Closeness

Closeness, Kantemir Balagov's acclaimed Cannes debut, is a stifling film. And no wonder, as we find ourselves, after all, in the boiling cauldron of the North Caucasus at the end of the 1970s, where survival requires loyalty to one's "tribe,"-their family and ethnic community. Balagov looks at his hometown of Nalchik through the eyes of a young Jewish woman who is entangled in a network of hateful tribal dependencies that she is supposed to sacrifice herself to in order to save her brother. Ilana (played by Darya Zhovnar, whose incredible energy positively bursts out of the framed) does her best to escape these limitations. In her effort to find freedom, she boxes with reality, while Balagov encloses her in her surrounding world like in a ring. The electrifying, somewhat brutal, and at times controversial debut by the 26-year-old director promises great things from this unique new film talent.