How I Ended This Summer

It has a pared down quality that invites, indeed virtually compels, the viewer to see it as some kind of allegory.

It proceeds at a dour and Russian kind of pace, mildly intriguing without ever cranking up the pressure to become compelling.

A gripping, involving and wonderfully acted piece of work.

Good character work and a painfully slow build-up combine to make Alexei Popogrebski’s 2010 thriller How I Ended This Summer a memorable success.