The Return (2003)

16 out of 16 people found the following review helpful:

The Return keeps coming back

Luno1 from Lancashire, 31st December, 2004

This is one film you will not forget easily. A moving, complex story about a father who returns home out of the blue after 12 years away. No one knows where he has been or why he has come back.

His eldest son Andrei is secretly delighted to see him, but the younger child Ivan is suspicious. Their mother suggests a bonding trip and the three set off on the road; the father to complete "business" which is never fully explained; the boys to go fishing. But the father fails to slot back into his son's lives easily. He displays an undercurrent of violence, which when mixed with Ivan's open contempt for him, creates a tension and a dread which lasts until the last frame.

The film is made all the more poignant by the fact that one of the child actors (Andrei) drowned after making the film. It's beautifully shot and the dialogue is spare. The DVD extras are a little pedestrian, but still worth a look.

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14 out of 16 people found the following review helpful:

Involving and intriguing

W from Liverpool, 21st January, 2005

This interesting film is not the 'thriller' that it is marketed out to be, but rather an engaging and enagmatic dark drama about fatherhood as viewed through the eyes of a child. The film opens with two brothers (Andrey & Ivan) who are suddenly and (in some cases violently) 'introduced' to their missing father (who remains nameless throghout the film)on a weekend fishing trip. Along the way there are questions which remain unanswered, and the slow pacing of the movie would not be everyone's cup of tea, however the stark and stunning cinematography, assured performances from all the actors and intriguing premise makes this a worthwhile journey to take. Recommended

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13 out of 13 people found the following review helpful:

Art and suspense

Basque from , 26th February, 2005

This film won this years bbc4 world cinema awards. The competition was strong, with films such as Zatoichi, Uzak and Motorcycle Diaries. However, I think the prize was deserved. The story about the unexpected and unexplained return of a father, after many years absence, is thrilling, moving, real and beautifully shot and narrated.

The father takes his sons on a fishing trip. Why, where, for how long is never explained. Both kids interract with their father in different ways: one accepts him, the other rebels. It is a coming of age film, as the trip will have unexpected consequences. The locations looks stunning (rivers, lakes, islands, forrests), there are lots of symbolic/mythical references and the acting, by all three main characters is excellent.

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12 out of 15 people found the following review helpful:

Beautiful but leaden

Rupert Cousens from Oxford, UK, 28th April, 2005

I wish critics would judge foreign-language films by the same criteria they apply to those in English. If this was an American independent, or a low-budget British film, it would be dismissed as the ponderous trudge that it is. The film is beautiful to look at, no question, and the lead actors are fine, but it's all in vain; I don't need action sequences to sustain my interest, but I do need interesting dialogue and some kind of dramatic propulsion. *The Return* has neither.

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Customer Review

A Customer from UK, 23rd June, 2008

This film is a feast for the eye, nearly every frame is a beautiful still picture. The story is also very powerful and realistically acted. This is one of my hit films lately. The film could be abit disturbing for some audiences, especially in late western families the behaviour of father is unacceptable and it creates a bit of detachment from the film, an unjustified animosity towards the character. But I think this is a struggle of a man who did not know his children for so many years and don't know how to behave. I think he is also a good teacher. A very good twist at the end, twists your emotions too.

This film is definitely a gain of time as I call every good experience.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Amazing

A Customer from London, England, 9th September, 2007

The Return, is an epic film, made on a seriously low budget, that really does take your breathe away.

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Grimly accomplished

Cato from , 8th June, 2007

A darkly grim story, very cleverly filmed with superb performances, especially from the young brothers, whose father mysteriously returns after an absence of twelve years. It reminded me somewhat of Polanski's 'Knife in the Water', with its surprising angles and watery theme. A good film from a very promising director, Andrey Zvyagintsev, following in the footsteps of Tarkovsky.

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1 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Slow with missing ending

A Customer from Leighton Buzzard, 29th May, 2007

I agree with the previous reviews that the movie is a fine piece of art. However, what disappointing is that you wait for a culmination that never happens. Many questions at the end of the movie are still unsolved. In addition, the movie is delivered at a very lazy pace, no comparison to the western movie makers

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