Loveless

Fueled by overt hatred and resentment, a young Russian couple openly battle over their impending separation, neither seemingly wanting to take custody of their 12-year-old son. After overhearing a particularly virulent argument between his parents, the son suddenly disappears, triggering a massive search by a volunteer group after the police express their disinterest in the case. Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Loveless, much like Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan from a few years earlier, is a scathing condemnation of Russian society and the disintegration of the family unit. Using Tarkovsky-like slow zooms, framing, and subtle camera movements, Loveless is a simple story with complex moral outcomes, a movie that makes American counterparts like Kramer vs Kramer and A Marriage Story feel like light-hearted Disney cartoons.

This is a good drama, a family drama film. Its a bit slow to build, plot wise but its thoughtful and is the kind of film I imagine a lot of people who have gone through divorce, with kids, can perhaps relate to. However, it does finish with an unanswered question, a bit of a cliffhanger. I think the viewer can guess whats implied but its not outright confirmed or not (I won't elaborate so as not to provide any spoiler(s)). It is quite a grim and sober watch and its quite dark in terms of both the themes and the physical lighting present. Overall this is a good film that I'd recommend, yes.

It is not only an open window for a country in crisis, but also a devastating familiar drama with charachters that sruggle to feel or worry about something beyond themselves.

Overall, I thought the movie was OK but quite a downer. The acting was very good but the story is about two miserable people who are unable to love or be loved and the impact that has on everyone around them including their son.

Nothing beats a grim and depressing movie about modern Russia.

Hubby and Wife date night brings the Russian film, 'Loveless', which in reality is fine, but a little too ambiguous for hubby. Wife, as usual, is a soft grader. Hubby felt as though there was just not enough going on to justify the slow burn. The movie didn't earn the finish. Overall, this is kinda take it or leave it. Wife: 6.2/Hubby: 5.0 Average: 5.6/10

A great film. Within 130 minutes one sees a tragedy unfold - a tragedy that is not an accident or a mistake. Two irresponsible parents who have never loved, as they themselves have never been loved, in a society that does not care about the Other; a society lost in its superficial prosperity or even in its pursuit of comfort as its ultimate goal. Zvyagintsev makes a critique of the society of indifference by exploring an incident that highlights its tragic nature. So when the film shows us the new 'adventures' of the parents, we cannot do anything but wonder where the child is. And this is the main feeling I got from the film. After all, it is not just about Russia - humans worldwide are experiencing a moral crisis. So, where is the child? And what has gone so wrong that the value of comfort, of a well-paying job, of good reputation, is more important than the value of empathy, of the values that constitute our human nature? Where have we lost the child?

When I saw a Zvyagintsev film for the first time I was really fascinated by it, the movie I'm referring to is Leviathan, that's been critically acclaimed and also loved by the public for an infinite number of good reasons. I approached Loveless full of expectations and I must say that they were not unfulfilled at all. Loveless is an amazing film, which presents themes that other directors have already touched in the past, but it does so with a very personal and recognizable style. The narrative is dry and goes straight to the point, analysing in depth the failings of two parents too focused on their lives. The actors are absolutely exceptional, even the supporting ones. Just as in Leviathan, here too hope finds little room, for it is crushed by people who are so selfish they are incapable of looking after the needs of others. What makes it all even more suffocating are the settings: the director's Russia is often a "concrete block", the rooms are gloomy, the sky always grey. Krichman's photography adds an extra touch of class, elevating Loveless to a small modern masterpiece. I expected a beautiful film and again I was not disappointed.

As its title suggests this morbid Russian movie claims to be attempting to draw attention to a national crisis – the desperate plight of children who struggle to cope with self-obsessed parents and an uncaring national police dept. Director Andrey Zvyagintsev and co-writer Oleg Negin (both also responsible for ‘Leviathan' '14 an equally depressing Russian movie) are again taking a savage swipe at Russian institutional corruption – they've used the same format for this, their latest collaboration. The poster advertising suggests this movie will study the impact on the child during a heavy marital separation. Instead, these collaborators spend so much time with perverse voyeuristic scenes of both parents' extramarital sex lives – leaving the suffering of the poor child, mostly to our imagination (if they were truly serious, perhaps this should have been reversed?) This is just one aspect that tends to put the focus of their movie in mostly the wrong places. Another is its obsessive ‘promo' style study of a volunteer group of missing-child-hunters who up-stage the indifference of the Russian police. This at times feels to be from another movie, and is the sort of ‘story' telling best served as a documentary; perhaps even inspiring more social impact than an enacted drama. In the beginning, the young lad has one or two strong scenes; but the rest highlights the soulless parents, and simply keeps telling us what we already know, stretched over two long hours. The majority of the dialogue has the parents viciously swearing, and being brutally vulgar towards each other in front of their son - when this is not happening (which is not often) we see them constantly obsessing over their mobile phones (a worldwide phenomenon) and being selfishly absorbed. As with Leviathan, these collaborators seem to single out Christians (as if they are the chief perpetrators of these situations) along with the Russian government for its uncaring bureaucracy. Corruption in Government institutions often needs to be exposed but might also be done in a less heavy-handed manner. Cinematographer, Mikhail Krichman sets up stylish images and gives this movie its best asset. The open-ended ending is also a let down with the last shot being a little unbelievable. Professional reviewer Emily Yoshida of Vulture.com has been honest enough to call this work out, citing it as, Quote; "A dour film with unlikeable characters and a lack of focus to make a coherent point" (I tend to agree) Otherwise, the usual Awards and accolades proliferate as might be expected in this business of promoting a product.

Powerful and heartbreaking. True to human nature. Don't look for trite resolutions.