BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Michael Neumann This undemonstrative slice-of-Soviet-life may be the quintessential sleeper: a small but valuable gem deserving more attention than it will likely ever earn. When it was released in the US the film was sold (disingenuously) as a romantic comedy about the singles scene behind the Iron Curtain, but don't be misled: it's actually a poignant, emotional portrait of solitude and isolation, two conditions hardly exclusive to Soviet Russia. The lonely woman is a quietly desperate 43-year old spinster who, in a moment of weakness, tacks the title ad to several telephone poles, attracting only the attention of a homeless drunk even more pathetic than herself. What follows is little more than a sad duet between mutual strangers, played with delicate sympathy by two virtuoso actors. The production itself is technically crude (by Hollywood standards), but the low budget lack of polish only enhances the fragile intimacy of the story. Unglamorous it may be, but also equally unforgettable.