Unclenching the Fists

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Unclenching the Fists
Aleksandr Rodnyansky
StarringMilana Aguzarova
CinematographyPavel Fomintsev
Edited byVincent Deveaux
Mukharam Kabulova
Production
company
Non-Stop Productions
Distributed byPioneer
Release dates
  • 10 July 2021 (2021-07-10) (Cannes)
  • 25 September 2021 (2021-09-25) (Russia)
Running time
97 minutes[1]
CountryRussia
LanguageOssetian[2]

Unclenching the Fists (

drama film directed by Kira Kovalenko.[3] In July 2021, the film won the Un Certain Regard award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.[4][5] It was selected as the Russian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.[6]

Plot

Ada, stifled by her overbearing father and by her lack of prospects, dreams of escaping from her life in a small town of

North Ossetia, Russia.[2]

Cast

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus states: "A daring feature debut for director/co-writer Kira Kovalenko, Unclenching the Fists, explores how family ties can stifle as much as they support".[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[8]

In their co-authored review for the Los Angeles Review of Books', Alexis Bliziotis and Sasha Karsavina analyse the film as a metaphor for Russia's current cultural climate of historical revisionism, in which ethnic and linguistic minorities get erased and forgotten.[1]

Salon.com's Gary M. Kramer, praised the director's view calling it "[an] urgent, unsentimental approach [is] what makes Unclenching the Fists so potent".[9]

Diego Semerene of Slant Magazine wrote "Unclenching the Fists is a tale of how the desolation of a nation inhabits and engraves a woman's body".[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Unclenching the Fists". TIFF. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  2. ^
    КиноПоиск
    (in Russian). Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  3. ^ Bell, Nicholas (5 January 2021). "Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2021: #58. Kira Kovalenko's Unclenching the Fists". Ion Cinema. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  4. ^ Sharf, Zack (10 June 2021). "Cannes Film Festival 2021 Lineup: Sean Baker, Wes Anderson, and More Compete for Palme d'Or". IndieWire. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  5. ^ Lodge, Guy (16 July 2021). "Russian Drama 'Unclenching the Fists' Takes Top Prize at Cannes Un Certain Regard Awards". Variety.
  6. ^ Roxborough, Scott (25 October 2021). "Oscars: Russia Picks 'Unclenching the Fists' for International Feature Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  7. ^ "Unclenching the Fists (2021)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  8. CBS Interactive
    . Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  9. ^ Kramer, Gary M. (5 October 2021). ""Unclenching the Fists" is a shattering picture of one woman's inability to escape her needy family". Salon.com. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  10. ^ Semerene, Diego (12 September 2021). "Review: Unclenching the Fists Palpably Conjures the Ties that Bind, and Fray". Slant Magazine.

External links

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