The Banishment
aka Izgnanie First screened in April 2014
Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev. Cast: Konstantin Lavronenko, Maria Bonnevie, Aleksandr Baulev, Dmitriy Ulyanov, Maksim Shibayev, Yekaterina Kulkina, Anatoly Gorgul, Vitaliy Kishchenko, Igor Sergeev, Aleksey Vertkov, Ira Gonto, Elizabet Dantsinger, Yaroslava Nikolaeva, Svetlana Kashelkina, Vyacheslav Butenko, Igor Savochkin, Olga Lapshina. Screenplay: Oleg Negin, Andrei Zvyagintsev, and Artem Melkumyan (based on the novel The Laughing Matter by William Saroyan). Twitter Capsule:
Zvyagintsev is great at mood, framing, implication. But unlike Return or Elena, second film feels heavy, overdrawn.
VOR:②
If Zvyagintsev keeps making major films, this will linger as a moderate Sophomore Stumble completists will pursue and some will ardently defend.
