Koktebel

A sombre Russian drama, Koktebel charts the journey of father and son across the barren Russian landscapes to the titular Crimean city where hopefully things will be better. The father (Igor Chernevich) is a widower searching, physically and emotionally, for an anchor in his life, while his 11-year-old son, (Gleb Puskepalis) always wants to keep moving. Over the course of their not-very-eventful journey, we learn something of the two characters' back-stories, as they slowly make their way across the barren Russian landscape.

Brooding and slow moving, Koktebel is a minimal drama, in which dialogue and dramatic incident are used rather sparingly. Somewhat reminiscent of Andrei Zvyagintsev's The Return but lacking that film's emotional penetration, Koktebel is elegant and understated, but it fails to do anything really telling with its characters. Apparently more concerned with capturing the bleakness of the rural Russian landscape, Boris Khlebnikov and Aleksei Popogrebsky's artful credentials shine through with their carefully crafted visuals, but the lack of narrative drive negates Koktebel's lasting impact.