Review of III (2015) by Arta B — 07 Jan 2019

This is one hollow exercise in pretention and incoherence. Images alone, even the abstract, can well replace, supplement and support a narrative; here, the breaks in continuity abound and deprive III of even this structure. Mr. Khvaleev, born in Russia, has set his film somewhere in Soviet satellite Mitteleuropa. This makes you wonder why the inscriptions on the stained glass windows of the church are in English. The town's cemetery, where the girls' mother is buried, seems to be hundreds of miles away from the town, judging by the landscape.

The ease with which Father Herman agrees to what amounts to an act of paganism would certainly raise eyebrows in the Vatican, if not lead to his swift excommunication.

This could all be excused if the narrative were gripping, even mildly. As it is, the film is strictly a bore.