Review of How I Ended This Summer (2010) by Eric R — 19 Dec 2011

On a desolate island in the Arctic circle, two men work at a meteorology station where they take measurements of radioactivity in the surrounding area. Sergei, is a rough, blue-collar man in his fifties who has been doing this type of work for years and takes it all very seriously while Pavel, his new colleague, is inexperienced which causes tension between the two men.

One day Pavel receives a message from head quarters with some terrible news directly relating to Sergei. Pavel is scared to tell Sergei the news because of their stringent relationship, which leads to Pavel digging himself into a deeper whole.

How I Ended This Summer is a gorgeously photographed film, bordering on meditative, which really takes advantage of its setting to relate this feeling of isolation among the characters. This is a film with a very very basic plot which chooses to explore the tension of these characters and their emotional fragility.

Billed as a Thriller, this is a very slow paced film that uses every visual and sound to create it's atmosphere. Pavel's intentions when holding the news from Sergei are never truly revealed but I believe it's not out of selfishness or spite but rather he was just looking for the right time that never came.

Everything that happens to him is by his own making and as much as I love the atmospheric, 'less is more' style, I do wish we had a little more concrete reasoning as to why Pavel does not tell Sergei from the beginning.

Even still, the film examines these two characters fragility in very different ways with a very strong ending that could have gone a much more "exciting" but ultimately unsatisfying way. One way I would describe this film is that it almost feels like the type of film that Tarkovsky would make if he was making a Thriller.

This would definitely make a good companion piece with Hans Petter Moland' Zero Kelvin.