Sto dney do prikaza

A response to moronic reviewers.

The majority of the bad reviews here come from America, where it seems there can be no positive reaction to beauty of image, poetry, or an understanding of Russian cinema. It is lamentable that this film does not get higher ratings, but then I sense homophobia to be at work. Arguably the Russians have got used to coded images in their films, especially towards the beauty of the young male face and figure. From Eisenstein, through 'Ballad of a Soldier' to 'Father and Son', and if homoeroticism is there, under a cruelly oppressive series of political regimes, the code is necessary for survival. America needs no codes, it just ignores positive representation, and those that exist get lost in independent gay film which rarely gets seen outside of festivals.

This is a beautiful film. Watch it as you would read a poem. 'Mirror' by Tarkovsky is applauded as a masterpiece, and this film, in all its glorious mystery of image and action, stands, needing no comparison. There is a place beyond traditional meaning, and that place is the imagination, and of course it is not a film that releases all its meanings, subtexts and observations on Russian life to a reductive interpretation. The homophobia of some reviews is never quite stated, but is there; what is less obvious is an understanding of the profound inner soul of Russian cinema at its best.