Tue 6 Jan 8.00 Wed 7 Jan 5.45
Dir: Alexander Sokurov (2007) Russia 1hr 35mins Subtitled
Cast: Galina Vishnevskaya, Vasily Shevtsov
Alexandra is film about war but not in a conventional way. An old woman (opera legend Galina Vishnevskaya) near the end of her life embarks on a journey to visit her grandson who's a Russian officer based at an army camp near the Chechen front. As she spends time as a lone woman among this exclusively male environment she questions the machismo and destructive patriotism. The film, bleached in melancholic sunlight, is a based on accepting this unusual premise. But Aleksandr Sokurov, with mesmerising and subtly disorientating directorial style he makes it feel emotionally real and imaginatively true. Less austere and more approachable than recent films (Mother & Son, Russian Ark) by this Russian master.
“Alexandra is absolutely convincing as poetry…nuanced and moving” Tony Rayns Sight & Sound
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