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The Return

Name: The Return
Genre: Drama
Released: February 6, 2004
Duration: 105 min
Rating: 82

2004

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 30 Critics

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 44 Ratings

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8.5

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8.5	User Score Universal acclaim based on 44 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Kino International | Release Date: February 6, 2004 | Unrated

Summary: In contemporary Russia young brothers Vanya and Andrey have grown a deep attachment to each other to make up for their fatherless childhood. They are shocked to discover their father has returned after a twelve year absence. With their mother's uneasy blessing Vanya and Andrey set out on what they believe will be a fishing vacation withIn contemporary Russia young brothers Vanya and Andrey have grown a deep attachment to each other to make up for their fatherless childhood. They are shocked to discover their father has returned after a twelve year absence. With their mother's uneasy blessing Vanya and Andrey set out on what they believe will be a fishing vacation with their taciturn father. [Kino International]… Expand

Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Unrated

Runtime: 105 min

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Awards & Rankings

27	#27 Best Movie of 2004

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Critic Reviews

100

David Sterritt

Enriched by allusions to biblical stories of fathers, sons, and sacrifices, subtly woven into the movie's moodily photographed fabric. Read full review

100

Michael Wilmington

The Russian film The Return is a stunning contemporary fable about a divided family in the wilderness - a simple, riveting film that almost achieves greatness. Read full review

Ella Taylor

The true mystery is the journey itself, which will turn out to be one of the most spiritually enervating, and elevating, Outward Bound courses ever undertaken. Read full review

Ty Burr

Filmed with a cold, poetic beauty, The Return slowly strips away motivation until it arrives at a place of myth both private and oddly universal. Read full review

Deborah Young

Constructed like an eerie, metaphorical thriller, this tense, riveting character study offers viewers nearly two hours of emotions with a stunning pay-off no one will be expecting. Read full review

Roger Ebert

It is a Kafkaesque story, in which ominous things follow one another with a certain internal logic but make no sense at all. Read full review

Michael Sragow

Strip away the portentous style and lush views of nature in The Return and all you've got is a slender nightmare of a family gone haywire in an outing that turns into survival camp. Read full review

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User Reviews

BillH.

Nov 27, 2007

Brilliant and beautiful moving film.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

DanC.

Oct 6, 2005

I found it amazingly compelling. The simultaneous dread and wonder that the boys experience in the first scenes after their father's return is extremely well done. The unfolding of the story and its resolution drew me in completely. A film very much worth seeing.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

CitizenKhan

May 11, 2006

Truly tense and emotionally riveting.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

DavidH.

Mar 21, 2007

Well-acted, but the screenplay is elliptical and implausible (I know Russians aren't exactly well reputed for their manners or social skills, but fathers don't walk in on their kids for the firs time in 12 years by surprise without telling them where they've or what Well-acted, but the screenplay is elliptical and implausible (I know Russians aren't exactly well reputed for their manners or social skills, but fathers don't walk in on their kids for the firs time in 12 years by surprise without telling them where they've or what they've done). The story arc of the dad returning to hoping resolve an existential crisis in his children and to teach them about individual responsibility is his hammered home in an obvious fashion that doesn't hold up for two hour, halfway through which I lost all interest. The direction and photography are affected and pretentious. Zvyagentsev appears to fancy himself as a kind of post-Soviet era Tarksovsky, but lacks the imagination or human insight of the said director.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful

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