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04/23/09
Alexandra (2008)
92 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 49
Fresh: 45
Rotten:4
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Consensus: At once ethereal and tangible, Aleksandr Sokurov's humane Chechen War drama features a spectacular turn by opera star Galina Vishnevskay.
Theatrical Release:Mar 26, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: From the director of Russian Ark, a viscerally powerful new film starring opera legend Galina Vishnevskaya. --© Cinema Guild
Reviews for Alexandra
At least one critic has called this Sokurov's most political film, but on its deepest level it considers not a particular war but the complex feelings between mothers and the young men they send out into the world to kill or be killed.
10/24/08
Top CriticSokurov is able to say things about the terrible conflict without obvious polemic but to the maximum possible effect. That’s largely why he is one of the most audacious and original directors in the world today.
09/26/08
His sepia images of war's futility are beautiful, and Vishnevskaya's face is a compelling one, but they cannot compensate for the soporific anti-narrative.
09/26/08
The eerie haze of the visuals, the half-babble of music and the toneless, teasing dialogue dance attendance on the strangest ghost of all: Galina Vishnevskaya.
09/26/08
Shot in shades of bleached-out khaki brown and augmented by a heart-rending orchestral score, it’s a unique and intensely moving elegy for wasted lives.
09/26/08
It's a film of small details rather than big gestures...and all the more powerful for it.
09/26/08
But Aleksandr Sokurov, with the mesmerising and subtly disorientating directorial style that he has mastered, makes it feel emotionally real and imaginatively true. A wonderful film.
09/26/08
A bone-weariness pervades every inch of the film; even the light is bleached dry of vitality.
09/26/08
Apart from a thoroughly irritating background track of schmaltzy classical music, this is Sokurov at his shortest and most digestible.
09/26/08
It’s also quietly challenging, in its own way, not least in its portrait of old age, its trials, new freedoms and the privilege of changing one’s mind before it becomes too late.
09/26/08
This is war as stalemate, with Aleksandr Burov’s bleached images creating an alien landscape in which colour is as rare as compassion. Rarely has combat seemed so savage or futile.
09/26/08
Perhaps Sokurov's film will leave some viewers as weary as its protagonist, but this intimate and evocative journey through war is well worth taking.
09/19/08
Here is what filmmaking looks like at its absolute best: a movie of bold and aggressive originality that expresses itself with the utmost delicacy.
08/22/08
Remarkable, how little Sokurov tells us, while telling us so much.
08/08/08
Top CriticThe film is built on a massive incongruity: Watching this octogenarian drag her little bent-up wheeled luggage cart, amid rolling tanks and military transport trucks, you're looking at two eternal verities%u2014war, and civilians caught up in its wake%u20
08/07/08
Top CriticOne of those pure films that's devoid of excess and overstatement...simple but searing.
07/29/08
Interesting look at life in the Russian military, but to what purpose?
07/20/08
Clever scenario looks at the balance of power betwween age, sex, and nationality
07/19/08
The sepia tones and the claustrophobic camerawork are instantly recognizable as Sokurov's work, and so is the emphasis on family intimacy.
07/18/08
Latest News for Alexandra
September 07, 2007:
Toronto Film Fest, Day 2: Reviews of Rendition and Alexandra
I mentioned yesterday I was expecting to post a Juno review, but I was also expecting for something at some point to go wrong. What went right: I saw Juno. What went wrong: I... More...
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