Films Closeness

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Closeness poster

Film · 2017

Closeness

Original titleTesnota

Directed by Kantemir Balagov

  • 1 h 58 min
  • Drama · Thriller
  • Russia
  • 6.0 AverageMovieNCo
  • 4.9 Users2 votes
  • 7.0 Critics8 reviews
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Synopsis

Russian director Kantemir Balagov presents his feature film debut with 'Closeness'. In Nalchik, a Russian town close to the frontier with Georgia, Ilana and her family have trouble making ends meet. But one night, they decide to make an exception to celebrate the engagement of David, Ilana's brother, and his girlfriend. The next day, David and his fiancée are nowhere to be found, and the family receives a kidnapping note. From this point, the door is open for a spiral of madness and despair while Ilana and her family risk it all in order to save David. The film participated at the 2017 Cannes Festival inside the section Un Certain Regard, where it participated in the section Un Certain Regard, where it won the FIPRESCI Award from the international critics.

The essentials

Runtime
118 min1 hour and 58 minutes
How long is Closeness?
1 hour and 58 minutes (118 minutes).
Who directed Closeness?
Kantemir Balagov.
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Cast

Full cast (3)
Director
Kantemir Balagov
Writers
Kantemir Balagov
Producers
Alexander Sokurov

Photos and posters

All 16 photos

Reviews

All 8 reviews
4.9 2 votes

What the critics say average 7.0 from 8 outlets

  • 10 FotogramasPhilipp Engel "[Balagov] with a precocious wisdom for composition and an extraordinary command of illumination and colours, it manages to turn every frame of this stunning opera prima into a really exciting… Read
  • 8.0 CinemaníaDaniel de Partearroyo "The best debut of the year has a wonderful protagonist, the candour of the suburbs, an enviable visual style, dancing trances and cigarettes. We want more." Read
  • 7.5 The PlaylistBradley Warren "Balagov relies on his own impressive directorial impulses and Zhovner?s fearless lead performance to set 'Closeness' apart from the other directorial debuts unspooling at Cannes." Read

Soundtrack

All 5 songs
  1. Adyge Nyse
  2. Mama AsiaMr, Credo
  3. Ne PlachTatyana Bulanova
  4. JerasalemTimur Mutsuraev

Trivia

  • Not Nalschik, but Saint Petersburg

    In spite of the film being located in Nalschik, most of the filming was developed in Saint Petersburg for budgetary reasons. Just some exterior sets are really Nalschik.

  • The snuff film

    'Closeness' includes a polemic sequence where the director includes a snuff video he found when he was young. In it, a real person appears dying. Since the film does not warn in advance that it will show these images, it has caused some controversy.

  • Blame it on Sokurov

    At the beginning and the end of the film, there is some text that contextualize the story in time and space for the viewer. This was an idea of Alexander Sokurov, who was a teacher of the film's director, because various critics told him that context was needed to understand the movie.

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