Go An education by lnbee Anyone going to see this needs a modicum of information about Russian society and culture. Go to ***booktv.org; search "Russia", then select the book "It Was a LongTime Ago, and It Never Happened...
Oh No! ANDREY ZVYAGINSTEV?S ?FILM NOIR? ?ELENA,? ABOUT AS APPEALING AS A STALINIST APARTMENT BLOCK by CharlesHaas "?Tarantulas in a jar? may be a good metaphor for Putin?s Russia, and this kind of anthropological perspective may be the best way to observe the worst sides of ourselves, but director Andrey...
88 Slant Magazine | Chuck Bowen Elena is a film deeply concerned with class resentment, but the filmmakers' attitude toward their titular character is disconcerting and even shocking. Read full review
88 New York Post | V.A. Musetto Nadezhda Markina is splendid as Elena, who speaks little but still manages to make her thoughts and emotions crystal clear. Read full review
88 Boston Globe | Ty Burr Elena reveals a filmmaker in full command of his art and not much interested in catering to an audience. If you want this film, you have to meet it more than halfway. Read full review
85 NPR | Ella Taylor Beneath the noirish topicality of Elena, which won a special jury prize at Cannes last year, lies a bone-deep existential unease and spiritual alienation, a preoccupation with sin that is at once quintessentially Russian and wholly archaic. Read full review