Just perfect...

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

My advice is to watch this film to experience it's captivating photography and the characters that live in the back country to whom the postman must deliver their mail.You see their hope, needs, desires, boredom, and hopelessness. There really isn't a plot to this movie it's just a fascinating look into the lives of a small almost forgotten community living on the very outer edges.

This film may be much too subtle for some who are accustomed to the Hollywood-type lowest common denominator message delivery. The conversations and interactions are not stylized or dramatized - they are very natural. The scenery is stern and beautiful and the camera work is magnificent. What is especially remarkable is how gently and thoughtfully the characters are portrayed. The postman is an exceptionally kind soul. He is not handsome or muscular and he does not commit any violent acts but he is still "created in God's image" and, in his own way, very heroic. Others may be superfluous, primitive and flawed, but the film manages to fully humanize them and make them very sympathetic and likable. Another reviewer mentioned the contrast between the launch of the space rocket and the simple life of the villagers, but that is not the main point of the film. However poor these people are, the rocket does not diminish their humanity. In fact, the characters do not even notice it. It does not matter anymore that the spaceships are plowing the expanses of the universe. The scenes where the postman looks at a little ant, or hears the sounds of the past in the decaying school building, are even more profound. The important and skillfully developed idea here is that, however remote this place is, the now abandoned people living there still got caught up in the historical events forced upon them, and those events left them scarred for life.

There is only 1 professional actor in this film and all of the other characters are just going about their usual lives and being filmed by hidden camera's. As you might imagine looking for a story in a place where very little happens is a definitely a challenge.The closest this film gets to a story is when the postman (who is the lead character) takes a local boy out fishing and tells him a scary story. Despite the villagers living in a beautiful place the overall sense is of endurance rather than say a delight in the local beauty of the area. It seems like there is a potential story about the villagers catching the local fish using a type of net which is against the rules given the lake is part of a national park. Lake Kenozero where the film is made is right near Plesetsk Cosmodrome and we get a glimpse of that world when a rocket is launched and we see a military helicopter visit the lake. It seems like more could have been made of the contrast between the cosmodrome and the life at the lake but that story is left as a background element.Half the budget for this film (total budget $1.5m) comes from the equivalent of the postal service which is presumably the reason the lead character is a postman. Because the cast are not not professional actors this seems like a revival of neo-realist film making but without a compelling reason for making a film.It does capture a way of life in a beautiful location but because of its isolation mostly just comes across as being rather bleak. Contrast this film with 'Leviafan' (by Andrey Zvyagintsev) which covers very similar themes but despite the bleakness of that story it somehow seems more compelling.

Comments to the plot summary: the absence of our usual comfort doesn't necessarily mean "Neolithic Era" :) What this film has to offer is not what you see on the screen. It's what it makes you think about. It's the memories that it brings. It's much more. You might feel pity for these people in their remoteness, but, in fact, we should feel pity for ourselves in our addiction to comfort and lack of pure human interrelationship. They've definitely got it. It's about us, good and bad, silly and wise.. it's about kindness that is still there, deep inside us. It's about the beauty and magnificence of nature, which is our primary government. Purity, genuineness and reflection... Thank you, Mr. Konchalovskiy!