IGN.com|AskMen.com|Rotten Tomatoes|GameSpy|FilePlanet|TeamXbox|CheatsCodesGuides|GameStats|Direct2Drive
RottenTomatoes.com
Register | Log In | What is RT?
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Trailers & Pictures The Vine Forums
Box Office | In Theaters | Opening | Upcoming | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches by subscribing to our Google Subscribed Links profile.
 
Movies / On DVD / The Return
The Return

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Email to a Friend
  • Add to List
  • Bookmark and Share
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon

The Return (2004)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
96 %
Tomatometer

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted: 74

Fresh: 71

Rotten:3

Average Rating: 8.1/10

Consensus: A suspenseful but perplexing thriller.

Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release: Feb 6, 2004 Limited

Synopsis: In contemporary Russia young brothers Vanya and Andrey have grown a deep attachment to each other to make up for their fatherless childhood. Running home after a fight with neighborhood kids the boys are shocked to discover their father... In contemporary Russia young brothers Vanya and Andrey have grown a deep attachment to each other to make up for their fatherless childhood. Running home after a fight with neighborhood kids the boys are shocked to discover their father has returned after a twelve year absence. With their mother's uneasy blessing Vanya and Andrey set out on what they believe will be a fishing vacation with their taciturn father. Though at first ecstatic to be reunited with the father they've only known from a faded photograph, the boys strain under the weight of their dad's awkward and increasingly brutal efforts to make up for a missing decade of parental supervision. Vanya and Andrey find themselves alternately tested, scolded, scrutinized and ignored by their father through a changing series of encounters and hardships. As truck stops and cafés give way to rain-swept, primevally beautiful wildernesscoastline, Vanya's doubts about his father give way to open defiance. Andrey's powerful need to bond with a father he's never known begins, in turn, to distance him from Vanya. Vanya and his father's test of wills escalates into bitter hostility and sudden violence as the trio arrives at their mysterious island destination. The dubious sanctuary of a rickety light tower, the desperate reassurance of a stolen knife, the cryptic allure of a rusting strong box and the fleeting safety of a hastily patched boat give evidence to the ultimately tragic conclusion of Vanya and Andrey's harrowing father and son journey and the heartbreakingly transitory nature of their reunion. -- © Kino International [More]

Starring: Ivan Dobronravov, Vladimir Garin, Konstantin Lavronenko, Natalia Vdovina

Starring: Ivan Dobronravov, Vladimir Garin, Konstantin Lavronenko, Natalia Vdovina

Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev

Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev
Screenwriter: Vladimir Moiseenko, Alexander Novotsky
Producer: Dmitry Lesnevsky
Studio: Kino International

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

  • Buy DVD
 
 
 
 
Release:

Oct 19, 2004

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region (Unknown)
  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen - 1.85

Reviews for The Return

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
Arrange By: Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
Ratings Image

Like each episode of Kieslowski's Decalogue, The Return is a small but potent story. It leads us to ask: Is it ever enough to just 'trust and obey'?

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
09/09/07
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer
Ratings Image

A harrowing, elusively biblical account… echoes of Abraham and Isaac, the Gospel parables about fathers and pairs of sons, and the Second Coming.

Full Review Source: Decent Films Guide | comment Comment
02/11/06
Steven D. Greydanus
Decent Films Guide
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

magnificent return of a great cinema tradition to the world stage

Full Review Source: Draxblog Movie Reviews | comment Comment
10/11/05
Dragan Antulov
Draxblog Movie Reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
07/21/05
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Si uno se queda sólo en la primera lectura del drama familiar, la experiencia puede ser bastante desconcertante.

Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | comment Comment
05/08/05
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total
Ratings Image

Um estudo de personagens cuja força se torna ainda maior em função das belas performances do trio principal.

comment Comment
01/18/05
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image

The Return feels like an experiment designed to find out how much basic plot information you can withhold from an audience and still have an interesting movie.

Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | comment Comment
01/04/05
Paul Matwychuk
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
Ratings Image

... an unsentimental film about how childhood lingers until it abruptly ends.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
12/26/04
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ratings Image

an absorbing psychological drama and coming-of-age story in the guise of a road movie

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Alternative | comment Comment
12/15/04
Jay Antani
Los Angeles Alternative
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
12/06/04
J. Robert Parks
Looking Closer
Ratings Image

What begins as a simple road trip becomes a spiritual journey, the classic passage from boy to man.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
08/20/04
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

The story sidesteps all expectations and does not go where you might expect.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
08/20/04
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies
Ratings Image

To any masochist who's been pining for all those cliched tropes associated with Russian cinema -- ponderous pacing and arcane symbolism shot through a lens darkly -- this will seem a welcome blast from the past.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment 1 Comment
08/20/04
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

A remarkable achievement.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
08/08/04
Rex Roberts
Film Journal International
Ratings Image

This solid film tells the story of the brothers Andrey and Ivan. It is not the particular story of these brothers: it is the universal story of kids struggling to grow up.

Full Review Source: european-films.net | comment Comment
07/29/04
Boyd van Hoeij
european-films.net
Ratings Image

We’re sent out of the theater unsettled and somewhat mystified by what we saw, but exhilarated to have been in the presence of a truly impressive filmmaking debut.

Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | comment Comment
07/29/04
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Ratings Image

A quiet film.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
07/16/04
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel
Ratings Image

The Return begins on an ominous note and stays there for 105 absorbing, frustrating minutes.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
07/15/04
Steve Schneider
Orlando Weekly
Ratings Image

There's a bleak, haunting quality to 'The Return'...it combines a feeling of deep poignancy with a strong vein of menace.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
07/10/04
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
See More Topics...

Related Forums for The Return

related films.
by: EugenicScum 7/30/07


The Return wins BBC award in UK
by: davidl 1/28/05


HarryTuttle
The Return / Vozvrashcheniye - VENICE 2003 GOLDEN LION
by: HarryTuttle 12/15/04


HarryTuttle
The Return / Vozvrashcheniye - VENICE 2003 GOLDEN LION
by: HarryTuttle 12/15/04


HarryTuttle
The Return / Vozvrashcheniye - VENICE 2003 GOLDEN LION
by: HarryTuttle 12/15/04
See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
FRESH: 1 93% Iron Man
FRESH: 2 85% Forgetting Sarah Marshall
ROTTEN: 3 50% Sex and the City - The…
ROTTEN: 4 52% Leatherheads
ROTTEN: 5 12% Made of Honor

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
ROTTEN: 35 35% You Don't Mess with the Zohan
ROTTEN: 18 18% The Happening
FRESH: 75 75% Paranoid Park
FRESH: 93 93% The Visitor
FRESH: 71 71% Stuck

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Brad Pitt, Florist?

Brad Pitt, Florist?

De Niro, Tucci in What Just Happened

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat

Plan your costume with our Halloween Guide!

That's Hot

That's Hot

Paris Hilton picks her favorite films.

Toon vs. Toon

Toon vs. Toon

We rank the best animated films of all time!

More Info

RT To Go

Get this widget! Movie Reviews

Around The Network

  • The Return at Rotten Tomatoes
  • The Return at AskMen
 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.