Trap

Trap

Anastasia Veber

VERDICT: Anastasia Veber’s prize-winning drama is an evocative exploration of the lives of young people in contemporary Russia caught between aggression and eroticism, isolation and intimacy.

There is a palpable surface tension running through Anastasia Veber’s intuitive and dialogue-light drama, Trap.  It is caused by increasing friction generated by dichotomies faced by the young people around which the story revolves: sex and violence; excitement and stability; independence and connection; regimen and liberty. In what is ostensibly a snapshot of the lives and loves surrounding the Olympic training squad, Veber expertly orchestrates a building pressure before releasing the valve in an unforgettable and unusual way.

The opening shot slowly pans up from the rushing water of a river to a young man, Sasha (Ignat Dvoinikov) wiping blood from his hands and face. Although the cause of his bleeding mouth and bruised knuckles is unknown, the stall is forebodingly laid out. Whether he is being bullishly questioned by a police officer in the city, straining against a teammate attempting to hold him back in practice, or in a terse locker room exchange with Dima (Eugene Zherdy), there is a nagging suspicion of physical harm to come. Even his more tender moments are loaded with portent – whether that’s a train journey with Dima’s girlfriend, Liza (Anastasia Arzhevikina), who he is aiming to steal away or carrying his hard-partying sister (Elizaveta Broshkova) off a club dancefloor half-conscious.

The film feels like a constant push-and-pull between aggression and eroticism, competition and care, the delineated routine of training and the wishful freedom of youth. Something’s gotta give. When out on a foggy cross-country run, things finally erupt between Sasha and Dima, but rather than a bloodbath, what ensues is more balletic. The writhing brawl – with the whole squad and Liza – is as much interpretive dance as punitive combat. It’s a moment of astonishing catharsis, which may not offer release from the film’s chilly visual aesthetic but does offer Sasha and the others an instant of viscerally ecstatic relief.

Director, screenplay: Anastasia Veber
Cast: Ignat Dvoinikov, Elizaveta Broshkova, Anastasia Arzhevikina, Eugene Zherdy
Cinematography: Anton Gromov, Egor Sevastyanov
Producers: Anastasia Veber, Anastasia Braiko
Editors: Konstantin Koryagin, Dmitry Novikov, Anastasia Veber
Sound: Veniamin Volfson
Music: Bhima Unusov
Venue: Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale Shorts)
In Russian
20 minutes

VIEWFILM2 Trap