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Has anybody else seen this? Because I watched it today, and while I think it's a major achievement on some levels, I am also completely baffled.

(Spoiler talk ensues, naturally.)

Spoiler

After the truck driver is bashed in the field, there's a flashback (to what is probably Mute's story), and then a jump to present day. There's a character that resembles a protagonist in this second half. Is this the same actor that is Georgy, or one of the truck looters, or someone else entirely? I was just totally mystified as to what the hell happened, and as of yet have found no cogent online explanation.

Also, should we know or care whose corpse is buried under pavement in the beginning?

thanks. I was with two people who strongly disagreed with your thesis, and I couldn't tell during watching but decided about twenty minutes after the shift had happened that that was the only way it made sense. Unfortunately the print broke three times, and during one of the times my neighbor tried to dissuade me of my theory, and as I'm mildly faceblind I didn't have the confidence to be sure.

Spoiler

I think it's reasonable to assume it's the same character, given that we briefly see the truck and also see him selling the flour at the market. The doubling of mute characters adds to the confusion, but then again, Loznitsa seems big on doubling and echoing, as the closing shooting echoes the other of the two flashback scenes, the nameless man using a bullet to end a tyrannical authority figure's life.

One other thing that I found of note that I think is safe to say outside big black boxes: I feel like many other contemporary Russian films blame current social ills on the encroachment of capitalism. MY JOY goes to great pains to avoid this with its flashbacks to earlier times, showing similar situations unfolding.

It's a great film. Loznitsa certainly knows how to use the widescreen frame, and that pre-credits sequence does more with it than most other films manage in two hours or more.

Gyorgy is the protagonist throughout, as noted, and his progress through this modern picaresque is not the traditional one of developing an identity

Spoiler

but of annihilating it, as at the conclusion he has lost everything, even more than the hitchhiker at the beginning of the film whose story he to some extent re-enacts.

One of the things I love about the film and that's most striking about it is how the film itself keeps trying to shake off its own protagonist. First there's the extended flashback to the hitchhiker's tale; then when we leave the traffic jam the film lingers for a moment with those two prostitutes; then there's that marvellous scene at the market where the camera scours the crowd for an alternative protagonist, but finally settles on Gyorgy again just as he's pushed violently aside, so they follow the guy who pushed him off into the woods, then change trajectory to follow an old woman, but ultimately end up with Gyorgy again. The unmotivated flashback in the centre of the film is another attempted escape from Gyorgy's gravity, as are those different sequences that follow the people who have crossed, or about to cross his path.

Spoiler

But even in his later, compromised state, practically devoid of agency, the film can't drag itself away from him, like a moral car crash it's cruising past.

After seeing this film, I was reminded that the former Soviet Union does seem to be the last bastion of big, ambitious, tough-minded art film made with formidable classical technique: Melody for a Street Organ, Paper Soldier, Morphia. The kind of films it's often assumed nobody makes any more.

I loved the first shot (IIRC) of the film, with the shifting concrete. That scene where the truck gets pulled over has my favorite widescreen moment I've seen in years (with the back of Georgy's head bisecting the frame, the one inspector on the left of frame interrogating him, and the other deep in the right side ogling the motorist who's trunk he's inspecting). There's a very deadpan humor to Loznitsa's staging in moments like that and the departure of the first hitchhiker that I really enjoyed.

Anyway: while I know what you mean, I'm not sure calling the flashback at the center of the film "unmotivated" is fair:

Spoiler

in addition to filling a "time passes" role, it's providing the backstory of the location for which we will find Georgy in, after all, and possibly the backstory for Mute as well? Wasn't 100% on that but that's how I interpreted it. Either way, it's a second throwback to the "old days" and a sharp rebuke to any attempt to interpret this film as merely a critique of the current failures of Russia.

I haven't seen any of the other films you've mentioned, but definitely feel the desire to check them out. Actually considering shifting my film fest schedule to see this again.

Very interested in seeing this film, anyone know of any U.S. release dates(outside of film festivals), specifically in the Austin, TX area?

DDillaman wrote:I loved the first shot (IIRC) of the film, with the shifting concrete. That scene where the truck gets pulled over has my favorite widescreen moment I've seen in years (with the back of Georgy's head bisecting the frame, the one inspector on the left of frame interrogating him, and the other deep in the right side ogling the motorist who's trunk he's inspecting). There's a very deadpan humor to Loznitsa's staging in moments like that and the departure of the first hitchhiker that I really enjoyed.

Also in that fantastic shot, which is alive with activity in multiple sectors of the frame and at different distances from the lens (without being a contrived composition, and while also keeping one of the film's crucial sites - the vulnerable back of Gyorgy's head - centre-frame), on the far left in the far distance, is an aged tramp wandering along the road - presumably the one who finds his way into Gyorgy's cab at the end of the scene.

Spoiler

I love that it's a spoiler for this film that the main character stays the main character throughout. (And the film doesn't even reveal this--I had to read about it on the internet!)

Soaking up what others had written about this after my own first viewing (a must for this kind of film!) I realized that my perception of its approach (i.e. following a rotating cast of characters sort of like Le quattro volte) and even of just its basic plot structure was way off. So how did a film that left me so frequently confused throughout its runtime manage to catapult to my shortlist for the best films of the year? Am I just becoming that much of a snob? Possibly, but the main answer is that the direction here was just so assured, the compositions so impeccable, and the sense of dread so palpable that the viewing experience was never less than enthralling. Also, it was not too surprising to learn afterward that this was lensed by the guy who had done 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, as this sort of plays like a much more confusing version of that film.

I'm so glad to see a thread on this movie. The OP is indeed right about his theories of what goes on here, as others have pointed out. Even if its abstract in story film, I think it is one tight flick and amazing for a debut feature. I'm leaning toward rating this as my film of the year. I wrote quite an extensive review here touting the amazing skill of the director. Please let me know what you think, and comment on my blog too. It really deserves a higher profile.

If my opinion doesn't seem to matter, I noticed in the critics summary chart of "Film Comment" recently, the magazine's editor rated it with the highest rating of 5 stars, something he rarely gives out.

A DVD (but not Blu-ray) of this is apparently coming from Kino on March 13th.

There's apparently already an English-friendly disc out in Germany. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Kino will preserve its "special features" (Scene Access! Interactive Menus!) Seriously, Kino could do worse than stick Blockade on there.

Just a reminder that the Kino DVD came out today (you can get it, for example, from Netflix). I can't recommend this film highly enough.

Kino has also surpassed zedz's wildest dreams by including such special features as "theatrical trailer" and "stills gallery." These are exciting times, to be sure.

Has anyone here had a chance to have a good look at the Kino disc? Christopher McQuain over at DVDTalk says that the PQ is pretty bad. I'm trying to decide between it and the German disc. Options are obviously pretty limited.