Reviewing new release movies as a job gets me out to the theater far more often than I used to, but sometimes I get nearly desperate to go see an ‘art’ movie. So I found myself last Saturday going to the local arthouse theater to see the Russian film Elena, knowing nothing about it outside of a vague premise. It’s rare that I see a movie without knowing much about it, so I was very excited.
Sadly, the reality turned out far different. It’s not a bad movie, but it’s rather exhausting in its affectations. Glacial comes to mind, if it wasn’t so overused. Ponderous. Words such as these. There’s good here, but it requires a high tolerance for not a whole lot going on (whether that’s profound or dull is mostly to taste, I think) to get at it.
