Les Belov

Beautifully shot in vintage black and white, Belovy (the Belovs) tells the story of two times widow Anna Belova who lives together with her brother Mikhail.

Blending the two personalities, Kossakovsky characterizes the true Russian soul: she is the rational worker, honest and strong- he is the drunken poet, the idealist, his philosophy fades into radical nonsense time after time.

Kossakovsky ingeniously knows to cut between a noisy quarrel and a hedgehog drinking in the early morning sun. The two seem to live alone in the world until two other brothers come to visit. They wonder if there is a measure for misery, they quarrel, take a steam-bath and go skinny- dipping in a nearby river.

The film displays the grief and joy of Anna who lives with her stoic brother and two kids who don't seem to make any progress. Magnificent- typically Russian- photography reminds one of Tarkovsky when we closely examine the bark of a tree while we hear Anna cry over a letter she writes to a son far far away.