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The Return

The 21st Century’s 100 greatest films (BBC)

Vozvrashchenie (The Return)

2003

Andrey Zvyagintsev

Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Natalia Vdovina ...

7.4

6,819

Drama 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 12-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.

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"[It] does not conceal information from the audience, which would be a technique of manipulation, but from the boys, which is a technique of drama (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"It looks and feels like a classic (...) 'The Return' unfolds like a mysterious and disquieting parable"	POS
United States	Dave Kehr The New York Times	"Visually the film is a marvel (...) Zvyagintsev creates a most moving tension between his archetypal themes and the bristling specificity of his characters"	POS
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"Beautifully structured and emotionally wrenching (...) Zvyagintsev elicits first-rate performances from his male leads"	POS
United States	Andrew Sarris The New York Observer	"[A] brilliantly acted and photographed, yet strangely frustrating fable"	NEU
United States	Scott Tobias AV Club	"Few will dispute Zvyagintsev's ability to coax remarkable performances from his child actors (...) [An] expertly controlled film"	POS
United Kingdom	Andrew Collins Radio Times	"Zvyagintsev creates a stunningly beautiful puzzle that brilliantly captures the boys' confusion (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Jamie Russell BBC	"It's a beautifully realized debut from an assured filmmaker (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	David Hughes Empire	"[It] is a quiet and disquieting masterpiece which gets under your skin and stays there long after you leave the cinema (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Ed Gonzalez Slant	"The vistas are gorgeous and the score by Andrey Dergatchev makes for great comedown music, but the story mawkishly strains for parallelism (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEU

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