Luke McWilliams gives his review of the 2021 drama film, Compartment No. 6 (MA15+), starring Seidi Haarla and Yuri Borisov.
In Moscow in the 1990s, Finnish student Laura (Seidi Haarla) is staying at her academic girlfriend’s house, trying to keep up with her pretentious friends. Unable to make their trip, Laura chooses to travel alone to Murmansk to study the Kanozero Petroglyphs. Entering compartment no. 6 of the grimy train, Laura meets her gruff and rude Russian miner cabinmate, Lyokha (Yuri Borisov).
Laura’s life is in transit. Putting too much energy into an obvious one-way relationship, Laura is determined to make a trip to see the petroglyphs in an attempt to integrate herself into her apathetic fling’s way of life. The journey along the Arctic Circle is cold, dark and grim as are the conditions in the train. Laura is out of her element in more ways than one, with the biggest obstacle being her cabinmate Lyokha, who is a hard-drinking vulgar and rude Russian miner. In their first meeting, Lyokha first insults Laura but, over the rough five-day journey, inexplicably warms to her, as does she.
The movie has a realistic tone, with very little dialogue, backstory and motivations; worlds away from Hollywood’s idea of a romance movie. Much is left unsaid and unexplained as our two lonely souls traverse a sparse environment to relatively bleak futures, with a quiet bond forming in the meantime.
Verdict: While the movie is critically acclaimed, having won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and many other nominations, Lyokha is so horrid at first introduction, that any connection between our lead’s rings hollow, puzzling and misguided. 2.5 stars.
- Luke McWilliams, themovieclub.net.
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