The Return

"How to account for the gusts of love and fear that sweep across this small Russian picture?"—Anthony Lane, New Yorker

From Russia, The Return won the Venice Film Festival's top accolade last year, with critics hailing director Andrei Zvyagintsev as the spiritual heir to such modernist giants as Michelangelo Antonioni. Set in the St. Petersburg region of northern Russia over the long days of summer, the story follows two young brothers on a mysterious fishing expedition with their father, who has just returned from an unexplained 12-year absence. At once moving and suspenseful, it's a piercing look at fatherhood, brotherhood, and the ties that bind. (105 mins.)