Juho Kuosmanen, the Finnish director of Compartment No. 6, has said of his own films: “Basically, they are boring.” And it’s true that nothing much happens in this one, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. It is set over the course of a long train journey across Russia in 1998. Seidi Haarla plays Laura, a Finnish archaeology student who’s travelling to Murmansk in the north of the country to see some Stone Age rock carvings.
On boarding the train, she’s dismayed to learn she’s sharing her sleeper carriage with a “bullet-headed, tough-looking, chain-smoking, vodka-glugging Russian man”, Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov), who is drunk and grabs at her crotch. It seems there’s “no way this pair are going to connect” – but gradually they do. This is a “character-as-plot film, and if that isn’t your style it is going to feel like a very long journey indeed”. It didn’t to me, though. “It seemed worthwhile.”
Compartment No. 6 has a lovely visual “texture”, said Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph. But it’s the “rapport between the actors – or the anti-rapport, to start with” – that makes it so enjoyable. Haarla plays Laura with great vulnerability, while Borisov presents “such a vivid portrait of inarticulate male neurosis, hiding behind an armour of pathetic misogyny, that we even grow oddly protective of him, too”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The film was mostly shot “within the confines of a real Russian train”, said Mark Kermode in The Observer, and it captures the setting “brilliantly”. As for any wider message, its “central theme of overcoming otherness and finding common ground across personal, cultural and geographical borders seems like a balm for the soul in these tumultuous times”.
-
The best dark romance books to gingerly embrace right nowThe Week Recommends Steamy romances with a dark twist are gaining popularity with readers
-
The ocean is getting more acidic — and harming sharks’ teethUnder the Radar ‘There is a corrosion effect on sharks’ teeth,’ a study’s author said
-
6 exquisite homes for skiersFeature Featuring a Scandinavian-style retreat in Southern California and a Utah abode with a designated ski room
-
6 exquisite homes for skiers
Feature Featuring a Scandinavian-style retreat in Southern California and a Utah abode with a designated ski room
-
Film reviews: ‘The Testament of Ann Lee,’ ’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,’ and ‘Young Mothers’Feature A full-immersion portrait of the Shakers’ founder, a zombie virus brings out the best and worst in the human survivors, and pregnancy tests the resolve of four Belgian teenagers
-
Book reviews: ‘American Reich: A Murder in Orange County; Neo-Nazis; and a New Age of Hate’ and ‘Winter: The Story of a Season’Feature A look at a neo-Nazi murder in California and how winter shaped a Scottish writer
-
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – ‘a macabre morality tale’The Week Recommends Ralph Fiennes stars in Nia DaCosta’s ‘exciting’ chapter of the zombie horror
-
Bob Weir: The Grateful Dead guitarist who kept the hippie flameFeature The fan favorite died at 78
-
The Voice of Hind Rajab: ‘innovative’ drama-doc hybridThe Week Recommends ‘Wrenching’ film about the killing of a five-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza
-
Off the Scales: ‘meticulously reported’ rise of OzempicThe Week Recommends A ’nuanced’ look at the implications of weight-loss drugs
-
A road trip in the far north of NorwayThe Week Recommends Perfect for bird watchers, history enthusiasts and nature lovers
