Frost is a slow and baleful movie shot mostly in eastern Germany in Winter. The film follows Marianne and her young son Misha, although the wind is as ever present a character. Marianne flees her abusive partner entering the hinterands of the east attempting to fend for herself and her child in a depressed, indifferent and anomic atmosphere. Occasional moments of kinetic beauty serve only to briefly punctuate the gloom and each is chillingly doused. Frost is masterfully shot, with complex dollying and tracking that few filmmakers would attempt. Mr Kelemen who shot and directed the film is strongly sensitive to cruelty, the type of cruelty that is unmasked only to the vulnerable. The key to the film is Psalm 8, spoken in a church scene, which talks about a theological relationship between God and children. "You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies". Perhaps the most sublime scene is that of a young boy dragging a piece of metal down a cobbled street. A klaxxon and a condemnation of those who hide behind their door, seeing no evil and giving no charity. Tarkovksy is often brought up in relation to Kelemen, but I was also thinking of the Dardennes.
