Mstitel: A weird, dusty, and silent kind of revenge

Is this even a real movie?

Honestly, you probably won’t like Mstitel unless you have a high tolerance for slow, grainy, and somewhat confusing old-school cinema. It’s definitely not for anyone who needs a plot that makes sense by the thirty-minute mark. But if you’re the type of person who digs through digital archives just to find something that looks like it was filmed in a different reality, well, you’ll find some charm here.

Watching Valeri Solovtsov navigate this thing is like watching someone walk through a thick fog. He has this look on his face—half-exhausted, half-confused—that I think mirrored my own about twenty minutes in. There isn't a lot of dialogue to hold your hand.

The texture of the thing

The pacing is all over the place. Sometimes it just stops, and we’re staring at a wall or a door for an uncomfortable amount of time. I found myself checking my watch, but then I got sucked back in. It’s got that specific, scratchy quality that makes you feel like you’re watching a secret broadcast.

• That one scene in the alleyway goes on for way too long.
• The lighting is either pitch black or blindingly flat.
• I’m still not 100% sure what the revenge was actually about.

It’s a bit like watching Le chiffonnier de Paris, where the atmosphere does all the heavy lifting while the story just kind of drifts. There’s no polish here. It feels raw, like someone just decided to film their own version of a bad mood. 🚬

The cinematography is weirdly obsessed with feet and doorways. Seriously, so many shots of people just walking through thresholds. It doesn’t mean anything, but it’s oddly hypnotic. I don’t think the director cared about making it look 'good' in the traditional sense. They just wanted to get the mood out of their head and onto the film strip.

A final note

Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it a disaster? Maybe, but it’s an interesting one. It’s got a weird pulse that keeps beating even when the story goes completely flat. Don't go in expecting a thriller. Just expect to be confused and maybe a little bit sleepy by the time it wraps up.