I never would have thought that Elim Klimov, the man behind one of the most horrifying and relentlessly powerful war films, Come and See was making charming satirical comedies twenty years prior.

I didn't read any reviews on here beforehand, but immediately picked up the Wes Anderson aesthetic and noticed the similarities with Moonrise Kingdom, and seeing that movie mentioned straight away by someone here confirms my suspicions that Anderson has probably seen this and taken inspiration. Klimov's offbeat comedy, quirky, lovable characters and eye for symmetry makes it such an enjoyable watch, coupled with the very short runtime and dazzling camerawork, this is a real blast.

A number of sequences employ fast paced chases where the camera is in…

Joyful, quirky, delightful, anarchic, whimsical, surreal—those all feel like the right words to describe this small but striking short film about a group of kids rebelling against the adults in a Young Pioneer camp. It has that kind of offbeat energy that feels chaotic on the surface but is actually very carefully put together underneath.

What really stands out is how good it looks. The camerawork is surprisingly dynamic for something of this scale, with a lot of inventive framing and movement that keeps things visually engaging from start to finish. And then there’s the final scene, which comes a bit out of nowhere but lands perfectly. It’s the kind of ending that doesn’t spell things out, instead choosing a…

So here we get the Russian version of the little rascals with a pig instead of a dog. We get our cute capable swimmer in Kotsy being the bane of the camp director comrade Dynin who says they are masters of the camp but as long as they know discipline. Things go askew when Dynin kicks out Kotsy for swimming to the local boys(fear of whooping cough) so he has to go home but in fear of killing his grandma for his shame he sneaks back and is helped by his camp mates to keep him fed and hidden. Things unfold in a ridiculous nature that is charming and cute. I love the scene where they show the kids a…

Watched as a collab with my comrade Enrico! Their review is here.

Just wonderful. Warm, funny, and full of children with more natural humanity and impulse toward collectivism than either the adults around them or the systems those adults represent. The kids are children, not movie characters, and the furthest possible thing from adult philosophical arguments made flesh. Instead, they're funny and weird and impulsive, and just as varied as human beings ought to be, with some immensely charming and others prickly, or suspicious, or mean.

The seriousness of the kids when they set their minds to a task mirrors exactly that of Comrade Dynin (Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev), the camp administrator, when he does the same. The kids, however, have a…