Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2857 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-10-04
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Russian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Synopsis
Director Andrei Zvyagintsev makes a phenomenally assured directorial debut with THE RETURN. The spare tale focuses on two young brothers, Andrey (Vladimir Garin) and Vanya (Ivan Dobronravov), whose lives are thrown into a tailspin when their father (Konstantin Lavroneko) returns after a 12-year absence. Bullish and intense, the patriarch takes the boys on a mysterious journey through a bleak yet beautiful Russian landscape. While Andrey looks up to his father, Vanya has trouble forgiving him for disappearing so many years ago. This strain adds even more drama to the already tense atmosphere, culminating in a shocking event that will change their lives forever.
Winner of the Golden Lion at the 2003 Venice Film Festival, THE RETURN is a masterful drama that works on an allegorical, as well as literal, level. Zvyaginstev's imagery is at once painterly, abstract, and realistic. Newcomers Garin and Dobronravov deliver performances that are deeply affecting. In a cruel twist of irony, actor Garin drowned just after shooting in the same water where the opening scene took place, which adds another level of bleakness to the film's somber tone. THE RETURN is a truly haunting work of art.

Customer Reviews

the return - a brilliant film
Quite disturbing in places and emotionally bleak and harsh. A film about relationships, secrets, young dreams and expectations: dreams that get shattered on the return of the father after 12 years of absence. And as much as you come to fully understand the almost minimalist plot, you never know the whole secret: what's in the box? You don't really need to know. Acted brilliantly, use of colours and angles and soundtrack is superb; some say a weak storyline but I disagree.. there's nothing weak about this. I felt cold the whole time I was watching it, like the cinematography and the storyline somehow gets into you and makes you want to run home. Top film!

Best Russian film I have seen in ages
A very fine first film by Russian director Andrei Zvyagyntsev. A pair of boys (a teenager and his younger brother) live with their mother in a decrepit town in northwestern Russia. Suddenly, their absent father returns (a rude and authoritarian figure, who it is suggested, has been a military pilot) and brings them to a mysterious island for what is presumably a fishing trip. But, as it turns out, in the island a treasure is buried, perhaps from a burglary from which the father might be connected. The older brother adores his father, while the younger one loathes him. The father becomes growingly brutal, and as the movie suspense increases, everything points out to a final tragedy. Fine performances by everybody, but specially the boys (sadly, after the movie was shot, the actor playing the older brother die in the lake shown in the movie, in a scene eerily reminiscent of one portrayed in the film). The Christian symbolism is sometimes a bit heavy handed (with the father being a sort of devious Jesus figure), but otherwise this is a very fine movie.

you must see this film
"The Return" and Zviagintzev most recent "The Bannishmnet" prove that he is Tarkovski of the New generation.
You must see this film!