Lavry miss Ellen Grey: A slow, strange haze

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, it depends on how much you like staring at wallpaper. If you are into slow-burn character studies that barely have a pulse, you might dig it. If you want a story that actually goes somewhere, skip this. You will probably hate it if you need constant stimulation.

The whole thing feels like it was filmed in a basement in the middle of a very long, humid afternoon. There’s a scene about halfway through—I think they are just sitting around a table?—where someone drops a spoon. The sound it makes is so much louder than anything anyone says for the next ten minutes. It’s weirdly hypnotic.

S. Shabanov looks like they are perpetually trying to remember where they left their keys. It’s a grounded performance, I guess, if being perpetually confused is a character trait. N. Soldatov is doing a lot with just their eyebrows, which is either genius or just poor lighting.

The pacing is… well, it’s not really there. It just kind of exists in the space between heartbeats. It reminds me a bit of the aimless energy in Tako no hone, though without the bite. It’s less of a movie and more of a mood board that accidentally got recorded.

Sometimes, the camera lingers on a door frame for way too long. I found myself counting the peeling paint. I am not sure if that is the director’s intent or just an editing mistake, but it definitely made me feel something.

Odd bits I wrote down:

• The lighting in the kitchen scene changes from yellow to blue for no apparent reason.
• Serafim Anikeyev has a walk that makes them look like they are constantly avoiding puddles.
• The dialogue is so quiet I had to crank my speakers up, then immediately regretted it when someone shouted.
• There is a lingering shot of a clock that isn't even ticking.

It’s not as tightly wound as The 13th Commandment, that is for sure. That movie had an agenda. This one is just happy to drift along like a piece of driftwood in a stagnant pond.

I can't say I enjoyed it, exactly. But I don't think I'll forget that spoon drop, either. Maybe that’s enough. 🥄