On a deserted, windswept Russian island inside the Arctic Circle, two men spend the summer working at a remote meteorological station. . . . Sergei, a gruff man in his 50s, is a polar veteran, used to solitude and now just about tolerating the inexperienced Pavel, a college graduate on a temporary posting. When Sergei leaves on a fishing trip, Pavel is slipshod in his reporting and, worse, he receives terrible news from the mainland. In beautifully minimalist fashion, director Alexei Popogrebsky has fashioned a taut psychological drama made all the more gripping by the isolation and desolation of its setting. Despite the evident rigors of location shooting, actors Sergei Puskepalis and Grigory Dobrygin give subtle, compelling performances, and the film also boasts striking cinematography and well-chosen music. —Sandra Hebron, London Film Festival

In a jury statement regarding the film’s award for Best Feature at the London Film Festival, Patricia Clarkson remarked, “The film turns the hunter-versus-hunted narrative on its head to provoke powerful questions about life and death, resilience and human compassion. Tense, moving and universal in its scope, this is a cinematic tour de force.”


Written by Alexei Popogrebsky. Photographed by Pavel Kostomarov. With Sergei Puskepalis, Grigory Dobrygin. (124 min, Film Movement).