I Won't Come Back

The Title of the film is as much the theme of the main character's journey as it is her enigma. Sterility-of-function-Anya receives a rare, gold medal for her orphanage performance, at the beginning.. For this she can barely smile. We see her fierce soul evidence when she breaks from her peers to preserve her virginity--a strange, rare jewel in this film's harsh, Soviet-style paganism. I'll stop here, as the spirit of this character is much more than mere drama unfolding. Anya's roller coaster ride takes us through the machinations of decades of adult living in mere weeks, touching realities many person's whole lives are too timid to embrace. If you are a typical, Western 'zombie', this is not your movie to watch.

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)

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

Christine was a separate individual than Anya. But try and think of her as Anya herself, a few years younger. And that Anya is trying to get away from this smaller Anya whom she can't get rid of. As she faces the world, the little Anya within helps the grown up Anya to survive and she starts finding and liking her own self as a result. Eventually the younger Anya has loved her purpose, and the older gets home.

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.