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6.7/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.7/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Thunderstorm remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have the patience for black-and-white dramas that feel like they were filmed inside a pressure cooker, Thunderstorm is worth your time. It’s definitely not for folks who need a quick pace or a lighthearted afternoon flick. If you prefer your movies to be loud and action-packed, you’ll probably find this one a bit of a slog, honestly. But if you appreciate watching people completely lose their minds in silence, you might get something out of it.
The whole thing takes place in this tiny, invented town called Kalinov, and it honestly feels as cramped as it sounds. The mother-in-law character, Kabanova, is just a terror. She’s the kind of person who makes the air in the room feel thin just by standing there. Every time she speaks, you can see poor Katerina shrinking into herself.
There is this one scene near the middle where Katerina is just staring out a window, and the camera stays on her face for way too long. It starts to feel a little bit uncomfortable, like you’re intruding on someone’s private breakdown. I caught myself checking my phone, but then I stopped because the awkwardness was actually the point. It’s not polished, but it’s definitely heavy.
The way Katerina pines for Boris feels so desperate it almost hurts to watch. It reminds me a bit of the suffocating feeling in The Drifter, where the world just won't let the main character breathe. People keep talking about duty and obedience, but you can see them all crumbling under the weight of it. Nobody in this movie seems happy, even when they’re smiling, which is just weird.
The movie is a bit uneven, sure. Sometimes the dialogue feels like it’s being read from a textbook, but then someone will do something so raw that you forget the script. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s real enough to make you feel a little bit drained by the end. It doesn’t try to be clever or overly cinematic. It just sits there and stares at you, which is probably exactly what it’s supposed to do. ⛈️
