My Joy

I loved the narrative style which often brought us into scenes before the film's primary characters arrived. The effect was disorienting and jarring, which beautifully mirrored the journey of the truck driver. Further, Loznitsa possesses a distinctive and engaging visual sensibility, while the narrative exploration of the dehumanizing effects of violence and the abuse of power offer a bleak jolt to our understanding of the world.

"Novelistic" in a more interesting sense than is usually implied for film (or TV), e,g. the narratively extraneous but thematically resonant place-history vignette, or the extended POV passage in the market, displaying the myriad grotesqueries and spare beauties of a crowd as their chattering reaches a crescendo both maddening and mesmerizing, about as close a stylistic parallel as I can conceive for the excess, monotony, and delight of a Rabelaisian list-description of the same raw material.

the rate of violence and corruption is highly exaggerated

A bleak slog through a landscape so saturated with violence and hurt that the only thing that springs from its soil are the weeds of humanity. The film is a brutal, bleak journey of drudgery and antipathy, showcasing a kind of paradoxical transformation of diamonds into brittle coal. An astounding cinematic achievement that gleans from the stoic faces of impoverished villagers the merciless reality of their heritage.

Interesting film. Sort of a road movie with spectacular landscapes and interesting characters.

nisan 2011 - 30. ist. film fest & komunizm sonrasi rusya tasrasinin yalin, ozgun ve oldukca sert gercekcilikle anlatimi. mukemmel bir senaryo, oyunculuk, yonetmenlik ve set tasarimi. 2010'da altin palmiye icin yarismis. ben juride olsam hic tereddute dusmeden altin palmiyeyi verirdim. uncle boonme'de juri ozel odulu alirdi. cannes'dan hic bir odul almadan donmus olmasi buyuk haksizlik. yilin en iyi filmlerinden.

"Loznitsa's documentaries are mainly compilations of archival footage, so it makes sense that his first fiction film is also essentially a compilation" - Aaron Cutler