How I Ended This Summer

Very Good. An older Russian meteorologist and his young companion run afoul of each other on a remote freezing island. This is a slow movie that takes its time setting up the plot elements but its a rewarding journey for the patient viewer. With almost Shakespearean tragic miscommunication as the main story device, the film utilizes the bleak environment perfectly. Great direction and decent acting make this an easy watch. Recommended.

Male bonding po russki.

A heartwarming tale about salting Siberian salmon in barrels in-between relaying meteorological data via shortwave radio to a faceless representation of the fall of communist Russia, "How I Ended this Summer" is more than an answer to the question "how did you end this summer," but an answer to the question of life and how to stay warm when trapped out in the Arctic cold and the only thing nearby is a vent spitting out radioactive steam.

I think the Russian Meteorological Institute really needs to review it's psychological profiling methods

Good idea, but as slow as treacle.

I'm always impressed by these theatrical scripts that are played out with the bare minimum of characters and locations. Here are two men giving gritty and realistic performances in a spectacularly-filmed setting. Just two men and a radio. It does end up a little silly after some heinous acts go down, but this doesn't detract too much from the visual beauty and stellar character setting-up work that the director achieved. An engrossing, thoughtful watch that goes a little overboard at the finale.

Bleak landscape and a sense of isolation throughout the film. Enjoyed the story but i did feel that the young actors response to situations were a bit over the top. Worth your viewing time in my opinion.

Despite having only two characters and a leisurely pace it's an incredibly engaging at remote isolation with tenuous connections to the outside world. Even when the character decisions are dubious it's not hard to be sympathetic for their situation. The strong cinematography and performances really help in setting everything up.

A fine directing and cimematography added with very nice acting by Sergey Puskepalis. Grigoriy Dobrygin was not that skillful young actor but prepped his part towards the end. The story's got a slow pace, but the latter part of the movie is worth waiting for. Actually I enjoyed the entire story. Recommended.

Mostly quiet, tense and bitter. Excellent photography and performances. And the remoteness. Gotta love that remoteness.

"A sort of reductio ad absurdum of the long-take approach to filmmaking." - Andrew Schenker