There is no doubt that the measured beauty, both savage and majestic, is superbly and evotically captured by the cinematography of Mikhail Krichman, from start, to finish, both nodding to and taking hats off to, undoubtedly, Tarkovsky.

However, what started out as the short story 'Laughing Matter' by American writer William Saroyan, unfortunately gets swamped by the visual bravado and a two and a half hour run-time. It gets to being on the cusp of something big, or something profound that might explain what's going on - but that may be the trick that The Return director Andrey Zvyagintsev wants.

With its gorgeously slow tracking shots and weaving camera angles, that follow this troubled family who now are in hiding in one those idyllic Russian country houses on a windswept plain and with their own walnut grove, there lies an intensity that is palpable, brewing away quietly. This is helped by a sparse score, notably a slightly electronically treated 'monk' sounding choral piece that rises like a sullen mist.

Lead actor, the Father of the family, Konstantin Lavronenko, picked up Best Actor at Cannes. His wife, Eva, announces one day that she is pregnant and through studies in male supposition and pride, family bonds and shady past dealing contacts are tried - and tested. What unravels, slowly, are the various connotations resulting from these and their actions, on both them and their existing children.

My four stars are really for the sense of unfulfillment - it's neither oblique and enigmatic enough that a Tarkovsky would be but it's obvious there's a story bursting to get out and I for one would be rather happier if it weren't shrouded in quite so much masked mystery - however beautiful that mask might be. There is little dialogue, very little violence and I don't recall any strong swearing, but through some strong visuals, possibly of body injury, it's a certificate 12.

For followers of Russian cinema, old and new, then The Banishment is certainly worth watching and for those like me who enjoyed Zvyagintsev's The Return, it's almost a must. The critics were largely underwhelmed and I so wish I could say that this is a masterpiece, but sadly, it's not quite.

The Russian film Izgnanie was shown in the U.S. with the title "Banishment." It was directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev.

The movie stars Konstantin Lavronenko as Alexander and Aleksandr Baluev as his brother, Mark. Maria Bonnevie portrays Vera, Aleksander's beautiful wife. (Although her name sounds French, Bonnevie is Norwegian-Swedish. I don't know whether she speaks Russian, or whether her voice was dubbed.)

The film starts and ends with an automobile racing along country roads and then into the city. These almost identical scenes frame a fascinating, complex narrative.

I think the title, accurately translated as Banishment, is misleading. (Well, at least it's misleading in English.) To me, the title implies someone being forced to leave one location and go to another. It's true that Alexander and Vera leave the city and go to a rural area, where they have a home. It's not a dacha--it's an old farmhouse inherited from Alexander's father. Still, they're not forced to go.

After they arrive in the farmhouse, we get hints that something's not right in their lives, but we don't know what it is. We get a clue that the brothers may be criminals, but we never learn just what they do that is illegal.

At first, Vera appears to be an ideal wife and mother, but the situation is much more complex than that.

This is a long movie, but it's never boring. Director Zvyagintsev likes to hold scenes after the main action has taken place. In this context, it's very effective. He also knows how to direct his actors, especially the three leads. Their acting is outstanding.

We saw this movie in 35mm at Rochester's superb Dryden Theatre, at the George Eastman Museum. The Dryden showed three films by Zvyagintsev on consecutive Wednesdays. My compliments to the Dryden for sustaining this high level of programming.

The movie will work better on the large screen, but it's good enough to be sought out and seen on the small screen. The film has an excellent IMDb rating of 7.7. I think it's even better than that.

Having recently watched and been most impressed with director, Andrey Zvyagintsev's first film The Return and having also liked his later films thought I would take a look at this, his second outing. It is a terrible tale but, oh so well told. From the opening shot of a solitary tree in a golden landscape to the very end this is wonderfully filmed with frame after frame a joy to behold. The story itself is another matter and the director's easy way with children means that even if the adults avoid saying very much, the children are less inhibited and provide a delightful backdrop. Although the innocence of the young children does contrast and further emphasise the horrors that the adults do, to each other, mostly mentally and off frame something pretty terrible too that we are not privy to. There is a terrible darkness here but the performances are as magical as the cinematography and the whole is a great pleasure to watch. The town and city sequences are, apparently, shot in France and Belgium whilst the unique countryside scenes are filmed in Moldova, which I discover is a small former soviet country between Ukraine and Romania. Brilliant film - the director talks of L'Aventura and this just could be considered a Russian Antonioni - even if it wasn't filmed there.