the return
Out of context: Reply #5
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ah! sorry, i may not have expressed myself clearly as well.
I was in disagree with the word "empty", not with your entire appreciation.
I read "emptiness" as "pointless" and as so many people use it in that sense sometimes to aesthetically appreciate life... I just got alarmed!
In my opinion, what makes that movie unique (like only a few others) is its psychological depth, of which russian literature and art were also masterly examples in the past: there's a stark contrast between those watery flat landscapes and empty buildings and the rich psychology of the characters, which alone goes well beyond the rudeness and cruelty of their lives.
You can perfectly distinguish the different strenght in character between those two brothers, the role of the father which automatically subjects the mother on the return. She that saves the apparently weaker boy in the beginning, ceases to exist when the father returns, and just pours wine. This is not by accident. And as that younger son proves to be the strongest in character as the story unfolds, fighting his father rudeness and not accepting him (his mother doesn't has the chance to do this), one gets the feeling that he's playing his mother role, which has no place because the father arrives and starts "training" his boys to be men away from home.
I don't really know that country to say if this impression of mine is even remotely correct, but i think this movie is about the overpowering rule of manly stenght in russian society.
anyway, I'm glad you like it too.