpose of Loveless is not to form an emotional attachment to these individuals, but to observe a drama rooted in abandonment from society itself.

Zvyagintsev's prolonged shots of weathered landscapes exemplify a bleak existential aura enveloping the case. Collapsed foliage in the oppressive environment signifying the diminishment of hope. Harsh snowfall threatening the search adjacent to an unwelcoming abandoned building. The persistent naturalism of Loveless created a dense eerie fog of depression, captured exquisitely by Krichman, a metaphorical weather that Zvyagintsev is well-known for producing.

Spivak and Rozin's despondent performances highlighting the lack of urgency that these parents embodied. Mellow throughout, forever regarding themselves and not their son. The Galperine's stringed score eternally lowering the suburban mood, diminishing hope as the feature progresses. Culminating a relentless search into an ambiguous test for love.

Love is existence. We cannot fully exist without its alluring power. To be loveless, is to be hollow. A shell of humanity. Zvyagintsev took every aspect of his previous works of art and orchestrated them into a symphony of poignant melancholia. Loveless though, is his masterpiece. And I have no qualms whatsoever in bestowing Loveless a perfect rating.

There is much to be admired here including some of the cinematography and the way the actions of the couples and their extra marital affairs are entwined but although tension does finally begin to build up out in the woods and particularly when involving the deserted buildings. we have had a long wait. I feel that the director needed and managed to acquire much support for this venture but possibly lacked having someone around to suggest some trimming. This is longer than it need be and could have been tightened seemingly quite easily without any effective loss to the story or its power. There is considerable power here and a devastating picture of lovelessness is all around. There seems to be more than an element of misogyny here with the wives and mothers clearly being cast as the baddies and how much that is a reflection of Russian society or the director's feelings is hard to tell after only having seen the one film. But the open displays of disgust by mother and grandmother for the child and seeming use of pregnancy as manipulation are disturbing. Lots of interesting things going on within this very harsh and pessimistic film. The radio broadcast towards the end informing of the ongoing battle with Ukraine seems a little forced and whilst it is possible this venture is making domestic life more difficult and that the director wishes to make this point, it is not very convincing. If he wants to make a larger point about the government's priorities for its people then again, there is not enough clarity. The chatter about war is indeed made to seem even less relevant with the final shots, echoing the film's opening, with ambiguous shots above the deserted lake and the fluttering streamer.

"Loveless" (2017 release from Russia; 127 min.) brings the story of Boris and Zhenya and their 12 yr. old son Alexey. As the movie opens, school les out and Alexey takes the long way home, through a nearby park. At home, we quickly learn that Zhenya and Boris are going through a bitter and antagonizing divorce. They argue relentlessly, all the while thinking Alexey doesn't hear them But he hears them all too well... Boris and Zhenya are already in new relationships. Then one day, Alexey doesn't come home from school. Where could he be? Can Boris and Zehnya patch their personal differences in looking for their son? To tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from Russian writer-director Andrey Zvyagintsev, who previously brought us such excellent films like 2012's Oscar-nominated Leviathan, and 2011's Elena. In "Loveless", he goes a very different direction, examining modern day life in Moscow with its endless apartment buildings, and the correlating urban loneliness. The very bitter feelings between Boris and Zhenya are at times shocking, but feel very real. The two Russian actors playing the roles of Boris and Zhenya are unknown to me, but are nothing short of outstanding. I absolutely love how Zvyagintsev chooses a camera angle and setup, and then simply lets the scene unfold. Check the lunch scene between Boris and his co-worker, where they discuss their company's policy on divorce, all playing out over several minutes in a single take without any camera angle changes. The second half of the movie, focusing on the search for Alexey, is simply chilling and by the end of the movie I was emotionally spent. That is of course a dead giveaway that I was emotionally involved and invested in the movie, the sign of a top quality movie, "Loveless" was nominated at this year's Oscars for Best Foreign Language Movie, but did not win. I have now seen all 5 of the Oscar nominated movies in this category, and with all due respect to the Oscar winner "A Fantastic Woman", I have no doubt in my mind that "Loveless" is a better movie, and should've won. Alas, I am also quite certain that quite a few of the Oscar voters were turned off by the very bleak nature of "Loveless", in fact quite the opposite of "A Fantastic Woman". After the thinly-veiled criticism of the Russian authorities in "Leviathan", it came as no surprise that the Russian government refused any funding for "Loveless", so Zvyagintsev had to obtain funding from elsewhere (mostly Western Europe).

"Loveless" premiered at last year's Cannes festival to immediate critical acclaim. It finally opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended dismally (4 people in total, including myself). That is a darn shame. Hopefully this movie will gain a wider audience as it gets distributed on various platforms. If you are in the mood for a devastating family drama movie that is nothing short of top-notch, I encourage you to check it out, be it in the theater (while you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.

I won't write anything bad about the actors as the acting was good. I don't know anybody from the cast but then again I'm not very familiar with Russian actors. The story itself has some problems though. Not that it wasn't entertaining or captivating to watch but it sometimes just fell too long. The beginning of the story is just about the development of the bad relation between the mother and the father, about their selfish view on how to raise their only child. The second part is about the disappearance and searching for their son. It's not badly done but for a long movie I need answers at the end. They had time enough to come with a proper ending so I'm not going to be satisfied with an open ending. Something I will never be actually, as a movie needs a proper ending, good or bad, it doesn't matter. Too bad in this case they didn't put some effort into that.