Unless a ton of this went over my head, it felt like a surprisingly simple drama/adventure film set almost entirely outdoors. Several geologists go looking for diamonds in the Siberian wilderness. Ultimately, for a handful of reasons, things don't go as planned.
It was less Heart of Darkness and more survival-focused, which I guess took me off guard. Things play out a little predictably, with the only moments that end up surprising being scenes that abruptly jump forward in time to show things suddenly drastically different. The pacing and editing felt a little strange to me, and almost like they were trying to add complexity to a simple survival story with clearly defined, fairly straightforward characters.
The movie excels when it comes to visuals. A good deal of the time, the things that feel off when it comes to editing and writing don't matter. The camera work and shot composition are consistently spectacular, making this an amazing movie to look at. If anything sucks you in, it's how it looks (and I think the performances are quite good too; they probably help).
It's a flawed film which I don't think adds up to the director's previous film, the similarly great-looking The Cranes Are Flying (1957), but it's still solid. It holds up fairly decently in most areas, and truly excels when it comes to visuals, which feels like enough when it looks this good.
It was less Heart of Darkness and more survival-focused, which I guess took me off guard. Things play out a little predictably, with the only moments that end up surprising being scenes that abruptly jump forward in time to show things suddenly drastically different. The pacing and editing felt a little strange to me, and almost like they were trying to add complexity to a simple survival story with clearly defined, fairly straightforward characters.
The movie excels when it comes to visuals. A good deal of the time, the things that feel off when it comes to editing and writing don't matter. The camera work and shot composition are consistently spectacular, making this an amazing movie to look at. If anything sucks you in, it's how it looks (and I think the performances are quite good too; they probably help).
It's a flawed film which I don't think adds up to the director's previous film, the similarly great-looking The Cranes Are Flying (1957), but it's still solid. It holds up fairly decently in most areas, and truly excels when it comes to visuals, which feels like enough when it looks this good.