Loveless (2017)
…………………………………………………
Loveless Movie Review
Loveless is a 2017 Russian drama film directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev. It is a very good, interesting, but also somewhat problematic film.
………………………………………………….
“I have never even loved you“
………………………………………………….
………………………………………………….
It follows two separated parents who hate each other, but have to put their animosity aside when they set on a journey to find their missing son. The story here is excellent and the execution is mostly really good, but it is just such a terrible, depressing and awfully cold viewing experience for better and for worse.
I honestly found its characters overly terrible. Yes, there are some good people in this film, but most of them are horrible people and that was somewhat unrealistic. The kid is memorable for the short screen time that he got. I really liked both of their partners and they are the only good people in this film.
But the two main characters are awful people. He is cold and uninterested in his own son and this entire terrible situation whereas she is horrible toward him and almost everyone else and is such a major bitch that it was difficult to watch her in this film without wishing to punch her in the face.
Loveless is, well, loveless. That is the point of this film. Nobody here loves anybody and they are all cold, selfish and hollow people. The police themselves are not well organized and the entire country seems to be a horrible place to live in.
………………………………………………….
………………………………………………….
That is one of my gripes with this film. I do think that the film is great for the entire cold world, but I am not entirely sure that it was meant for the world or to just portray Russia. If the latter one is the case, I find it unfair and I totally understand why Russians would object to this film.
But as a critique of the entire world and the time we live in, it succeeds in spades. I found its entire second half overly slow and although the first half is also slow, it was very involving to watch still owing to excellent build up, characterization and many fine conversations. But the second half featured too many wordless, somewhat slow sequences and it lost its steam during that period.
But the ending stuck with me nonetheless. Loveless basically showcases how a kid can go missing and nobody can find him as in the end he remains missing and everyone just resumes their lives as if he had never existed. It was a terrible, non-human ending that rings true for this cold, selfish and utterly hopeless world we are living in now and that is why the ending haunted me which was the intention of the director and he succeeded in that quite a bit.
………………………………………………….
………………………………………………….
Loveless is gorgeously shot. I loved its very cold, but memorable imagery that accompanied the desperate, hopeless mood of the film remarkably well. The performances from Maryana Spivak and Aleksey Rozin are both excellent, but the direction from Andrey Zvyagintsev is terrific and although his previous film is better, this one also ended up being very good and quite memorable for sure.
Loveless is an awfully depressing, cold and hopeless film for better and for worse. Some of the scenes in the second half aren’t as riveting and the film might be too cold with too unlikable characters who are such horrible people who make this viewing experience rather difficult. However, that is also the point here and that ending in particular showcases hauntingly well how cold this world is. The cinematography is terrific as is its chilly mood, the performances are excellent and the direction from Andrey Zvyagintsev is superb. It is a very good film, but not as great as his previous film.
