MOTHER AND SON (46)

Directed by: Aleksandr Sokurov

Starring: Gudrun Geyer, Alexei Ananishnov

The Pitch: A son looks after his dying mother.

Theo Sez: Unimprovable - and almost unendurable. It's not (just) a case of refusing to accept a film without narrative rhythms or character development - those of us who believe movies ought to move are admittedly at a disadvantage, but there's plenty to admire in its heart-stopping images, genuinely strange distension-effects, and tiny details (a slight smile, a bird flitting from branch to branch) gently rupturing impeccable tableaux ; besides, the characters do develop, even if it's only in subtle moments like the son watching a train in the distance, already thinking (you sense) about moving on. It's about as good as semi-abstract two-handers get - but there's something deeply depressing about the whole enterprise, about reducing the world in this way, reducing colours to a drab palette of grey, green and brown, and reducing Death to a basic funereal stillness : there's so much more that might've been said (on the presence (or otherwise) of God, the mystery of our existence, the view that "people live for no particular reason") and remains undeveloped, or deliberately stifled - without even connecting the lack of resolution (as, e.g. in KUNDUN) to the theme itself. What's there is often magical - figures in a landscape so clear and still it seems painted more than photographed, or an infinitely slow crane-shot caressing the mother as she lies on a bench. What's missing is any stimulating insight or real philosophy ; all the important stuff, in other words.