Comment j'ai passé l'été

Interesting film. Excellent cinematography and beautiful setting. The main characters narrative seems completely false, and throughout the film I found myself being more and more angered and disgusted with him. I can imagine many boys who would act like this though.

This film is a must watch for any film enthusiast.Shows the power of camera.The near perfect acting by all the cast(even if the number is just 2) makes this one a memorable experience.

A stunning drama on human emotions,relation and communication shot with breathtaking visuals. The plot is simple and the development happens in almost seamless manner through powerful visual story telling, dialogues and voice acting.You will struggle to find any other film which captures the stunning beauty of Arctic like this film does.

Another thing to note is the awesome use of sound in this film.Whether the radio, or nature or the sound of water or boat,the sound department has done more than what many expects out of it.

Except for sexual relations, almost all human character/emotions/expression can be seen in this film- fear, lies, friendship, boss, freedom, celebration, learning, longing, tension, enmity, guilt, grief, childish, lazy, discipline, compassion, forgiveness and much more. And to imagine all these have been achieved by just 2 characters alone is a majestic achievement in itself.

One of the best films of 2010.Truly original.

"Kak ya provyol etim letom" (Russian title contains intentional misspell-pin and should be read "How I Cheated (somebody) Last Summer", not just this school-like "How I Spent Last Summer", chosen for foreign version) is a Russian psychological drama about two meteorologists, the old, Sergei, and the young, Pavel, who get stuck on an isolated polar station for a regular season work and have to deal with each other ...and the information, that arrives from the "big earth".

Visually and stylistically film is flawless. Cinematography with it's slow-pacing, static long shots and scenic wild nature shots is adorable. Atmosphere, when time seems ticking slower and cold wind awaits for you from another side of the door, is on the good level too. And as a native-speaker, I can say that dialogue-lines are also pretty decent. Polar station as a place is just a cause for examination of human communication (so-called "chemistry") in isolated space. Subject deals with responsibility, instinct of self-preservation, influence of isolated space to human psychics and importance of experience. I don't want to spoil your first-time-watching, so I won't go into plot any further...

Can't name any similarities. Maybe the closest will be: "Breaking the Waves" meets "Gerry" and "Shutter Island" (no delusions here, similarity is geographical) along with Russian "Dikoe Pole" (2008) and maybe even "Kukushka" (2002). Plus some Michael Haneke's style (like from most recently - though black and white - "Das Weisse Band" with it's distant human behavior examination). In my opinion, "Kak ya provyol etim letom" is one of the best Russian movies of the decade (2000-2010) along with Alexei Balabanov's "Gruz 200", "Morfiy" and above-mentioned Alexander Rogozhkin's "Kukushka". And yes, it is way better than Zvyagintsev's pretentious force-fed Tarkovsky-styled issues "Vozvraschenie" & "Izgnanie".

Don't know how soon those of you who don't speak Russian will be available to watch this with subtitles or voice-over...

So, if you're often bored with 2-hour non-action movies - don't bother watching this. Try something more entertaining. But if you're into slow-paced minimalistic psychological dramas, give it a try. You'll be aesthetically rewarded.

8-8,5\10.

I have never watched a Russian film before and I was not sure what I was going to be in for with this film, but I was pleasantly surprised! The story line is fresh, simple but very effective, it is filmed well and the music/sound is very well done to really give this particular feel to my first watched Russian film.

Hollywood could pick this film up, change a few things to the story line, add a few well known actors in the mix and they would have a winner on their hands, Hollywood has been doing it for years, but damn I hope they don't do it with this film, as I think it is great the way it is.

Give it a go, no special effects, no blood and guts, just a good solid drama, with great decor to boot! 8 out of 10

How i ended this summer was the winner of the 2010 London film festival award and it also won many other awards from around the world and quite rightly so in my opinion.

Two men of different generations , who work on a an Arctic weather station , come to blows when the younger man has to tell his colleague of a family tragedy but fears the consequences of telling him.

This film will not appeal to everyone. It's a Russian film directed by Aleksei Popogrebsky and although subtitled , does not really depend on a large amount of dialogue to tell the story.

It starts of at a slow pace and as the film progresses , the tension builds to the point that it gets the viewer angry as to the decisions that are being made. Why doesn't the young man tell his elder the news? Is he really that scared of him? What will happen when he finds out?

This is a film about human relationships and vulnerability .

Apart from the tense story , it looks superb too and i only hope lots of people give this film a chance because they wont regret it.