Review of How I Ended This Summer (2010) by Mikhael T — 25 Feb 2011

First impression from this movie is quiet. This movie has a lot of quiet silent moments. Maybe that won't appeal to many people but when I think that what makes this movie feels good and right. It's about this guy who comes to visit his uncle to work there so he has something to write about how he spends his summer. Why does he choose to visit that freezing place? If I were his teacher, I'd give him bonus point for choosing something against the mainstream. You don't see many kids spend their summer working at dangerous unknown place, do you?

That's what Pavel (Grigory Dobrygin) here does. He helps his uncle, Sergei (Sergei Puskepalis) running he errands around that place: checking the sea temperature, wind, and other things I never knew before. A fan of metal music, Pavel always runs the stuff alone. He makes mistakes too. I mean this is a new kid on the block. Thankfully, he knows how to report over the radio to the headquarter when Sergei is on the action searching for fresh fish for these poor two souls.

So what now? He knows what to do. He still got time to play Counter Strike. Suddenly, the guy at the headquarter sends Pavel a message for his uncle. This time it's not a message with a smiley at the end, it's a n important one. Sergei's wife and kids are killed on an accident. I would be killed in a shock if I were him. The question is how do you deliver this horrible news to a man who's been living in peace for long time with the nature and do you have the guts to do it?

The quiet peaceful scenes are over once Pavel got the message. It's not playful anymore there. He can't sleep. He can't concentrate. First he plays cats and mouse with the headquarter then he plays catch-me-if-you-can with Sergei. It's pure genius filmmaking with character study and nature study. Enjoy.

I was pretty impressed with Grigory here. He reminds me of Katie Davis from Fish Tank last year. Great performance, award-worthy even, but unnoticed because of how small the film is and released too early. Movie industry is a bitch. It's almost like watching James Franco having fun in 127 Hours. He's really great. Also Sergei here is type of uncle who's tough on the outside and warm on the inside. The final scene is one to watch out for because it's too sappy, mopey, and heartbreaking. (B).