User reviews

I was curious to see 'Compartment no 6', the film by Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen, which became one of the most awarded movies on the festival circuit during this special year which is 2021. The film is a 'road movie' or if you wish a 'railroad movie' , whose story takes place most of the time in a train that runs through the Russian steppe from Moscow to Murmansk, in the far north, beyond the Arctic Circle. Two young people, a Finn woman and a Russian man, who have nothing in common except enough reasons not to be able to tolerate each other are forced to spend the three days and two nights of the trip together. The formula seems pretty rusty, especially as what almost everything viewers expect after the first ten minutes of watching the film happens, and yet, beyond the not very original story, the film manages to catch the attention through sincerity and the natural and empathetic way in which the characters and the reality around them are treated.

The film director and the lead heroine are Finnish, but the story takes place in Russia, sometime in the late '90s. Laura (Seidi Haarla), a student in Moscow, is planning a trip to Murmansk, in the far north of Russia, together with Irina, her Russian girlfriend. The friend gives up at the last moment and from what will follow we understand that the relationship was almost over from her point of view. Laura takes the trip alone, in a sleeping cars train, the purpose of the trip being to see some petroglyphs 10 thousand years old, which arouse her interest as a future archaeologist. In the train she is assigned to the same compartment with a young Russian man named Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov), a drunk and rude person. She tries to find a place in another compartment, but this proves to be impossible. The trip promises to become a nightmare, the communication between the two being hampered by differences in language (Laura speaks only elementary Russian), culture, and alcohol fumes. From here, however, things will evolve.

The interaction between the two works wonderfully, and even if the situations are not that original - we have already seen similar ones in too many romantic comedies - the subtlety of the script writing, the talent and the chemistry between the two actors manage to make the relationship credible and human, leaving room for multiple subtexts and interpretations. The romantic element appears late, and until then the communication between the two young people is based neither on language (which is a tool of misunderstanding rather than understanding) nor on sexual attraction. Cultural differences are subtly described, juggling around stereotypes. We can of course ask ourselves how true to realities is the image of Russia in the first decade after communism that is presented to us on screen. I know too little about Finnish cinema, except for a few films by Aki Kaurismaki, so I'm not sure if my assessment is correct, but it seemed to me that compared to what I saw, the focus is less on the comic and sarcastic dimensions and more on the human connection and communication between the heroes. In other words, 'Compartment no 6' looks more like a Russian film about a young Finnish woman directed by a Finn than like a Finnish film. Anyway and whatever shelf we lay it, it is a simple and good film, whose viewing has chances to please many spectators. The actors do an excellent job, and the camera work makes watching the scenes on the train, in Russian homes, or from the frozen steppe an immersive experience. The decisions of the juries of festivals such as Cannes or Jerusalem, I believe, will in this case be validated by the reception of the public.

What would you do, in a carriage made for four, there's just you and a drunk guy, and he thinks that you're a whore, there's nowhere to run or hide, this will not be a great ride, but you're stoic and heroic, you will take it in your stride.

A wonderful story, as Laura and Ljoha, two strangers on a train, gradually allow the ice that encapsulates us all to thaw, defrost, puddle and merge, creating a bond that was as distant as the poles when they first encountered each other at the beginning of their journey from Moscow to Murmansk. A story that proves what a catalyst we can be to each other when the barriers are removed to reveal the compassionate and emotional beings we are deep inside.

I have just watched this at the Mostra Internacional de São Paulo.

It feels very genuine: the acting is naturalistic and the story, simple. It's a road movie/coming of age experience that teaches us a few valuable lessons without preaching them. Also a reminder of how much we miss natural-looking people on the big screen.

A Finnish romance of sorts about a woman whose first negative impressions of her fellow train compartment passenger make way for warmer feelings as she gets to know him.

I think "Compartment No. 6" is a lot about the importance of being open to new experiences and the rashness inherent in instantly forming judgements about people. The female protagonist in this movie studies anthropology because she feels like knowing our history is important to understanding who we are now. But is it really? In a cultural and sociological sense, probably. But at the individual level, when does attachment to the past interfere with living in the present?

There's a great scene in this movie that takes place after a fellow Finn, a tall strapping guy with a guitar no less, is crooning songs to the woman as he crashes in their compartment for a bit, and she looks out the window to see the off-kilter Russian who has set her on edge standing out on the train platform punching and kicking snowballs. In that moment, we get what she's feeling, because we feel it to. Yeah, the Finnish guy is good looking and "safe," but he's also boring. The Russian guy is weird and maybe crazy, but he's different, and sometimes different is exactly what you need.

Grade: A-

Aah, the pleasures of traveling by long distance train! Admiring the scenery from the compartment window, enjoying nice meals in the restaurant car, and dozing off at night to the clickety-click sound of the wheels.

Everybody who once took a long distance sleeper knows the reality is different. Those people will enjoy this film. One of the drawbacks of international trains is the company in the compartment to which you have been assigned. Finnish student Laura has bad luck, having to share hers with a drunken Russian miner who asks without much ado if she is a prostitute.

During the long ride from Moscow to the northern city of Murmansk the two travel companions get to know each other better, and even learn to appreciate each other. This sounds a bit cheesy, but it isn't. Laura is dissapointed and lonely: her lover couldn't accompany her on the trip and reacts coolly to her phone calls. When, during a long stopover, she has to choose between the company of her rude but adventurous travel companion or no company at all, the choice is a no-brainer.

An extra attraction is that the movie takes place in the not-so distant past. It is the pre-internet era of pay phones and Walkmans. This is no major issue in the film, but it explains why Laura takes the train instead of flying.

There's a bit of 'Lost in Translation' in this film, a bit of 'Before Sunrise' and a bit of 'Ma nuit chez Maude'. Plus: it's Russia, so everything is nicely rough-edged and vodka-soaked. Na zdorovie!

Compartment Number 6 is superficially a bleak 'Russian' railRoad film largely centered on a mismatched couple thrown together in a train compartment travelling from Moscow to Murmansk. I gather it was largely filmed in Russia, Moscow, but is directed by the Finnish, Juho Kuosmanen, who had previous success in Cannes and then shared the grand Prix there in 2021 for this effort, (with "A Hero"). It is from a Finnish novel by Rosa Liksom.

I like bleak "Russian" films (They are unpredictable, often very well done and more like my impression of life -) and this didn't disappoint. Laura is an older Finnish student, having an affair with her landlady in Moscow, circa the 90's. Landlady may be over the affair and has pulled out of a planned trip the 2 were making to see petraglyphs in Murmansk (these are 1000 year + old rock carvings and sound fascinating. Go in summer and maybe by plane.) So Laura decides to go anyway. After an uncomfortable pseudo-sophisticated farewell party where the gauche Laura tries hard but flails and seems out of place with the neat pretentious guests, she joins the train heading north to Murmansk. Russian winter. To her dismay she finds sharing the cabin is a boorish, rude, heavy drinking, Russian miner Ljoha (Yuri Borisov) heading back up there to his mine. She cant get another cabin. So there they are - both in their way lacking social graces and pretty dysfunctional. And you can compare these 2, with the earlier relaxed members of society at the party.

The Acting particularly of the lead couple is excellent as is direction and the filming in and out of the train. Bleak and rough but also in some way sweet. I liked it.

Only finnish director that has won that before this was Aki Kaurismäki with The Man Without a Past 2002.

So i was very excited to see this one.

I'm always little skeptical with finnish movies.

But this ended up being very delightful movie.

Very good and beautiful story about finnish woman who travels across Russia to see petroglyphs in Murmansk.

Main part of movie is when she travels by train.

She meets russian guy and they are completely different peoples.

Their unique friendship develops beautifully.

There are also many other very different peoples who she meets in her journey.

Good and little less good peoples.

This movie has many sweet and funny moments in it.

It's mostly spoken in russian but it was very fun to hear finnish language in it too.

Very good performances from two leads definitely.

I also heard that this was chosen to be Finland's Oscar runner for foreign category.

So best of luck with that too.

Very unusual film that keeps your interest to the end. At Cannes, this film shared honors of the second best film in competition with Farhadi's Iranian film "A Hero." I found this work to be far superior to the Iranian film. "Compartment no. 6" is based on a Finnish novel by a reputed lady novelist from that country. As I have not read the novel, how well the Finnish director adapted it is unclear. The performances of all the actors are convincing--especially that of the Russian miner (Yuriy Borisov) from start to finish. Definitely, one of my best films of 2021. Actor Yuriy Borisov had a small role in Zvyagintsev's "Elena," (the actor's debut in feature films)--and it is impressive for him to evolve into a major character actor in this film. He was evidently Zvyagintsev's discovery.

It is about human connection.

Lead actors hit it out of the ball park.

If you ever rode trains OR grew up or lived in a cold country OR love Travel - you will LOVE this movie.

Direction and photography OUT of this world.

End is bitter sweet.

You will root for the male lead

He plays a guy that probably was an introvert growing up and didn't have (and or ) was able to feel much love .

When female lead starts connecting to his world he moves heaven and earth to get her to go where she wants to go.

Visuals are stunning.

Acting was amazing.

Background score / music perfect.

At the end you WILL have a tear or two

10/10 STARS.

Let's put one thing to rest. Anywhere at all where there are night trains, the sexes are mixed. Even in Muslim countries - the night sleepers in Morocco, for example, are not single sex cabins. Not knowing this is not a reason for giving low marks just because they find the situation unbelievable!

As for relationships in the film, ideas of distance and travel played a huge part. The further from Moscow, the more the lesbian lover receded and rejected. But the nearer to the petroglyphs, the deeper the bond between the ill matched compartment mates became.

However, the script didn't go overboard - there was no sentimentality in the refusal to swap addresses.

90s Russia was portrayed perfectly. Not yet a consumer society, there were hangovers from the communist times, notably in the appalling service offered on hotels and restaurants as well as the train itself.

As a speaker of (very poor) Finnish, I loved the joke about the terrible swear word in that language that framed the narrative on the train. It means a lot more than the tame subtitled translation that was offered.

I loved this film. The actors were perfect as were the locations. I personally enjoy train journeys and would now want to go on this one.

About 5 minutes after the two main characters met the entire arc of the film was pretty obvious. The dynamic between the main characters was fairly interesting but the individuals were not. Also they stop at St Petersburg despite leaving from Moscow heading eastward which makes no sense.

It was ok, nothing special. It did give a realistic sense of what winter in the far north looks and feels like. Might be a nice relief to watch in the dead of summer. Also gives an idea of the kinds of things young and adventurous people in their 20's do that can lead to a fatal outcome or new horizons. Everything looked good, realistic, and the actors were great, casting perfect. All that said, there is no reason to rush to the theater to see it. Watch it at home when it becomes available, or not.

Juho Kuosmanen is knwown for small films. With "The happiest day in the life of Olli Maki" (2016) he won a certain regard award in Cannes. With "Compartment number 6" (2021) he even won the Grand prix. "The happiest day in the life of Olli Maki" was hard to see in Dutch cinema's. I saw it a few years later on TV. "Compartment number 6" is shown in more then 30 Dutch city's when writing this review.

"Compartment number 6" is situated during a long train journey. It thus is a road (rail) movie. Road movies are about chance encounters, and in "Compartment number 6" this is between a Finnish scientist (Laura played by Seidi Haarla) and a Russian mine worker (Ljoha played by Yuri Borisov).

Alfred Hitchcock often used the train as a closed system from which it is hard to escape, for example "The lady vanishes" (1938). In this movie you cannot escape danger. In "compartment number 6" you cannot escape a person that is very different and gives rise to a lot of annoyance.

Of course during the journey the two gradually grow towards each other, without the film ever becoming a romcom. In essence their relationship is more symptomatic for the years in which the film is situated, just after the end of the Cold War, with Eastern and Western people still interest in each other and still eager to get to know each other better.

While Laura gradually grows towards Ljoha, she gradually drifts apart from Irina, in Moscow her teacher, landlord and lover at the same time. At the beginning of the film we learn that in this relationship Irina is the dominant and not always sympathetic one, just like Emma (Lea Seydoux) in "La vie d'Adele" (2013, Abdellatif Kechiche). Laura just needs some more time and more distance to come to the same conclusion. Quite striking in the present time is the fact that in this film in relation to the main character her male companion (Ljoha) becomes more and more sympathetic while her female companion (Irina) turns out to be abusive.

The film is based on a novel of the same name by Finnish writer Rosa Liksom. In the novel the trainjourney is on the Mongolian express, in the film the final destination is Murmansk, above the arctic circle. This, combined with the fact that Laura is on a scientific journey (she wants to study the Kanozero Petroglyphs), reminded me of "Beyond sleep" (2016, Boudewijk Koole). In this film (after the novel of Willen Frederik Hermans) a geologist (Alfred) goes on expedition in Finnmark. Alfred never reaches his goal. Laura ultimately reaches her goal, but does not get any satisfaction from it.

Finland's official entry to 2022's Oscars, that made it to the shortlist, is beautiful, simple and genuine. The relationship between the leads is so unique and likable. Their performances are superb and their characters are catchy too. The film also tackles interesting topics like passion, relationships and trust. It's sensational but also sometimes feels empty and flat.

This film is beautifully observed. Although it's a familiar road (train) trip leading to romance, the nuance and focus on character is very well done.

This Finnish-Russian co-production garnered a first prize at Cannes and very good reviews on IMdB and Rotten tomatoes. The plot is weak. A young Finnish woman, an archeology student living in a rarefied intellectual atmosphere in Moscow of the nineties (which includes a woman lover), decides to go on a interminable train trip to Murmansk, the northernmost Russian port, to look for 10,000 year old petroglyphs. Her lover cancels at the last minute (the affair, like the weather, growing cold), but she decides to follow up with the plan. Most of the movie describes the never-ending train trip with an accidental replacement for her lover, a young Russia worker going to Murmansk to work on a lucrative but dangerous mining project. He is uneducated, uncouth, often crude and repulsive, so the forced company makes her trip a misery. But with time (guess what) she discovers an introvert, sensitive, chivalrous man and (guess what) falls in love. The reasons for her lover cancelling the trip are vague, as the reasons for her continuing with their plan. The best I could guess was a young woman, really still a girl, trying to find her intellectual and sexual identity under the cover of academic pursuit. Alioha, her Compartment 6 roommate, is even more enigmatic. He is attracted to her, but also scared of the budding romance. All-in-all, a very slow lyrical trip into the snow-covered north in a prediluvian train to look for prediluvian rock art. The movie deserves really just six stars, but the acting and the sort-of-mystical camera earn it another one. Truth in advertising-the petroglyphs are in the area of Murmansk-on Kanozero island. They are "just" 3-4 millenia old (but in other sites there are some much much older). Having seen many much older and more enigmatic - I wouldn't have braved Russian trains, Russian cold, and Alioha to see them up close.

I really enjoyed the melancholic way in which this was filmed and how there is a yearning behind both character's actions, just cause they can't bare being alone. Both happen to be so alone, yet they don't care if they're total opposites, just to make each other company. I think it talks about the importance of basic human interaction.

I would have craved more depth in their relationship, I was left with a lot of questions. I would assume this happens since it's based on a book. I guess I'll have to read the book in order to know a bit more. Who knows?

Good one though.

Compartment No. 6 (Finnish: Hytti nro 6) is a 2021 internationally co-produced drama film co-written and directed by Juho Kuosmanen 🚂

It's good 🙂 I'd recommend it if you like this genre 👍🏼

An old-school movie easy to underrate. It does slightly subvert its genre, just enough to feel fresh and interesting. Extremely well paced, a bit like a train, you could say (:/) It's a strong competitor to its western counterparts, the characters are well defined and developped. The fantasy is humble and grounded. The improbability of this characters getting along surprised me and adds a layer of meaning to the message.

It really is well made, I was transported to that compartment and that russian winter. It is welcomed to see a more realistic depiction of russian warmth, with its gifts and bribes, being so used to the caricatures. Again, some nice cultural tourism through movies. Of course, it's terribly sad to know where Finland and Russia relations are heading a few months after this film's release.

It's a hopeful film tinged with melancholy. Better to go in blind.