Heart’s Boomerang

Black and white, HD CAM
Russia, 2011, 97 min
IP – International premiere
Section: East of the West - Films in Competition

Synopsis

Twenty-three-year-old Kostya works for the subway as a train driver’s assistant. One day he goes for a check-up, and the doctor diagnoses a serious heart condition and says that he has to radically change his lifestyle and his job. But Kostya decides not to tell anyone about his illness. Deep inside, however, he re-examines the life he has led until now, and realises that his mother is his only source of stability. He doesn’t really know how to relate to other people, nor does he know where his relationship with his girlfriend is going. The film is played out during the winter months, set in the suburbs of the Russian capital and within the city’s subway system. Cameraman Shandor Berkeshi (Koktebel, Free Floating) skillfully puts its fascinating allure to use in his black-and-white compositions. Hypnotic shots of the trains rumbling through the tunnels seem to reflect the mental state of a hero forced by necessity to take his life into his own hands.

About the director

Nikolay Khomeriki (b. 1975, Moscow) first graduated from the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors (2000) and then studied film direction at La Fémis film school in Paris (2005), where he was taught by Eric Rohmer. He assisted Philippe Garrel on the set of Regular Lovers (Les amants réguliers, 2005). After the shorts Tempest (Tempête, 2004) and À deux (Vdvoyom, 2005), he made the fantasy drama 977 (2006). He chose quite a different genre for his Tale in the Darkness (Skazka pro tyemnotu, 2009), an intimate portrait of a lonely girl who becomes too involved in her work helping troubled youngsters. The last two films mentioned screened in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.