Closeness
Kantemir Balagov

O.V. Russian | st French

The 26-year-old Russian director gives a raw account of a young woman’s existential quest, through the prism of family tragedy. Inspired by an incident that happened in Naltchik, in the northern Caucasus, this feature tells the story of Ilana, a black sheep whose family wants an entirely different life for her. When Ilana’s brother and fiancé are kidnapped, Kantemir Balagov imprisons the viewer in the narrative, in a style reminiscent of the social realism of the Dardenne brothers,...