Serhiy

VIFF 2022 Review: Klondike (Клондайк)

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment
A young farming couple on the Ukrainian-Russian border struggle to keep their marriage together amidst political turmoil in the Ukrainian film Klondike.

The Ukrainian film Klondike has been the talk of the film festival circuit, and for good reason. It’s also a film that is, unfortunately, well-timed for what’s happening now.

Irka and Tolik are a young couple who live on a farm in Ukraine close to the Russian border in 2014. Irka is expecting a baby soon. Both Irka and Tolik plan on doing their farm work normally until a bomb explodes near their farm. They are caught in between the war between Russia and Ukraine. The explosion causes the wall to their living room to collapse. Despite this threat, Irka does not want to leave the house. She is going to stay here and have the baby here.

Things prove difficult. They try to continue on with their lives. Tolik has to do farmwork and tend to Irka, but the area sees an increase of Ukrainian nationalists and Russian separatists. Frequently he meets up with his friend Sanya. Sanya is a Russian and he’s able to help Tolik get items at a cost. This is definitely frustrating Irka. Especially as Tolik wants them both to leave the area. Then one day a shocking thing happens. An airplane caught in the war’s crossfire crashes down in an area close to the border and close to Irka and Tolik’s farm.

With the plane shot down being a commercial aircraft, this is something that will bring a lot of people down, like the news media, the UN, ambulances, firemen, and soldiers from both sides. This makes like very invasive for both Irka and Tolik. Tolik still wants to move but Irka is still insistent. Irka even has her brother Yurik, a soldier with the Ukrainian army, come to help out. Despite losing the wall, Irka wants the couch placed outdoors. Yurik and Tolik reluctantly take the couch out with Irka still on it. During the stay, Yurik notices something of Tolik’s. He has a Russian uniform. He is convinced that Tolik is a Russian separatist. That leads to conflict between the two which Irka tries to stop.

As time progresses on, more people come to the area, including more soldiers and religious leaders and their followers to pray over the deceased. This frustrates Tolik and he decides to take Irka and leave. Right in the middle of leaving, Irka walks out of the car. Tolik tries to get her back in but she resists forcefully. Tolik agree to continue to help Irka and stay in the house. Unknown to Irka is that Tolik has held Yurik captive in their basement bunker.

Then one day, the area has Chechen rebels in to get a piece of the action. They target the home of Yurik, Irka and Tolik. The Chechen rebels torture Yurik and Tolik and watch as Irka goes into labor. Most of the rebels take Tolik and Yurik outside to deal with them while two watch Irka and joke about what they’ll do with the baby. Outside the rebels get Tolik to execute Yurik. Yurik says to Tolik that he is not a separatist. Then they get Yurik to execute Tolik. Since neither man will, the terrorists execute them both. The terrorists then leave the house as Irka gives birth on the couch.

This film appears to be the right film at the right time. Right as Ukraine is still going through a brutal war against Russia, this film takes people back to the Russo-Ukrainian War. In addition, it adds a major news even from that period: the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Fight 17 by the Ukraine-Russia border. There’s no doubt that this film is bound to bring up a lot of talk. Especially since there are many areas of Ukraine that have a high Russian population. That has often happened in nations that were former Soviet Republics that Russians move in or peoples would be displaced over periods of time. It’s because of that Putin feels he can go in and take the territories. Even declare some nations like Ukraine as actually being part of Russia.

This film is a story that’s bound to provoke a lot of discussion. Irka and Tolik have their farm close to the Ukraine-Russia border. It’s right in the middle of the Russia-Ukraine border. The plane crash happens very close to their farm. Irka’s brother Yurik is a soldier in the Ukrainian Army. Tolik’s close friend and associate is a Russian. This is bound to get a lot of people thinking. It would not surprise me how many families with both Russians and Ukrainians would face clashes over this war. And to think this is a war where a passenger plane and over 100 of its passengers were unintended casualties. War is always ugly, but it is very intense. And to think this is a story of a pregnancy happening in the middle of it and a wife that refuses to leave her home despite the threat of danger. This is a story that will get one thinking.

Top acclaim should go to writer/director Maryna Er Gorbach. She did an excellent job of delivering a thought-provoking story of a complicated war happening as a pregnancy is happening. She did a very good job of placing the events with the story and not taking anything away or hiding anything from the tense topic. Also excellent is the acting from Oksana Cherkashyna. She does an excellent job as the wife caught in this conflict. She does a good job of portraying a woman confused, fearful, feeling neglected and still trying to maintain hope. Also excellent is the performance of Sergei Shadrin. Hard to believe he died shortly after shooting in June of 2021 at the age of 41. Sergei delivers an excellent performance of a man who is confused and tries to be supportive, but has something to hide. Oleg Shcherbina does an excellent job of being the brother caught in the middle of the friction. Also excellent is the cinematography of Svyatoslav Bulakovskiy. His inclusion of panoramic shots during certain scenes add to the film.

This film is Ukraine’s official entry for this year’s Oscar race in the Best International Feature Film category. At the Sundance Film Festival, the film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for the World Cinema – Dramatic category. Er Gorbach won the Best Director Award for the genre category. The film has since received many accolades like winning the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival, winning Best International Film at the Fribourg Film Festival, Grand Prix Winner at the Ghent Film Festival, Best International Film at the Heartland Film Festival, Winner of Best International Feature at the Santiago Film Fest and winner of Best Feature Film at the Seattle Film Festival.

Klondike is the right film at the right time. It says a lot of the differences of Ukraine and Russia. It also tells how political turmoil can threaten a family in even the most remote areas. It’s a message we need to hear right now.

VIFF 2018 Review: Volcano (вулкан)

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

VolcanoI took an interest in seeing Volcano knowing that it was to be the one feature-length film at the VIFF from Ukraine. I was left with a big surprise with what I saw.

The story begins in Southern Ukraine as Lukas is hired by the OSCE to be an interpreter during the Crimean conflict. Instead of soldiers or diplomats to transport, he has three people in the fashion business. As he tries to fill up with gas, he is out of coverage. He tries to get a cab for the three, only to find them gone. Lukas boards a bus, but it breaks down in a remote area. He stays over at a youth home and is beset by teens who only care about drinking and partying. He just leaves for a moment, but he left his wallet, passport and jacket inside the place. They won’t allow him in.

He finds help in a place he least expects. A failed inventor named Vovo who lives with his mother and daughter Marushka. It’s good for one night, but he feels one night is enough. After that, he wants to move onto his mission. Besides Vovo is too eccentric. The next day, he finds himself in a violent conflict with local militia men, a mass brawl culminating in a fireworks display, and being attacked by men for no reason with him ending up in a dug-out pit in a dead sunflower field.

The only person to discover him is Vovo. Vovo gives him some good advice “It is total anarchy. If you get used to it, you will survive.” During the time, he learns Vovo’s way of doing things, even if it seems off. Lukas even helps with some of the metal scavenging that Vovo seeks out in both land and sea. Occasionally Lukas gets reminders from the news of the conflict and that there’s a nationwide search for him. To take a break from it all, Vovo, Mama, Lukas and Marushka go to a one-man circus show, but it does include flashes of reality. The show includes saluting the new young soldiers in the war and a performance by a choir of woman from a village that was flooded to make way for a hydro-electric dam.

It’s not to say that it has its own difficulties. Vovo gets in conflict with his mother about his ambitions. Also Marushka flirts with Lukas, unknowing that he’s married. However Lukas confesses about the crossroads he’s going through in his life and questions his life, love and ambitions.

Without a doubt, the film is very bizarre. This is something I was not expecting to see at first. It does seem odd for a film of a man who gets separated from OSCE bureaucrats in the middle of southern Ukraine, loses the car with people he was to taxi, goes from place to place and every wrong thing happens, only have the one place he can call a shelter being the home of an eccentric metal scavenger. The story is very entertaining and even humorous. It becomes ironic how an eccentric man becomes the best person for Lukas to be with in this hard time. It does however touch on some serious elements, like when Lukas is dealing with the life he’s supposed to be leading and even dealing with whether he truly loves his wife. Being completely away from it all does get one thinking deeply about the things in one’s life. Here it made Lukas think. It’s an intriguing story of how a young man becomes found while lost, and in the most unlikely place.

Throughout the film, there are a lot a scenes related to the Crimea conflict. First off, there’s Lukas acting as an interpreter for the OSCE. The television at Vovo’s household constantly gives stories of the ongoing conflict. There’s also the television showing Putin talking of how Ukraine is a part of Russia (of which I gave the finger to). There’s also the event of the one-man circus where they later hold an event saluting the latest young soldiers for Ukraine. I think the message Roman Bondarchuk is trying to say in the film is that even though Ukraine has a lot of areas that are unruly and anarchic, it is still worth defending.

This is a unique film for Roman Bondarchuk. This film he directs and co-writes with Darya Averchenko and Alla Tyutyunnik is a bit of a drama and a comedy into one. A bizarre situation of how one becomes found when lost. This is his first feature-length film that isn’t a documentary. It’s not that huge on actions or thick on dialogue, but the scenes he has tells a lot about the story and about Ukraine. This is also a debut for actor Serhiy Stepansky. Stepansky has actually had more experience as a sound mixer. Here he gives a good performance of a person who’s quiet, thinks a lot, but colorful in character. Viktor Zhdanov was a good show-stealer as the eccentric inventor Vovo. Khrystyna Deilyk was also a good attention-stealer as the flirtatious Marushka.

Volcano has already won top film awards like the Golden Apricot at the Yerevan Film Festival and the Grand Prix at the Split Film Festival. It has also been nominated for Best Film at festivals of Sao Paulo, Karlovy Vary and Athens.

Volcano may seem like a slow film that doesn’t seem like it makes a lot of sense, but you’ll come to understand it later after you leave the theatre.