| Silent Souls | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Aleksey Fedorchenko |
| Written by | Denis Osokin |
| Produced by | Igor Mishin Maria Nazari |
| Starring | Yuri Tsurilo Igor Sergeyev Yuliya Aug Viktor Sukhorukov |
| Cinematography | Mikhail Krichman |
| Music by | Andrey Karasyov |
Release date |
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Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
Silent Souls (Russian: Овся́нки, "TheBuntings") is a 2010 Russianroaddrama film that was nominated for theGolden Lion at the67th Venice Film Festival. It is based on a 2008 novella byDenis Osokin. The film was awarded theGolden Osella for best cinematography and aFIPRESCI award.[1] It was considered a frontrunner for the Golden Lion,[2] but did not win. However, it did win Best Screenplay (awarded to Denis Osokin) at the 2011Asia Pacific Screen Awards. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
Aist is a middle-aged bachelor who leads a lonely life in the northern town ofNeya. Like many of his neighbours, he identifies as aMeryan and strives to keep alive the reconstructed traditions of that culture. He acquires twoBunting birds. One day his boss, Miron, informs Aist of the death of his wife Tanya and demands his help disposing of the body without an autopsy. The pair spend quite some time washing her body and putting coloured threads in her pubic hair. (In their culture, the same ritual is performed on brides-to-be). Taking the birds and Tanya's naked body with them, the two men travel toGorbatov, the site of her honeymoon and the smallest town in Russia, in order to perform cremation rites on the banks of theOka River. In a tradition of "smoking" or sexually recounting the dead, Miron boasts of his wife's strictly enforced submissiveness. Aist recalls that Tanya was unhappy. A policeman sees the dead body in their car but chalks it up to Meryan custom. On their way back to Neya, they get lost and are approached by two prostitutes, with whom they have sex. Thinking back on Tanya Miron laments that he should have "let her go" implying that her death was a murder to prevent her departure. Afterwards, while traversing theKineshma Bridge, they are caused to crash into "the great Meryan river" (TheVolga: there to drown) when the Buntings get loose in the car to peck at their eyes.
Silent Souls received considerable praise from film critics. It has an approval rating of 96% onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, based on 47 reviews, and an average rating of 7.70/10.[3] It also has a score of 76 out of 100 onMetacritic, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[4]
The officialRossiyskaya Gazeta compared the film toTarkovsky's best work as a powerful evocation of pre-Christian roots of rural Russia.[5]Andrei Plakhov praised the film as "ametaphor for the lost (and probably mythical) world that was crushed by the moloch of industrialisation".[6]
Among American critics,Jim Hoberman wrote: "Dour yet affirmative, this laconic, deliberately paced, beautifully shot movie seeks the archaic in the ordinary".[7] Jeannette Catsoulis ofThe New York Times commented: "Populated by memories and dappled with desire, “Silent Souls” is part folk tale, part lesson in letting go. In its quiet acceptance of the passing of time, this unusual film reminds us that to die is not always the same as to disappear".[8]Roger Ebert expressed the opinion that the film "in only 75 perfect minutes achieves the profundity of an epic", also mentioning that "not often have I been more deeply touched".[9] In contrast,Slant Magazine claims that "the film’s screenplay often shows more surface than depth" and that "the film wouldn’t reward multiple views save for the pleasure of looking at it."[10]