V toy strane (1997)

Lidia Bubrovka's V toy strane ("In this country") has the hazy cinematography of Sokurov's Mother and Son but rather than elegiac meditations on life and death, the film opts for the quietly burlesque. It is a funny little film with a strong sense for characters and drastic, unexpected humor. The story takes place in a not-so-modern village in the North. Life is grim & people are poor; most people, at least the men, drink as often as they can. One day, the "director" of the village tells one of the villagers, who suffers from a stomach ulcer, that he has been granted a place in a kurort by the sea. This event leads to feeling of disbelief, envy and malaise. From there, the movie dwells on the life of the villagers, and their cattle, by means of a string of loosely connected scenes. I can't really explain what is going on here, but I don't think the film is a mere caricature of the uncivilized ways of the backwoods - the film is too tender to be a caricature. As I said, the style of this film, and the cinematography, bathing in eerie and dreamy light, is really something. There is a peculiar dissonance between content and style which really .... works. I liked this film and it is a shame it is not more well known.