Review of Loveless (2017) by Luis_Pineda10 — 03 Nov 2018

Filmmakers around the world has always recreated cinema in their own way, contrasting with the films made in Hollywood, that in a certain point become the same, that is to say, are made with the same "mold". The foreign cinema, specially from Europe, America and Asia has acquired his own identity, but with pass of time we can say that this films are made with the same "mold", but obviously, one different from Hollywood's.

I think no one can deny the much contributions that Hollywood has made to cinema, since the beginning of this art they have improved the way we watch and consume movies and how these are made. This have its consequence, the over exploitation of films, especially of a specific genre; in the 50's were the musicals and now are the super-heroes movies but international filmmakers (and from Hollywood itself too) always find another way to tell a story. In 20's were the Russians and Germans, then the Italians, with artistic movements that change films forever and then in response to the repetitive stagnation of ideas in Hollywood, the Nouvelle Vague (the "new wave" of french cinema) made his own contribution. They were the beginning of the foreign cinema that now is still alive and for me is better than many of the Hollywood films.

"Nelyubov" represents that, the actual foreign cinema that is the son of that foreign films from the 20th century. This movie sometimes reminds me to movies from Luis Buñuel or Jean-Luc Godard, and a lot to Michael Haneke's "Caché", we can say are similar in some aspects, but I think they seem to be made with the same "model" because they represent the same: the voice that says that the cinema is not only Hollywood.

This movie is incredible, is so beautifully and carefully made; is awesome how it takes his time to express and show how the characters are and what his title means, you see the two main characters and their lack of love, how that transform their lives and most important how it determines another person's life, in this case the boy. After we saw everything about both parents and how they try to find love far from the other (being his son the only link between both) a situation when they need to be together appears.

The film change totally from this point and in the searching of the boy we check that the parents can not be together and we wonder what will happen at the end. I thought they were going to find the boy, it was surprising the end, letting you some questions and reflections. Andrey Zvyagintsev, the director of the films does an spectacular job, it manage very well the rhythm of the movie, that sometimes seems slow but like I said, it takes his time and in the end everything was necessary. The shots, that don't show many movement and the information that the movie gives to the audience is pretty careful.

The cinematography is great, with a tone that shows the coldness and unhappy life of the characters. The music is another aspect to mention, is very good, Evgueni Galperine & Sacha Galperine does an amazing job, and the performances are also amazing, both when they cry, fight or smile (the latter the least we see).

In conclusion, I think this film is one of the best of the year and I expect to see it in the award season that's coming, is well done in every aspect and is part of the current foreign cinema, that pays homage to his predecessors.