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NO-ONE (2018)
Good Little Indie Film
This film has beautiful cinematography. It's apparent that the director and the rest of the filmmakers put a lot of love into this movie. In the beginning, the opening shots are breathtaking. We get pictures of the city back to back showing you where the location of the movie is going to be. Then the costume design is amazing. They really did a good job of letting you know what era the film will take place in. The script was well-written too. Not the best in my opinion but for a small indie film, it did just fine. I mean the film did win Best Feature Film and Best Cinematography at the Vienna Independent Film Festival, so it must have done something right.
If perhaps you didn't read the description of the movie beforehand, this movie is a drama. It's also set in another language so you'll have to read subtitles. The storyline is set with four characters. A general named Oleg, his wife Tamara, Vlad, and Vlad's lover. They all hate each other for their own little reasons and you find out some of them as the movie continues. The film has a ton for the movie where it's set in the final days before the collapse of the soviet union but it doesn't go into much detail other than that. That's more just there for some background context, the main part of the film is dealing with these four characters and their rocky relationship with each other. There are heavy sex scenes in this film so be vary if you are not into that kind of stuff. The film has a lot of twists to it that I honestly wasn't expecting. At the start of the movie, it's foreshadowed to us that someone has betrayed Oleg in a way. I didn't want to go into spoilers but it's hard not to with this movie. If you don't want the movie spoiled for you then stop reading here and just go to the last paragraph I write.
The general's wife Tamara, who is a famous actress, has multiple affairs throughout the movie. A lifeguard and the general's nephew Vlad. While Tamara is no longer in her younger days we see that this doesn't deter both men from wanting her. We'll start with Vlad first. At the start of the film, Vlad is walking with his uncle Oleg and you find out he's the director of a new film. Tamara and another actor are in Vlad's new film. Vlas starts out as a nice guy in the beginning but the more you watch the more you realize just how scummy he is. Vlad's girlfriend Zina is the daughter of a party boss. I did feel bad for Zina since all of Vlad's actions ended up just hurting her and being a side character in the movie. The general doesn't notice his wife's infidelity due to him being busy all the time dealing with the coup overtaking Soviet Russia. We get scenes of this throughout the film. We even see lower-level KGB officers.
Towards the end, the movie starts to take a dark turn and becomes gruesome in a way. The general goes on a killing spree which tricks you into thinking he may have just gone crazy with rage. I wouldn't blame him either. He found out his wife cheated on his wife his nephew and the lifeguard from the film, plus this is Russia after all. Oleg kills both the lifeguard and his nephew. I say it turned gruesome in the end because he cuts off his nephew's head and puts it on a platter. If you're not used to that kind of stuff then I can see how it would affect some people. The general kills the lifeguard after giving him a speech. It was sad to watch as Oleg went into the water and basically ended up killing himself. He lost everything pretty much towards the end of the movie.
Overall I would give the movie 6.5 out of 10 stars. It's not the best film I've ever seen but it's also not the worse. The movie remains intriguing to me even after I watched it. It might be confusing to some people who don't watch foreign films and I'll admit some parts of the film are confusing at times. There were some scenes I had to rewatch to understand more but it's still a good little indie film. I recommend people go watch it and give it a chance.