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6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Est' metro remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, it depends on how much you love old, flickering film reels. If you’re into the history of transit or just want to see 1930s crowds looking absolutely bewildered by escalators, this is a winner. If you get bored by propaganda-adjacent footage that hasn't been polished, you’ll probably fall asleep by the second act.
The whole thing is just a weird, rhythmic march of progress. You’re watching the Moscow Metro come alive, and the film is so proud of it that it feels almost aggressive.
The pacing is… well, it’s not really there. It just happens. We get shot after shot of trains gliding into stations that look like underground ballrooms.
There’s this one moment where a group of workers is just standing there, looking at the camera, and you can tell they were told to hold that pose for way too long. The silence in the frame is deafening. It’s uncomfortable in a way that modern movies usually try to edit out.
It’s not quite as charming as Amour... amour..., but it has a similar sense of capturing a specific era that feels completely gone now. It’s definitely less theatrical than something like A Lady's Morals, focusing instead on the cold, hard geometry of tunnels.
I found myself wondering if anyone in the background of these shots knew they’d be watched decades later by some guy with a laptop. They mostly look tired. It’s a very human look at a very machine-heavy moment.
It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in One Terrible Day, though obviously in a completely different genre. Both films feel like they’re racing against the clock.
Don't look for a deep story. It’s just construction, crowds, and the sheer scale of the thing. Sometimes, that’s enough. 🚇