Published: 18 May, 2009, 19:48
Edited: 18 May, 2009, 19:48
Nikolay Khomeriki’s latest motion picture depicts a female police officer dealing with minors in the Russian Far East, but will the true-to-life drama find its audiences in the South of France?
Nikolay Khomeriki has become a Cannes regular. It’s the third time his movies have been selected at the festival. In 2005 and 2006, the director was praised for his intellectual approach to cinema, having been inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky and Lars von Trier.
His latest feature, Tale in the Darkness, is about solitude. Khomeriki says the characters in his film are seeking mutual understanding but fail to find a common language.
Men are from Mars, women are from Venus – the conclusion drawn from the Russian film is as old as the hills in Cannes.
The director says his film has a universal appeal.
"I could have made this film in Austria or France. It would have been the same film. But I live in Russia, I’m Russian and made it in Russia. The story is not about the country, it’s about a woman.”
Khomeriki says he tried to look at the world through the eyes of a woman, as the main character of his film lives in the Russian Far East and works as a police inspector dealing with youngsters from dysfunctional families.
According to the director, Tale in the Darkness is neither tragic, nor comic. It’s real.
At the end of the week it will become clear whether European audiences will take to such a depiction of reality.
The Russian drama is competing for a trophy at the Un Certain Regard program at the 62nd Cannes festival.
Valeria Paikova, RT