Russian director Kira Kovalenko’s moody and harrowing drama “Unlock Your Fists” follows a turning point in the life of Ada (Milana Agzarova), a young woman trapped under her father’s control.
They live in a cold mountainous region in the Russian Republic in the North Caucasus, a mining town in North Ossetia, an area where memories of civil war and extremist violence are still fresh.
Zaur (Alik Karaev) is a possessive and domineering single parent who forbids Ada to wear perfume when he attracts male attention and, most alarmingly, keeps his daughter and youngest son in a communal apartment at night. It is said that he will be confined to the house and only allowed to go out when Ada goes out. I think it fits. Distrustful of the facility, Zaur refused to treat Ada for injuries sustained in the attack, and the young woman was forced to wear adult diapers.
Ada rebels as best she can, and in between her shifts at the local grocery store, she meets her brainless pseudo-boyfriend Tamik (Arsen Ketagrov). An opportunity for liberation comes when her brother Akim (Soslan Fugaev), who has left in search of work in her city, comes to visit the family.
With its steely color palette and brooding, taut acting, the film frequently replaces art-house cinema clichés, and its unrelenting atmosphere of doom and gloom makes its characters simply unrelenting force. is humiliated as a victim of Ada’s psychological turmoil is captured in intimate close-ups and scurrying camera movements, but the lack of a score enhances the film’s unsettling mood of pent-up anger and stifling despair.
That said, even if Ada’s quest for freedom ultimately feels more impossible than ever, the pivot of the final act makes this difficult family portrait more than the first half of the film suggests. also become much calmer and more empathetic.
make a fist
Unrated. Ossetian, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. Watch movies.
