DAlthough it is located in remote Murmansk in northwestern Russia, it is bitterly cold, but in this alternative romantic story about strangers on the train, there is wonderful human warmth and humor.It comes from the Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen, whose The 2016 movie “Oli McGee’s Happiest Day in Life” It is a lovely comedy about the real Finnish boxing champions of the 1960s.
His new film is based on the novel of the same name by the Finnish artist and writer Rosa Liksom. It tells the story of Yuliya Aug, a young Finnish archeology student in Moscow in the early 1990s. She and her professor Irina (Dilana Drukalova) began an impulsive relationship. Under Irina’s guidance and her encouragement, perhaps because the older woman did not want Natalia to stay for too long, Natalia decided to take the difficult train to Murmansk, where she I want to see the petroglyphs there-mysterious petroglyphs, thousands of years of history.
The kind-hearted and open-minded Natalia boarded this uncomfortable train in the freezing cold, where she found out that she had to share car 6 with Vadim (Yuri Borisov). M is a rough and drunk young man who is on the way to pick up the car. She works in a coal mine in Murmansk and publicly abuses, hates women and vulgarity of Natalia’s plan. Her phone call back to Moscow showed that Irina was not entirely thinking of her.
Of course, it is not excessive that the relationship between Vadim and Natalia will be unfrozen after they meet. The romance that blooms between these two young people goes hand in hand with the romance of long-distance rail travel, which is very non-American with Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise” movie. Vadim’s frowning face and shaved bullet make him look like a tough guy at first, but soon we will see him as a fragile little boy, especially when Natalia welcomes another Finn to share their carriage-a The self-appreciation sensitive type who insists on singing and playing the guitar. Vadim had strong doubts and dissatisfaction with this pretentious intruder, and he was right to do so.
In the end, no one wants to help Natalia find these rock paintings that she has gone to see with all her heart, but Vadim herself must stand up; this scene and the whole movie are charming and gentle.
