Sezon tumanov

I went to the opening of the film here in the UK and I enjoyed it a lot.

I felt at first it was very slow but it became clear after a short period of time that this set the scene for what was to come. A charming film which explores the themes of boredom in a small English village and the ideas of what could have been. The characters develop well and you genuinely feel the tensions of the main character Marina as she struggles to know what to do, torn between two worlds.

I liked it.

Ravinol

A gentle and moving film set between a sleepy English village and the hustle and bustle of Moscow. The story follows Marina, bored with her mundane life as wife and mother, on her journey towards fulfilment both in love and in her career. Marina is a writer who gets an opportunity to publish her work in Moscow. A brief chance encounter with a fellow Russian throws her love life in disarray. Faced with a dilemma and running a risk of losing all in the process, she makes an unpredictable choice to create the best possible future for herself. This film is beautifully shot, engaging and relevant. The main character delivers an outstanding performance. Catch it if you can.

I started with much trepidation as some Russian films are a bit thin on the ground with dialogue and the plot/screenplay itself. However, the film itself is very enjoyable and unlike many films these days is a bit more in depth with both the character's roles within the film and the way the film plays out the plot.

The English village and surrounding countryside has been well selected from a locational viewpoint and is populated by some village residents that bring a smile to your face with their bantering between each other. The village idiot who is clearly barking mad is also quite amusing in his own small way. I highly recommend this film.

This is a very interesting film about the choices that one can find oneself having to make, often unexpectedly, at key points in life. And about how these choices may be the rights one or wrong ones for many different reasons. It kept me thinking for a long time afterwards. The mixed cast – half British, half Russian – works well and there are some very nicely-judged performances. I particularly liked Ifan Huw Dafydd as Gregory. There is one scene where he seems to convey everything he is feeling simply by opening his eyes. The Leicestershire landscape and Moscow at night both look wonderful thanks to the cinematography by Dmitry Ermakov.

I was one of the fortunate people who was invited to the screening of this film in Cambridge a few months ago. Without the temptation to refer to the plot, I would summarise this work as a refreshing and insightful piece that realistically portrays an educated middle-aged Russian woman trying to find herself in a foreign culture whilst having very limited opportunities. It particularly struck a chord with me because it somewhat reminded me of a story I witnessed in my own family: the emotional turmoil that my mother faced having moved to the UK from Russia where she was in a respected and successful academic post, but subsequently had to make do with some low-profile job opportunities that stunted her personal and professional growth. Marina's soul is aching for fulfilment beyond the mundane tasks of an every day life in a small village. You can almost 'feel' her emotional emptiness and you sense her being out of place, her desire to fly out of a cage that her life seems to have become since moving to the UK. Is this what most highly-educated creative Russian women endure when they relocate to a foreign country? I really liked the character of Marina's husband, mostly for the loyalty and kindness despite quite profound life-changing events that unravel.

The movie skilfully conveys a huge range of emotions. There is a place for tears and there is a place for a smile. What is certain is that it left me with a deep feeling of HOPE.