Zoology (Russian Language) (2016)- BFI London Film Festival 2016

83min

Genre:      Comedy, Drama

Director:    Ivan I. Tverdovskiy

Cast:         Natalya Pavlenkova, Dmitriy Groshev, Irina Chipizhenko…more

Writer:      Ivan I. Tverdovskiy

-Synopsis-

When Natasha randomly and bizarrely grows a considerable tail; the life of this lonely demure Russian zookeeper begins to drastically change as a newfound sense of freedom and a second adolescence beckons in this darkly comical and surreal Russian drama from writer/director Ivan I. Tverdovskiy.

Set in modern day coastal Russia, ‘Zoology’ stars Natalya Pavlenkova as “Natasha”; a middle-aged woman with no romantic attachments or friends, living with her elderly mother, bullied by her co-workers and ignored by the rest of society. But her mysterious appendage prompts a transformation in her life as she meets a young doctor with whom she become involved, and begins to break free of her social shackles and re-live a lost childhood.

Like the film’s tagline suggests, this a film about it never being too late for a number of things; to find love, enjoy youth, grasp your independence, find your voice and love yourself. But there’s a flipside to all that and a reality beyond the fairy tale, and in typical blunt dramatic Russian style ‘Zoology’ leaves the audience with the bittersweetness and melancholy of real life.

The title ‘Zoology’ refers to the study of animals, and that’s what this film is; a study of the human animal and its bizarre accumulated traits within the microcosm of a traditional Russian society, and brought to the screen by host of quirky characters and their behaviours, which at times do nothing to dispel the old stereotypes of Russians held by Westerners.

With plenty of humour involving idiosyncratic characters, ‘Zoology’ could almost pass for a quirky comedy, by Russian standards anyway. But at its core this is an allegorical drama about puberty and adolescence using some bizarre symbolism, a story about a grown woman re-living her formative years and all that comes with it, perhaps experiencing true adolescence for the first time… and on her own terms.

‘Zoology’ is also a clear metaphor for self-acceptance and learning to love thyself, particularly for those with traits which separate them from the norm, often making them social pariahs. But in true blunt Russian style, there’s no Hollywood happy ending or heart warming silver lining here; only the sobering realisation that life will always be tougher for them, and in the end, deep down everyone just wants to be “normal”.

Perhaps it’s a consequence of where it was shot, but the movie has a dim greyish colour palette which reflects an old-world melancholy in the people and adds to the character of the film. But the camerawork betrays the “guerrilla” filmmaking nature of the project, with perhaps too many over-the-shoulder handheld shots following “Natasha”, and a lot of generally shaky camera work. Maybe it’s by design or necessity but there’s a lot of abrupt swinging of the camera from one character to another, avoiding cuts like the plague and to distracting effect.

Tverdovskiy has produced a real curiosity here which may prove to be of acquired taste; this little allegorical drama looks simple but is deceptively complex and boasts some real depth, perhaps too much. The significance of the tail and its symbolism is vague and you can make up your own mind about what the moral is. But by the end it’s sending mixed messages which may be lost in translation; leaving you questioning whether ‘Zoology’ is a champion for the “outsider”, or simply dangling the idea of a more accepting world in front of us before obliterating it with cold real-world cynicism.

 The Bottom Line…

Depending on your point of view, Zoology’ might be a morosely refreshing and amusing allegorical drama which refuses to bow down to convention or packaged moral messaging; or it may be a cold foreign drama with some quirky dark humour but unrelatable characters and no clear moral compass, for us it’s closer to the former.

‘Zoology’ has no current UK release date.

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