A Gentle Creature

The film gives us a rich, clammy idea of Russia's horrors as we follow a woman (Vasilina Makovtseva) into a bureaucratic hell.

It's a fitfully interesting insight into a determined woman's fight for justice but, with its corruption and frustrating cycles of fruitless administration, this is best read as an allegory of Russia itself, which could hardly be more topical.

A Gentle Creature has a warped, nightmarish-like feel anyway.

I did appreciate A Gentle Creature’s fairytale weirdness and conviction to its oppressive tone, but Loznitsa’s film just doesn’t hold together, and the reliance on crooked fantasy softens its message.