Review of How I Ended This Summer (2010) by Rob L — 17 Oct 2011

This striking movie will probably be little seen but merits a wider audience. Set on an island off the coast of Roman Abramovich's Russian Far East fiefdom of Chukhotka, it features two unlikely occupants of a meteorological station, inviting comparisons with another underrated film, The Hide.

The younger of the two protagonists is prone to a bit of ultraviolent video game action and enjoys dicking about on the tundra - in short, he's a bit of an idle so-and-so and that naturally goes down like a lead balloon with his more senior colleague.

The setting is stunning - although it's clearly only feasible to film here at the height of Summer, it's nonetheless evident that it's seriously brass monkeys. The movie seems stagey to start with but picks up pace and a polar bear even makes an appearance at one point. Excellent.