Kitoboy

There's not much here about whaling, but then there's not much about anything else either. You could almost believe that a dimwitted inarticulate village boy would become fixated on an internet fantasy, given how empty and boring all the "real life" scenes are. Anyway, that provides the trigger for a minimal bit of plot where he wanders off for a while and nothing happens. There's not much dialog, but what there is is filled with long pauses and staring into space, and almost every shot is drawn out and over-extended, seemingly just to lengthen the film. It does succeed, though, in portraying the mind-numbing tedium of a rural Russian backwater, so two stars for that.

A far from uncommon problem as adolescence draws to a close and the surroundings that have protected become a prison; big city or on the outskirts of nowhere, the only difference being that one makes scratching that itch a lot easier. Share the frustrations of Leshka, as online love and the American dream are dangled so tantalisingly close and yet remain so far away and completely out of touch.

Unless you are completely hooked on Hollywood blockbusters, do yourself a favour and watch this movie. With a fraction of a fraction of the budget of a Hollywood movie, this gem managed to totally captivate me throughout. It introduced me to a part of our planet I know almost nothing about. It is elegiac, but also hopeful. It increasingly made me feel deep empathy for its central character, without him ever saying much. It features outstanding cinematography (the collection of candlelight scenes during the power-cut radiate enormous warmth and humanity) and a most surprising soundtrack. And the last five minutes are some of the best I ever watched in a movie. What more could one want ! (Thank you to the WOW Festival 2021 for screening this)

I really liked Lyoshka's sensitive world, with which you can empathize pretty quickly.

The director Philipp Yuryev delivers a great movie!

I can't believe reviews! Did I watch an another movie? Cause Kitoboy is so so bad. Scenario is so bad. Dialogues are bad. No acting. No music (just one really bad song) It's so boring and totally meaningless. Waste of time. I hate it.