испытание (Test) by Alexander Kott

испытание    

A story from Kazakhstan

Possum: What did you think?

Ned: Well, the film didn't have any dashing dialogue but the sound engineer caught birds and wind, storms and silence. The location was desperately desolate but the cinematography shone like the sun. The story slowed sometimes and left you wondering about its jumps at other times. Hard for the characters to develop much without lines. The film carried warnings of tears and then it crossed genres abruptly as the director went for the audience's jugular. We all knew it was a speechless film, but it also left everybody speechless at the end.

Director Kott and wife

Possum: You? Speechless?

Ned: So the Q&A helped tongues clatter and cluck back to life again. Sort of. Anyway, worth a see.

_________

Voice-over
"испытание." Another film festival gem. We don’t only learn filmmaking from the polished products. The rough diamonds instruct too.

...