"The Unsent Letter" begins with a simple and powerful concept; we are introduced to a letter being written, and we know from the title that it remains unsent. And this contributes to a sense of doom and danger (and contrasting human hope) that characterizes the film.
This film is in large part a combination of large successes in the areas of character drama and cinematography, appropriately as the setting is so vital. It's the wide-open wooded Siberian Taiga in summer with the ticking time-bomb of a Siberian winter looming unspoken. In a context like this, the isolation of place can make it a place for a bottle drama. Here the friction and attraction between the characters is intensified against the mortal danger that is its background.
In terms of direction, there is no shying away from the lingering shot, hanging on the difficulty of a passage or on the face of a character -- and this is very effective. The acting is first rate; I had known Vasili Livanov only as Sherlock Holmes, and it is great to seem him do full justice to a very dramatic role.
The cinematography, though, is what is really extraordinary. There are some incredible shots moving around burning forest fires and huge icy landscapes that seem like they should have been impossible to achieve. In the end, one feels like one has gone through some of the ordeal of the characters. And one is tempted to imagine that making the film might have been a dangerous mission for the filmmakers on the order of what the characters encountered.
This film is in large part a combination of large successes in the areas of character drama and cinematography, appropriately as the setting is so vital. It's the wide-open wooded Siberian Taiga in summer with the ticking time-bomb of a Siberian winter looming unspoken. In a context like this, the isolation of place can make it a place for a bottle drama. Here the friction and attraction between the characters is intensified against the mortal danger that is its background.
In terms of direction, there is no shying away from the lingering shot, hanging on the difficulty of a passage or on the face of a character -- and this is very effective. The acting is first rate; I had known Vasili Livanov only as Sherlock Holmes, and it is great to seem him do full justice to a very dramatic role.
The cinematography, though, is what is really extraordinary. There are some incredible shots moving around burning forest fires and huge icy landscapes that seem like they should have been impossible to achieve. In the end, one feels like one has gone through some of the ordeal of the characters. And one is tempted to imagine that making the film might have been a dangerous mission for the filmmakers on the order of what the characters encountered.