Rhino

Fortunate to see this at the Venice Film Festival and what a crazy ride. Forced to be up and close with characters in a world that has no breaks. Felt transported and loved every minute of it. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

This Ukrainian crime film, speaking of a petty hoodlum story, is certainly not for the squeamish, not for the sissies. It is brutal, bloody, cruel, but not without spirit. It is brilliant, a real testimony of the Ukrainian society, hopeless, desperate, but not without conscience. This petty hoodlum diary is predictable and the extreme violence never gratuitous, at last that's my own opinion. It is gritty, tough but poignant, sensitive, gloomy and not for all audiences. I have seen such films from indie film industries from many countries and I really love this. Forget the Hollywood crap. Watch this instead. The opening sequence in a long take is incredible.

Masterpiece cocktail of 90s life! Scenes are so dramatic and were made like visual art. This film is very close to the lever of "Oscar films" i used to go for to the cinema, and also so close to real life. I believed so many times, but of course it's not ideal. I like the scenes if life much more then philosophical talks in the car. The end was not disappointing!

Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director, was detained in Crimea in May 2014 and sentenced to 20 years in a Russian prison on charges of terrorism. Senstov was freed from a Russian penal colony after more than five years of detention.

In my opinion this is quite a remarkable piece of storytelling. Dark, brutal - very, very brutal - but never quite bleak. You see the humanity that is - or, at least was - in the central character and you hope he can find some kind of salvation. Will he find redemption, or sink deeper into the quagmire of his life. Or will justice catch up with him? No spoilers...

This is the kind of film I usually hate. They often portray a fantasy criminal world, with a 'good guy' who lives happily ever after, or portray the the criminals as the dregs of society and you don't care what happens to them. This movie manages to be completely different and keeps you interested right to the end.

I'm glad I liked this film. Sentsov became something of a hero to me after his imprisonment (even though I'm too old to have heroes and he would hate to be a hero to anyone). He's a man of intelligence, integrity and courage, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of his work.

As with any festival movie, if you don't want to waste time and disappoint yourself, you need to know exactly what to expect if you're going to watch it.

Nosorih doesn't have any deep meaning or plot behind it. But that's because it is an extremely realistic human story and a perfect showcase of the time period it is placed in.

For example, even the attempts of the main hero to talk about the sense of life are ridiculously awkward and laughable - but that's exactly the type of thoughts a man with his background is capable of.

Decorations and scenery, language and intonations, absence of morality and presence of extreme brutality, music and atmosphere overall perfectly represent Ukraine in the 90s.

I also really liked the ending, in my opinion this is exactly the choice a man like Nosorih could come up with while looking for salvation.