The film is a real work of art. He penetrates the soul of the viewer and does not let go until the end. The characters of the heroes, their hidden fears and sufferings, unjustified hopes and dreams are revealed silently, but very meaningfully, and the viewer follows their story with enthusiasm.
The action takes place far from civilization, where simple living conditions and crystal clear nature create a unique atmosphere. The characters are closely related to the surrounding world, its animals, the conditions of survival in the farm - these are details that are given great attention in the film. In the first minutes of viewing, it is not clear at what time the described events occur, and it is all the more surprising to realize that this is our reality, which seems parallel to us.
Despite the fact that the film contains almost no speech, the viewer is drawn into the story and feels the full power of its sounds and atmosphere. He gradually plunges into the atmosphere of the picture, finding himself together with the heroes in difficult places of woodlands and rooms of the farmhouse.
The film tells the story of love, cut short by the blow of fate, and the search for freedom. Directing and acting at the highest level, and this is seen in every scene.
It is rare to find films that make you think and philosophize. This work is a vivid example of art that makes us go through all the vicissitudes of the heroes’ lives and think about our own lives. I recommend it to anyone who appreciates high-quality cinema and wants to get a lot of emotions and reflections.
After watching the film, I really wanted to thank its creators for the real talented work. The dive was one hundred percent. I plunged into an atmosphere of growing silent tension. Against the background of virgin nature, symbolizing external freedom, the soul of the main character is tossed in a trap. The pain of loss made her a prisoner of a small farm, and once a close person turned into a rude guard. A woman dreams of freeing herself physically, but when faced with a choice, she realizes that she is not alone in this trap. There are no chains or locks that she invented to justify her unusual way of life, but there is a second helpless prisoner. Their feelings, crippled by misfortune beyond recognition, are perhaps the only saving straw to hold on to.
There's a lot to think about. The deep meaning lies in the plot of this unusual film. The whole palette of feelings of the main characters is revealed by the talented play of the actors almost without words. The effect of participation is enhanced by background sounds, beautiful music and the absence of temporal landmarks. For me, the whole film merged into a single symphony and this is the aerobatics.
Valentina Dahl (Poetic Editor of Fakel Publishing House)
Galina Urazova’s film “Trap” is about the loneliness of the human soul. And no matter where a person lives – in a big city or on a tiny farm – he is alone globally, irrevocably, hopelessly.
Only God can deliver a person from loneliness, and in the world in which the director of his heroes – Alexandra and her husband Ivan – places, there is no God. They are like animals that are driven only by instinct. A woman has fear and disgust, a futile desire to break out of a vicious circle from which there is no way out. Her husband, on the contrary, has an unbridled male passion that requires constant worship and conquest of everything and everything.
It is no coincidence that no one speaks in the film. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
There is no God and no Word. Total silence.
The atmosphere of the film is like an underwater kingdom. Luxury nature, beautiful landscapes, masterfully filmed by the operator, completely neutralizes the muteness of the heroes. In this world you suffocate, from its silence you deafen, you want to quickly rise to the top, where there is air and the Word.
We must pay tribute to the actors Maria Boltneva and Maxim Kolesnichenko, who very accurately conveyed the idea of the director, but this idea is unlikely to find a response in the soul of the viewer.
In my opinion, the movie was too depressing, and I did not see the light at the end of the tunnel. In the last shots, the director tried to give the heroine some hope to break through the mute. Alexandra tries to extract sounds from the whistle that Ivan gives her, but the timid voice of the wooden bird absorbs the same hellish silence. And instead of the answer – minor music, similar to requiem.
Elena Batuyeva, Director of Publishing House "Fakel" (Yaroslavl),
Talentedly told by Galina Urazova story about the difficult relationship once close to each other people. From the first shots you find yourself in the trap of the charming acting of Maria Boltneva.
Capcan, in general, is a cruel invention. You won't be jealous of who gets hit. But there are voluntary traps. It is in such a trap that the main characters of the film and we with them are tied up to their ears. It is a heavy burden to live knowing that this life is poisoning you to the top, and there is nothing you can do about it. Each of the heroes lives their grief in their own way. One, like a ruthless sadist, takes out all his pain on his neighbor. The other, on the contrary, tries to waste the accumulated warmth and care.
The perfect union is the victim and the executioner. But any mechanism can break down. And the trap is no exception. After its breakdown, it becomes completely irrelevant who is right in this story and who is to blame.
The fact that there is room for hope in the final is really important.
Living in a forest fenced off from the whole world farm husband and wife. He is earthly, coarse, reminiscent of the ancient Greek Pan. She is more sublime, subtly feeling, noticing the beauty of nature and the surrounding world. He is the undivided master of this forest, house, animals and objects. It serves all that comes into his power and himself. Scenes of farm life unobtrusively suggest to the viewer that within the heroine the rejection of such a life is maturing. But this rejection has nothing to do with the house, the farm, the forest. The wall that grows with each frame of the film between the characters is built by it. Maybe she even wants him to be gone. But she can't do it without him. There is something that separates them at the same time, but keeps them without letting go.
The experience of watching this movie is similar to the experience of reading an ancient Greek tragedy for the first time. And that makes it even more interesting.
The film "Trap" from the first minutes fascinates the viewer with its majestic shots: high sky, far-spread steppe and the cry of an eagle, hovering high over the farm, over life, over all everyday problems ... And then the rooms of the farmhouse, appealing to something so native, Russian, touching-familiar...
It is worth noting the camera decisions of the film, the detailed construction of the composition in each frame, the combination of colors, objects, light and shadow pleasing to the eye, whether it is the dining table or the front door. It seems that the paintings of the Wanderers have come to life before your eyes, and their plots unfold in the present time! Every detail is full of meaning, every action and look speaks more than a thousand words.
The director is so skillfully and subtly builds acting interaction that you do not even notice that the film is devoid of words. The feelings of the heroes, their motives are so clear and close that nothing needs to be explained. At the same time, throughout history, there is an intrigue, what happened between them, what tragedy did life play out in this remote, eternal place? Collecting the puzzle in pieces, the viewer easily slides through the story, not noticing how the director confidently and imperceptibly leads the characters to the end.
We can safely say that the end of the story leads to catharsis, and no viewer will leave the hall without thinking about something of his own, long forgotten and deeply personal.
The film directed by Galina Urazova “Trap” looks in one breath. From the very first frame, the viewer is fully involved in a simple everyday life. But behind this simplicity is the mystical appeal of the everyday existence of a woman in a farm. The actions of the heroine are perceived as a magical ritual honed from day to day, helping to preserve the true meaning of Christian existence - to live serving your neighbor, your husband. But life is unpredictable sometimes. And now the heroine faces a serious question - to succumb to her impulses, emotions and free herself, or to continue to live in the sacrifice inherent in Christian virtue, and find solace in inner peace.
Separately, I want to celebrate the successful color solution of the film. The yellow color, unobtrusively passing through the whole picture from a pale yellow hue to saturated, from the first frames keeps the viewer in some tension, predicting the bright psychological development of the film. Yellow is considered the color of the sun and happiness. But it can also become a symbol of anxiety, despair. And even determine the character of the heroine. Here you can recall not only famous examples from the world of cinema, but also classics of literature.
What else captures the film? No doubt the plot. His sincerity, sincerity, even a certain naivety. And this, of course, is the merit of the screenwriters - Natalia Kudryashova and Galina Urazova.
This is a rather atypical movie for modernity and therefore looks fresh and unexpected.
Despite the lack of words and musical accompaniment, the film looks in one breath, holds the tension to the end and captures.
The world created by the author is tangible, material and sensual. Heroes, male and female, are embodied archetypes. Femininity and masculinity are in a state of silent passive-aggressive war. The roots of the break in the relationship, obviously, originate from a tragic incident, which the characters are unable to survive. The common grief did not unite, but, on the contrary, cut the family in half and laid a huge chasm of alienation between them.
The question is, what will this war lead to? More casualties, surrender of one side or reconciliation? And what role does the dark secret of the past play in this conflict?
The film poses many questions to the viewer, and will certainly cause ambiguous interpretation in modern society, torn by contradictions between patriarchal traditions and the struggle for freedom and equality.
But, undoubtedly, it is a strong, bold and shrill movie.
The film “Capcan” is a strong and unexpected film, which, for all its cinematic nature, turns out to be not an aesthetic “ambush”, but a human story that touches the soul. This story unfolds in the space of a secluded farm with its nature, animals, household details.
The lack of words emphasizes the tension between the characters (it is impossible not to note the excellent performance of the roles by actors Maria Boltneva and Maxim Kolesnichenko). And it turns out that a film in which the characters do not talk, you can watch without stopping. Cinema may not need words at all.
I especially liked the fact that the drama unfolding on the screen in the finale does not break into despair, does not end in a dead end, does not allow some banal plot denouement, but finds an unexpected way out, in which there is spiritual liberation and purification, long called catharsis. In modern cinema this is a rarity, so I want to congratulate the director Galina Urazova with such a bright memorable debut!
8 out of 10
Galina Urazova shot the picture truthful, tough and poetic. He is a mountain man, masculinity squared, a silent and sullen gamekeeper. She washes his feet, cooks dinners, waits. He is the master here, she is like a slave. This relationship can be called toxic. You can call their way of life unbearable: despite the stunning nature around, they both seem to be tormented by muteness, unspoken pain. There's another layer behind the first layer. They have a past, they have a secret. The picture is called “Capcan”, and the most interesting thing is to see who is the victim in this duet, and who is the hunter. Who will save or destroy whom? Having been drawn into this fight, the viewer will not leave until the end.
Galina Urazova manages to make a movie without excessive pathos, convincing, passionate, with absolutely recognizable types: this woman, it seems, is your relative, this man I saw once at the farm, etc. But here these types become as if taller, larger, more epic. There's something Sholokhovian about it. It seems to me that Galina Urazova has a talent to make folk, strong films.
The flower bud gradually opens, revealing what is inside. That's exactly what happens in the movie. Psychologically correctly constructed film captivates without dialogue and monologues. For the heroes speak nature, the voices of animals, things and, of course, the behavior of spouses. Their actions emphasize that they are separated by an invisible wall, but they are united by the grief of which they accuse each other.
This is a real work of art - to show the lives of ordinary people, their experiences and pain without any background, to submit succinctly, fitting in 1 hour. And the feeling after the movie is that you've lived your whole life with heroes.
Magnificent powerful script, amazing directing, brilliant acting, wonderful work of the team.
The film is simultaneously piercing, ringingly silent and uncompromisingly eloquent, because in every frame and in every movement, unspoken words are heard more clearly through silence than in the loudest dialogue. In my opinion, the director managed to very successfully reveal the contradictory and at the same time very vital nature of the relationship between the characters - connected by a mysterious guarantee with each other and with a person dear to them. They live in an inseparable connection with the environment in which they live - with all its details, which are introduced into the frame with an artistic sense of composition, and at the same time absolutely natural. When viewing not only visually, but even, in my opinion, at the level of some instant sensory perception, you “grab” and remember all these attributes of a harsh forest dwelling – roughness of walls, bundles of garlic, wooden toys, dirty boots that the silent heroine removes from the feet of a gloomy huntsman, and much, much more. In my opinion and hearing - the integrity and truthfulness of this film is close to the music - because the harmony of the narrative in the music is felt instantly, throughout the work. I congratulate the director and the team on their successful work.