Kotlovan

In the opening sequence of the film, which is made from excerpts from amateur videos and TV news reports, Andrey Gryazev zeroes in on a particularly absurd facet of today’s Russia: the proliferation of foundation pits dug by construction companies, creating public hazards in the streets. The film is an echo of the eponymous 1930 novel by Andrei Platonov, a dystopian satire of the Soviet Union under Stalin. Gryazev presents a caustic contemporary update in which the voices of dozens of Russians of all ages appeal to the president using online videos: enraged cris du cœur, petitions and supplications become, through skillful editing, a kaleidoscopic portrait of a country on the edge of the abyss, whose people refuse to be silenced despite a culture of repression. (Apolline Caron-Ottavi)

The Foundation Pit